Coyotes are wrecking our economy

To the editor:
    This letter is for everyone to read. It is very important to all because it has to do with so many things that need to be done for our state. To photographers who like to take pictures of nature, deer, moose, rabbit, birds and all kinds of other game — how long has it been since you have seen a rabbit running along the side of the roads, or seen a partridge? I used to see rabbits every day. There is a good reason why I don’t anymore. Also the deer population is down so much and there are a few reasons why. I will tell you later.
    Another big problem is this state revenue is hurting because of some laws that were enacted by John Martin and Governor John Baldacci a few years ago. Martin tried twice to get the legislature to pass a law making it mandatory for our friends and neighbors to the north to pay to have a guide with them while hunting. This has hurt the state more than you can imagine and it was also a slap in the face to our Canadian friends. Why would the governor sign this into law? This has to be repealed.
    There is a simple solution to the problem of having no game in the woods and it would help our tax intake for the state. Not only will our business boom, gas, food, motels, sporting goods and all other business will profit from this one thing that has to be done.
    Our new state legislature and our new Governor LePage have to start helping everyone in our state by putting a $500 bounty on coyotes. That is not too much money and it will solve a lot of problems. Look at it this way – let’s say 1,000 coyotes are tagged the first year, that is half a million dollars. This will generate millions of dollars for the state and all the people in the state. You can see that this is peanuts compared to what the people will spend just to do this. This is very good for our state and also opening Sunday hunting, this is a must and we should let hunters hunt coyotes at night because coyotes are ruining our state more than you can imagine.
    We have to do everything we can to get rid of these coyotes. Everybody please contact your legislators and tell them to pass this and repeal the law that is hurting our neighbors to the north of us. Ask other New England states to pass the same.
    All of this is very simple to understand. Please act on this now, don’t wait. Let’s get all this done now (soon) and it will make a difference right away.
Roland A. Fraser
Freeport