There’s something subversive, even socialist, about <br />The way coyotes scrounge their livelihood for free. <br />Ranchers, who lease public lands for nominal fee <br />Then post them as their own, want them driven out. <br /> <br />Certain of these feral freeloaders’ depredations, <br />Ranchers dismiss the studies showing that herds <br />Are not affected by coyotes as patently absurd <br />And lobby for ever-greater government protections. <br /> <br />More than a century ago, Wildlife Services was created <br />To dispatch predators that, in owners’ minds, obstructed <br />The exercise of American free enterprise they conducted <br />On public and private lands. The ranchers were elated. <br /> <br />Agency expenses, including workers and their bosses, <br />are publicly funded and far exceed the ranchers’ losses.<br /><br />Chuck Toll<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/coyotes-and-wildlife-services/
