Development of the West Virginia integrated predation management program to protect livestock

The West Virginia Integrated Predation Management Program was created in 1996 due to increasing livestock losses to coyotes and the inability of producers to solve the problem themselves. The eastern coyote arrived in West Virginia in the early to mid-1980s. By the early 1990s, coyote depredations were recognized as a serious threat to West Virginia’s livestock industries. At a June 26, 1995 public meeting in Riverton, West Virginia, livestock producers expressed to their state delegates and senators their concerns and frustrations with their inability to control coyote predation on sheep. This meeting provided the impetus for the creation of the West Virginia Integrated Predation Management Program as carried out by USDA APHIS Wildlife Services (WS). Wildlife Services predator management specialists in West Virginia integrate and apply or assist the producer in applying a combination of non-lethal and lethal alternatives to minimize coyote predation on sheep, goats, and calves. Wildlife Services has provided predation control workshops, on-site recommendations, and a guard dog cost-share program to encourage producers to implement non-lethal methods on their farms. Lethal control strategies directed at depredating coyotes have been either preventive or corrective. Preventive control has been initiated by WS prior to the onset of actual depredations in areas where historic losses due to coyote depredation have been documented and where there has been an imminent threat of loss of livestock. Corrective control by WS was directed at depredating coyotes in response to ongoing losses with the goal of removing the offending coyotes(s). In this paper, we discuss the development and success of the West Virginia Integrated Predation Management Program to protect livestock.