LANSING \u2014 Michigan could soon return to a year-round coyote hunting season, a policy that conservation groups extends beyond the species.<\/p>\n
The Natural Resources Commission originally voted last year to close the hunting season from April 15 to July 15.<\/p>\n
Animal rights groups argued that the downtime would help ensure coyote mothers are able to provide for their pups shortly after they\u2019re born.<\/p>\n
The commission said last week that they plan to reverse that decision, following months of pressure and legal challenges from hunter groups.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey recognized the the reality of the situation, they recognized the challenges, and they made a commitment to find a solution,\u201d said Merle Jones, public relations director for the Michigan Trappers and Predator Callers Association.<\/p>\n
Opponents of the policy questioned the commission\u2019s authority to issue this regulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhile it is partially about coyote season, it is about this much bigger idea of the commission being independent from social and political pressures and also holding the commission to their legal charge and their responsibility to follow the best available data,\u201d said Justin Tomei, policy and government affairs director for Michigan United Conservation Clubs.<\/p>\n
The commission is allowed to make decisions based on sound scientific principles, but it\u2019s unclear what authority they have over population-neutral decisions.<\/p>\n
Michigan only allowed nine months of coyote hunting before 2016, when the state adopted the year-round season.<\/p>\n
Data from the DNR shows no significant changes in harvest levels before and after the 2016 policy change.<\/p>\n
MUCC sued the commission last year, arguing that they exceeded their legal authority with the decision.<\/p>\n
\u201dOur belief was, at the time, that the decision to close the season was based purely on unsubstantiated social perception, social pressures, political pressures,\u201d Tomei said.<\/p>\n
A judge rejected that argument in June, but MUCC and other groups appealed the decision and continued to push for the season to be restored.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is about protecting the independence of the commission to make decisions based in science, based in management needs,\u201d Tomei said.<\/p>\n
Nuisance control has remained allowed year-round, if coyotes are attacking or posing a risk to the safety of livestock.<\/p>\n
The commission hasn\u2019t yet voted on the regulation itself \u2014 last week\u2019s vote was on a resolution saying that they\u2019re committed to reopening year-round hunting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LANSING \u2014 Michigan could soon return to a year-round coyote hunting season, a policy that conservation groups extends…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94225,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[192,79,63921],"class_list":{"0":"post-94224","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-social-content"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94224"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94224\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94225"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}