Looking at all sides of the coyote-snaring issue, I can only conclude that the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife has lost its way with regard to stewardship of Maine’s wildlife.

For too long, DIF&W has worked hand-in-hand with the Sportsman’s Alliance of Maine and the Maine Trappers Association to craft policies and regulations that are anti-predator and designed to increase deer numbers to excessive levels. These policies are clearly detrimental to our wildlife and environment.

Large predators are essential to a healthy ecosystem. In New England, the eradication of wolves and cougars threw our system out of whack, as deer and rodents proliferated. The appearance of coyotes to fill that niche should have been an occasion for rejoicing at DIF&W. But even now, with our deer population at an all-time high, and exceeding its carrying capacity in parts of central, southern and mid-coast Maine, DIF&W prepares for another coyote snaring season.

It is time for sound scientific principles, not minority interests, to prevail at DIF&W and it is time for this agency to listen to the voices of all Maine citizens. The unscientific, politically motivated, archaic and brutal state-sponsored coyote-snaring program appalls us. We want this program terminated and neck snares banned before another season begins.

Judy Kaiser

Waldo