Skinned and bedraggled in the Big Wood
"Its a one-time event. If there were dead animals in the
river constantly, maybe we should look at something."
- Walt Femling, Blaine County Sheriff
By GREG STAHL
Express Staff Writer
Four skinned coyote carcasses
were found in the Big Wood River last Wednesday near Bellevue. Disposal of the carcasses,
however, does not appear to be against any laws, according to local officials. Express
photo by David N. Seelig
Four skinned coyote carcasses were found in the Big Wood River below the
Glendale Road bridge last Wednesday, but no laws or regulations appear to have been
broken.
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Idaho Department of Fish and
Game and Blaine County Sheriff officials said in interviews that their respective agencies
do not deal in matters of carcass disposal in water bodies.
Nor is it illegal to kill a coyote in Idaho by any means or at any time
for someone with an Idaho hunting license, Fish and Game conservation officer Lee Frost
said.
"If an animal is lawfully taken, Fish and Game does not have
regulations for dumping carcasses," Frost said. "We ask people to use some
discretion, but, again, therere no laws."
Blaine County Sheriff Walt Femling said "Were not going to deal
with it."
Femling said the county has dumping regulations that restrict roadside
littering or dumping tires or washing machines in the river, but they do not apply to
carcass dumping.
"Its a one-time event," he said. "If there were dead
animals in the river constantly, maybe we should look at something."
Bob Ferris, vice president for species conservation for Defenders of
Wildlife, said in an interview from his Washington, D.C., office that anti-predator
attitudes in the West have dominated ranching sentiment since its beginnings.
"Predators, particularly coyotes, dont have much protection in
the West," he said. "We dont think its necessarily a good practice.
In most cases, it doesnt solve a problem on a long-term basis."
The "perceived problem" Ferris referred to is that coyotes kill
off ranchers livestock.
"Predators arent the biggest problem," he said.
"Weather is probably the biggest challenge to wildlife and livestock. There are a lot
of mortality factors out there."
Of the coyotes in the Big Wood River, however, no one may ever know where,
or exactly why, they were killed. None of the agencies contacted showed any interest in
looking into the matter.