News

WV Agriculture Commissioner Offers Solution To Coyote Problem

By:
Posted on:

< < Back to wv-agriculture-commissioner-offers-solution-coyote-problem

Agriculture Commissioner Walt Helmick believes he has the solution to West Virginia's coyote problem.

Helmick is looking at establishing a bounty system to encourage hunters to kill the critters.

He tells The Register-Herald that coyotes are the state's biggest predator problem. They are in all 55 counties and pose a threat to both farm animals and domestic pets.

Under Helmick's plan, coyotes would be trapped and their ears would be marked with an identifying number. They would then be released. Hunters who kill a coyote marked with a number would receive a bounty.

Helmick says hunters likely would kill about two dozen coyotes in an attempt to bag one with an identifying number.

Details of the plan are still being worked out.