NM school's coyote hunt draws protest

GRADY, N.M. (AP) - The Grady school district is no longer sponsoring a coyote hunt that in the past has raised money for girls' athletics, but the Albuquerque Journal reports in a copyright story Sunday the hunt will go on under the sponsorship of a rancher.

The school district gave up its sponsorship after protests by resident Cliff Sagnotty.

He and his wife retired earlier this year from Des Moines, Iowa, and moved to Grady — population 98 in the 2000 census.

They received a flier in the mail advertising the annual fundraiser called a coyote calling contest.

That's a hunting contest, in which teams spend two days hunting coyotes. The team with the most coyotes wins.

The entry fee is $75. For the past several years, proceeds have gone toward girls' sports team in the Grady schools.

Sagnotty said his main objection was that tax dollars were promoting the event.

He made phone calls, wrote letters, met with Grady athletic director Alicia Rush and approached the school superintendent at the post office to discuss the issue.

The contest "is stepping outside the boundaries of what I think a school should be doing for the community," Sagnotty said. "And it's also teaching students just to kill."

The event is still slated next Friday and Saturday under the rancher's sponsorship.

It's unclear whether proceeds will be donated to school athletics.

Rush said past contests have brought in about $1,000, which goes toward such things as uniforms and travel.

She said Sagnotty is new to Grady and that if he were a rancher, he'd probably understand better.

"Ninety percent of us are ranchers and farmers," she said. "Those coyotes are predators. They kill our cattle, they kill our cow dogs. He doesn't understand that."

School Superintendent Ted Trice said Grady is "a very small rural school, and we have to do everything we can" in terms of fundraising.

Fundraising efforts often come from ranchers, he said.

The district has seven sports teams, and Trice said they're a source of pride for the community.

Sagnotty said the ranching community picks on coyotes, blaming them for missing livestock when the ranchers don't really know what happened.

Rush said there's no shortage of coyotes and the community supports the contest.

"It's thinning them out," she said. "Coyotes are not endangered, and they're not going to be endangered anytime soon, I promise you that."

Rush dismissed the idea students are being taught to kill, saying hunters usually are adults and any juvenile who participates must show a hunter safety card.