Coyotes destroy game and stock. They also eat carrion and destroy sick animals, thus preventing the spread of disease. They eat jack rabbits which are pests, and snowshoes and cottontails which are game. They eat mice, which are a pest in agricultural areas, a benefit on rangelands where they destroy weed seeds, and of neutral importance elsewhere. To analyze the economic value of the coyote, the economic importance of all animals on which it feeds must be considered and the "good" and "bad" balanced—a well-nigh impossible task.
In any event, the coyote has been judged and found guilty. Coyotes are controlled by poison, trapping, and bounty. In spite of control measures the coyote is holding its own in numbers or increasing.
Stimulated in part by the bounty, professional trappers take many coyotes each year in Washington. The pelts fluctuate in value from year to year but a large, prime skin usually brings from 5 to 10 dollars.
Fig. 70. Distribution of the coyote in Washington. A. Canis latrans lestes. B. Canis latrans incolatus.
Canis latrans lestes [Merriam]
Canis lestes [Merriam], Proc. Biol. Soc. Washington, 11:25, March 15, 1897.
Canis latrans lestes [Taylor] and [Shaw], Mamm. and Birds Mt. Rainier Nat. Park, p. 41, 1927.
Type.—Obtained in the Toyabe Mountains near Cloverdale, Nye County, Nevada, by V. [Bailey] on November 21, 1890; type in United States National Museum.