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 The coyote and wolf derby was promoted by ranchers and hunting
enthusiasts as a form of family recreation aimed at reducing the
number of predators threatening livestock and big-game animals like
elk prized by hunters. It was condemned by conservationists as cruel
and unsportsmanlike.
The weekend hunt on national forest land ringing the Idaho mountain
town of Salmon drew 250 contestants seeking cash and trophies in
categories ranging from bagging the largest wolf to shooting the
most female coyotes. Children as young as 10 were invited to compete
in a youth division.
The event was sponsored by Idaho for Wildlife, which fights "all
radical anti-hunting and anti-gun environmentalists," according to
its executive director Steve Alder.
Adler said none of the teams managed to kill a wolf, but 23 coyotes
were killed, making it a far cry from the "wolf killing spree"
predicted by opponents.
"It shows hunting is not an effective tool to eliminate wolves.
We're going to have to take more aggressive action," Alder said.
Hunters brought coyote carcasses to Salmon to be measured and
counted and potentially sold to fur buyers. Several carcasses were
piled in the back of pickup trucks.
Some contestants said they were disappointed at not bagging any
wolves, and expressed frustration with opponents of the event.
"We'll only have agreement with environmentalists when we kill all
the wolves here," said Jeremiah Martin, a hunter from Salmon.
Online petitions criticizing the contest garnered tens of thousands
of signatures and opponents have threatened a boycott of Idaho's
famous potatoes.
The derby is thought to have been the first statewide competitive
wolf shoot in the continental United States since 1974, when gray
wolves in the Lower 48 came under the federal Endangered Species Act
protections after being hunted, trapped and poisoned to near
extinction.
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Wolves in the Northern Rockies, including Idaho, and in the western
Great Lakes, lost the protection of the act in recent years as
states pushed for hunting and trapping rights. The Obama
administration is now proposing to strip wolves of federal
safeguards nationwide.
Coyotes are considered pests and are allowed to be shot on sight in
much of the U.S. West.
On Friday, a U.S. judge rejected a request by conservation groups to
block the Idaho hunt, which was staged on a national forest near
where federal wildlife managers reintroduced wolves to the Rocky
Mountain West in the mid-1990s.
WildEarth Guardians and others had argued that the U.S. Forest
Service did not issue proper permits for the event, but the judge
said the contest was similar to activities like picnicking that do
not require such special permits.
Bethany Cotton, wildlife program manager for WildEarth Guardians,
said the legal battle will go on.
"A killing contest has no place on public lands," she said.
(Reporting by Laura Zuckerman; editing by Steve Gorman and David Brunnstrom)
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