Dead Coyotes Left Hanging on Fence Posts
By: Danielle Todesco
Updated: April 2, 2008
You may have seen this before...coyotes killed by ranchers and left hanging on fence posts.
We set out to find why ranchers do this and if it could be considered animal cruetly.
"They'll hunt them and hang them upsidedown and the other coyotes will come by and sniff and they'll realize that it's another coyote and they'll stay away out of this area."
Residents pass down Dover Road in Hockley County every day and one resident tells us he's been passing the dead coyotes along that road for months now.
"They've been here for two or three months but they could still be hanging up there."
He says it's the ranchers that kill the coyotes after they predators have attacked their livestock. And the smell keeps the others away.
"Ever since they've done this, I haven't seen really anymore coyotes running through here."
Other drivers along Dover say the graphic sight is animal cruelty.
"They're not domesticated animals, but I don't think that the animals should be killed and be treated like that."
But Game Warden Lacy Loudermilk says this is just the norm for West Texas farmers.
"They do not have to put them on the fenceposts...it's just a practice sometimes. Yes it would be better that they would hang it on an inner fence if they felt the need, but there's nothing legally wrong with hanging them there."
Residents say the coyotes have been up there for at least two months and it is completely legal, so officials say they'll only take them down if they become a health hazard.
