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Curious About Coyotes' Rights

BOSTON (CBS) -- When Environmental Police shot and killed a coyote in Beacon Hill last weekend, it got a lot of attention. Seeing a coyote shot and killed is rare because the law protects them.

John in Boston Declared his Curiosity asking, "Why are they protected? They serve no useful purpose!"

Lois in Westford was also curious writing, "A coyote moved in behind my house... And apparently there's no way to move him out?!"

Laura Hajduk of MassWildlife explains coyotes should be protected because they are a "valuable natural resource."

WBZ-TV's David Wade reports.

Paul Caira in Nahant wouldn't agree. He believes the ones in his yard killed one of his cats. He thinks the state should track the coyotes down and release them in other areas.

"They should be relocated to an area that they can be hunted or where they can fend for themselves," he said

But state law is very clear. You can not take a coyote and move it out into the wilderness.  Environmental officers can shoot it, but only if they are a threat to people.

"If we pick up a coyote from Cambridge and move out here to Westboro, there are already coyotes here," said Hajduk. "And is it fair to move an animal you view as a problem and put it in someone else's yard?"

Every mainland Massachusetts town now has coyotes.

Coyote hunting season runs from October to early spring.

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