Federal plans to protect Nevada livestock by killing coyotes and other predators will require more study, under an appeals court ruling Monday that environmentalists proclaimed as a “major” win though they didn’t get all they wanted.
In the unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the Agriculture Department’s Wildlife Services branch to strengthen its environmental analysis of its predator control program in Nevada’s designated wilderness and wilderness study areas.
“Nevada’s wilderness and other specially protected areas should be sanctuaries for wildlife and places where people can experience true wildness, not landscapes laced with traps, snares, and cyanide bombs,” said Paul Ruprecht, Nevada director for the Western Watersheds Project, in a statement.
The Agriculture Department could not be immediately reached for comment.
