Chicago Wildlife News: Grundy County offers money for slain coyotes

Grundy County offers money for slain coyotes

(POSTED: 1/14/11) Need an extra 15 bucks? Go shoot down a coyote in Grundy County.

Located near the outskirts of Joliet, Grundy County is now offering a $15 bounty for every coyote that is killed within county lines. Just turn in the animal’s ears to
Grundy County Animal Control to reap the reward.

The county board passed an ordinance for the incentive program earlier this week in an attempt to control the predator’s population, which has grown “substantially” over the last few years. Residents have complained about small pets gone missing, and pheasants have been reportedly wiped from the landscape. Ron Severson, board president, said that a pack of coyotes even killed one of the cows on his farm.

“It’s become a real problem,” he said. “It’s getting out of control.”

Don Franzen, chairman of the Grundy County chapter of Ducks Unlimited, a nonprofit dedicated to re-establishing wetlands and wildlife in the area, estimated that there are hundreds of coyotes prowling throughout the county.

“They are everywhere,” he said. “Nobody is helping to control the population. And then they need something to eat, so here’s Fluffy out in the backyard for them. The final straw was that cattle ranchers out here are actually losing calves.”

The coyote harvesting law, therefore, is “a good start,” he said.

Since it began Wednesday, three sets of coyote ears have already been dropped off, according to June Krull, director of Grundy County Animal Control. She said the agency has been fielding numerous calls from people interested in getting more information.

There was one dissenting voice, though, when the 18-member board voted on the matter.

Jeremy Ly, a county board member from Minooka, thought the decision was based too heavily on anecdotal evidence rather than data and coyote population surveys.

“As you mess with the environment, and you take a predator out the environment, you end up messing with the whole ecosystem,” he said.

By Katie Drews, for ChicagoWildlifeNews.com
Contact: [email protected]

1 comments:

Anonymous says:

March 22, 2011 5:47 PM

Please put some type of limit on this massacre, Grundy County.

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