Agency brochures show pictures of healthy mountain lions and bears. Agency employees often feel under siege, Porter said. You couldn't imagine the amount of death threats I get on a daily basis. About three-fourths of that comes from state and county funding as well as fees paid by ranchers. Coyotes represent the major predator problem, ranchers say.
Some ranchers respect the cunning of coyotes but curse their ways.
But if you have ever seen a mutilated sheep that has not been killed. . . . That is the most disheartening sight I can think of. In 1995, according to federal surveys, coyotes killed 19,000 calves in Texas. The year before, they killed 27,000 sheep and lambs. Of the coyotes put to death by federal hunters last year in Texas, about 5,300 fell victim to the M-44, a baited device that ejects a poisonous sodium cyanide mixture into their mouths.