AMERICAN NOTES: Howling Abouf Coyotes

For generations Western sheepmen have reserved their deepest wrath for the coyote (Canis latrans), a wily cousin of the wolf with a healthy appetite for mice, rabbits and, according to the wool growers, lambs. Since 1972, when the Environmental Protection Agency flatly banned the most effective coyote poisons — Compound 1080 (monofluoride acetate) and the M44 (a spring-loaded tube containing sodium cyanide)—sheepmen have been howling loudly. They claim that a burgeoning coyote population is threatening their already risky business (which operates on a 2% profit margin) with ruin. They have begun attaching bumper stickers to their automobiles with legends like: EAT AMERICAN LAMB. 10 MILLION COYOTES CAN'T BE WRONG!!

Environmentalists sharply dispute the sheep ranchers' claim that the coyotes are now slaughtering 800,000 lambs per year. Says National Audubon Society President Elvis J. Stahr: "The figures ... are unreliable, unscientific and quite possibly self-serving. Poisons simply are not the answer to the coyote problem. If they were, the problem should no longer exist." Despite its preference for aerial shooting and trapping, however, the EPA agreed last month to permit the use of the M44 on private land. Since roughly 12 million sheep graze at least part of the time on federal land, wool growers soon may seek permission to use coyote poisons there. Before approving, the Government will want an accurate estimate of how many sheep are actually endangered and how many predators are afoot. Any coyote counters available?