AUGUSTA: LAWMAKERS KILL COYOTE BILL

Members of the Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Committee voted a unanimous ought not to pass on a bill to ban the use of wire neck snares – the type of trap used by state-sponsored snarers in a coyote control program. The controversial program has been on hold for two years as state officials address concerns that the snares could put federal protected bald eagles and Canada lynx at risk. Legislators said Thursday that they wanted to see how snaring reforms, codified by the Legislature last year, work before considering any need to ban the wire loop traps that kill animals by strangulation. (Misty Edgecomb, BDN)