Coyote snaring program hits snag Rowe: State needs federal approval

The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife will be in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act if the state’s coyote snaring program doesn’t get formal approval from federal wildlife biologists, according to an opinion issued by Maine Attorney General Steven Rowe.

The state has been paying contractors to kill coyotes with neck snares for more than 20 years in an attempt to protect weakened deer herds in some parts of far northern and eastern Maine. The snaring season runs between December and March.

The state has never held a federal “incidental take permit,” which would allow snarers to accidentally kill or harm a small number of threatened or endangered species. To get such a permit, Maine would have to prove to a group of wildlife officials that coyote snaring is necessary, and that DIF&W has done everything possible to reduce the risk to other animals.

Rowe’s letter, which is dated Tuesday but began to circulate Augusta Thursday, makes the requirement very clear:

“If an agent of the state were to catch any threatened or endangered species in a neck snare set for a coyote, it would be a violation of the Endangered Species Act unless a permit has been issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, allowing the incidental taking to occur,” it said.

Two federally threatened species, the bald eagle and the Canada lynx are found in areas where snaring occurs. Evidence indicates that federally threatened gray wolves from Canada also may be found in northern Maine from time to time, but no population has been verified.

Without the permit, state liability for killing just one of these animals could reach $75,000.

DIF&W records show that two bald eagles and a Canada lynx have been killed by snares set for coyotes in the past. None of the incidents resulted in fines because the lynx was killed before the 2000 decision to list it as threatened, and because the state instituted several changes to its snaring policy after the then-endangered eagles died in 1989.

Opponents of the snaring program believe the number to be significantly higher. Snarers know the high cost of owning up to the death of an endangered species, they say. A group called NoSnare formally has threatened to sue the state, arguing the coyote snaring is illegal under the ESA.

Rowe issued his opinion in response to a request from Rep. Linda Rogers McKee, D-Wayne. McKee had sponsored a bill to ban snaring in hopes of protecting other wildlife. The bill was gutted by the Joint Standing Committee on Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. Legislators instead passed a bill endorsing some snaring reforms approved by DIF&W.

McKee could not be reached for comment Thursday.

DIF&W officials have been working with federal biologists since spring to draft an application for an incidental take permit. The final application will be sent to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in the next few weeks, DIF&W spokesman Mark Latti said late Thursday afternoon.

Once it is received, the application will be considered by a team of federal endangered species biologists and a public comment period will be scheduled. The formal process typically takes between six and nine months. It is not clear whether the snaring program will begin in December as scheduled, if the permit has not been granted by then.

In June, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologist Mark McCollough, who is based in Old Town, said the service would likely be looking for changes in the snaring policy that reflect suggestions he and his peers made in a December review of the program.

They asked the state to end snaring and consider alternate means of coyote control in known lynx habitat.

They also raised concerns about the state’s new requirement for using spring-loaded snares. Last fall, DIF&W approved the new rule in hopes of killing snared coyotes more quickly and making the controversial program more humane.

Federal biologists also asked the state to create a policy for protecting migrant gray wolves.