U.S. Agrees to Stop Killing Coyotes in Columbia River Refuge

Chalk one up for those wily coyotes.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, in a settlement with animal rights activists, has agreed to temporarily stop trapping and shooting coyotes at a national wildlife refuge along the Columbia River.

The reprieve comes despite concerns that the coyotes are eating fawns at the Julia Butler Hansen National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Washington, pushing an endangered deer species to the brink of extinction.

Under the agreement, reached Tuesday, the agency will study whether nonlethal means could be as effective at controlling the coyotes and protecting the endangered Columbian white-tailed deer. The reprieve from trapping and killing will be in effect at least until spring.

Federal rangers started trapping coyotes after severe flooding in February 1996 wiped out half or more of the deer living in the river flood plain and adjacent islands.

The refuge was established in 1974 for the purpose of protecting the deer. Wildlife officials say their predator management policies there have reflected that priority. They killed nine coyotes this year.

“We won’t be doing anything in 1998 until we have completed the supplemental environmental assessment and have issued a new finding,” said Susan Saul, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Portland, Ore.

One option would be to transplant the coyotes off the refuge permanently. Another, preferred by some activists, is to remove the coyotes temporarily to a holding facility and release them after the fawns have grown, Saul said.

That would require state approval because it regulates coyotes as a resident game species, she said.