PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • February 22, 2023
Unlike other animals in Maine, coyotes currently have almost no protection under the law. They can be killed with dogs, traps and any other way you can imagine, day and night. This can be done all year round, without any limits, including spring and summer, when killing them leaves their pups to starve to death in their den. Enacting limits on the year-round killing of coyotes is not only a matter of giving them the same protections from cruelty that we do most other wildlife in our state, but also recognition of the important role they play as predators. Scientists found that a coyote’s presence can change domestic cat predation activity. Cats stayed away from forested areas where coyotes were present. And, as a result, the songbirds there were thriving. ~ Hope Cruser, founding member of Underhound Rescue, Edgecomb