By Invitation | Economist/Shell Writing Prize 2001

Going faster - but where?

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In January of each year, the State of New Jersey issues several hundred hunting permits to hunt coyotes. The hunt is part of an orchestrated set of measures applied throughout the US. Coyotes are viewed as a pest that spread disease, kill pets and interfere with domestic livestock. Official programmes to eradicate coyotes have been in place since 1891 when California introduced bounties for culling by poison, trapping and hunting. But before European settlement, coyotes in the US only lived in the more arid areas of the south-west and central USA. After a century of repeated attempts at elimination, the coyote has successfully extended its domain to the north slopes of Alaska, to California and to Florida.

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