Treatment of Coyotes Called Inhumane

Following Outcry, Trapper's Work Limited in Montgomery

There's some debate over whether the coyotes came to Fallsgrove in Rockville, or whether the recently developed residential community was built on the animals' turf.

There's no dispute -- at least among human beings -- over who has to leave.

The coyotes do.

But Fallsgrove residents are clashing over the right way to evict them. A neighborhood homeowners association earlier this year hired Michael Adcock of Adcock Wildlife Management Inc. to get rid of the coyotes. Some residents and animal activists were disturbed when they saw the steel-jawed leg-hold traps he brought to their neighborhood.

"These devices are gruesome, horrible devices," said Margaret Zanville, president of the Montgomery County Humane Society. "When they snap, they crack the bone. Animals will chew their own paws off to get out of this horrible pain."

Adcock said the traps are perfectly legal and provide an effective method of nabbing the elusive creatures.

"They're extremely common in the industry," he said.

Circuit Court Judge Durke G. Thompson injected himself into the controversy Thursday by issuing a temporary restraining order barring Adcock from trapping animals on residential property in Montgomery County for at least the next 10 days. He also temporarily forbade Adcock to trap most types of mammals at night.

Attorneys for the Humane Society and a handful of Fallsgrove residents argued in court that Adcock was using traps inhumanely and in violation of Maryland law. They suggest using cages.

To date, Adcock said, the traps have caught 12 coyotes.

"I'm not saying these animals are not traumatized," Adcock said, noting that wildlife control is sometimes unsightly. "These are wild animals. I'm not saying this isn't an uncomfortable way to be trapped. But I'm going above and beyond what I'm supposed to do."

Adcock said his traps are padded and adjusted to ensure animals' limbs aren't severed. He said coyotes pose a risk to residents and their pets and cited a recent case involving a Cape Cod woman who was attacked by a coyote in her back yard.