PHOENIX -- The Arizona Game and Fish Department began hunting coyotes by helicopter this week in hopes of giving newborn antelope a better chance of survival.

The control effort will take place for the next month in four Northern Arizona locations. The hunting is done solely by helicopter and costs about $17,000, said Pat O'Brien, Arizona Game and Fish spokesman.

"These efforts take a lot of time — time the antelope fawns don't necessarily have," he said. " We would be failing our responsibilities if we didn't try our best to protect them."

At least 25 fawns per 100 does are needed to maintain an adult antelope population of about 8,500, O'Brien said. The estimated coyote population is around 300,000.

"We need to do our best to make sure both species survive out there," he said.

Since beginning the coyote control project two years ago, a total of 76 coyotes have been killed. The fawn survival rate has increased from 27 percent to 47 percent, O'Brien said.

Coyotes will be hunted north of the Grand Canyon, east of Flagstaff, south of Winslow and near Petrified Forest National Park.

Associated Press
Reprinted from Las Vegas Review Journal Wednesday, April 26, 2000

Ed. note: Once again, a western state is doing something about predators, but it isn't Nevada!