Utah governor signs bills to fund coyote killings

Gov. Gary Herbert signed two bills on Saturday that take aim at coyotes by funding programs to step up the killing of the predators in an attempt to increase the population of mule deer and protect livestock. The Mule Deer Protection Act, SB245 , appropriated $500,000 to the Division of Wildlife Resources to establish programs to reduce the coyote population in areas where the mule deer herds have suffered significant population losses over the past few decades. SB87 imposes a $5 fee on big-game hunting permits to go toward predator-control programs. Herbert touted the measures as important for Utah’s economic growth, citing hunting, fishing and wildlife watching as a $2.3 billion part of the state’s economy...more