COMMUNITY
Trapper praised by ranchers, takes heat from others
By Gerrit Koepping
f rnerakl Reporter
Lou Dailby, un Llmira sheep rune her.
lost ii pregnant own to a coyote lust Sun
day, so ho railed fuck Spent or to tlo
something alxmt it
Spencer, the animul damage control
spot tails! (or Lane County, is the man
some people call when they have trou
ble with wildlife
On this chilly morning pist south of
tvlmiru, Spent er brings his wooden and
pliistu coyote tails and crouches at the
edge of the nearby w oods
ity imitating the ovule sound spell
ter hopes to draw the animal out .inti
kill it This time tlx- plan doesn't work
(■oil, they're smart.'’ he said They
tan smel I the st ent td the hotltun ol
your hoots. Bailey saitl "You’ve got to
admire the t apahililies of the tilings
he said But Hailey tries to accept defeat
We tun make lots of mistakes,' lie
said ' Hie coyotes t an make none
Trapping the inntM ent
Itarhara Kelley is a woman who loves
animals and the environment In 1077,
she worktti to stop herbicide spraying
in timber nones But in the fall ol I'CH.
she found a new t ause
Her longhaired (iermun shepherd.
I aslia, hmf been missing lor three days
As Kelley walked into the backyard of
her ( ullage (trove home, she saw some
thing slowly move under a tarp
I aider the tarp was Tasha She had
stepped into a steel teghold hear trap
Kelley said the dog injured her shout
tier from dragging the leg hack Tasha
had >i high fever, her paw was badly
mangled and she had developed gait
grime
She tful not lose her paw. hut her In;
is permanently disfigured, Kelley said
Kelley's house is adjacent to Bureau
ol I.anti Management property, and she
said she believes that s where the trap
w as set
"One reason I moved to the forest was
so I wouldn't have to confine im great
big dug who never hurt anything or am
body Kelley said
After this in< idem. Kelley shifted fu r
efforts to fighting wllat she sees as the
cruel practice of trapping
There is no plate in our society lor
this kind ot barbarism," Kelley salt!
lust imagine getting vour finger caught
in a t ar door for a w eek
l.inda Kudv, a receptionist at the For
est Valley Veterinary Clinic in Cottage
drove, said her of fit e sees si\ to 10 tings
a year that have been caught in traps
Protw tin# the herd
Shepherd is .ilsn concerned
about animals Specifically, he's ion
i erned alxnil his i .idle and sheep
About two years ago. Stiepherd found
two ewes dial were killed and two that
were seriously injured, victims of what
he said was an overnight coyote attai k
So like Hailey, Shepherd sought out the
help of Spencer
Spent er set snare and steel Icghuld
traps to t .ill h the animals Hie next day
Shepherd saw one male coyote stalking
ins herd, he shot and killed It Two days
later, one of Spencer s snares caught a
female coyote. Spent er killed it
After that. Shepherd said, the live
stock predation stopped
Shepherd said he's glad to he aide to
call a professional, such as Spent er,
when sut h problems arise
Spent er is a government employee
whose program gets Slti.tXH) a year from
Lane County and a matching amount
from the federal government
Spencer's jobs have ranged from trap
ptng an opossum in a schoolyard to
trapping a hear that was killing a rant ti
er's sheep There used to lie three men
titling the same job that Spencer now
tioes but after budget t uts. tie's tin* only
one left
Predators killed more than $J7t>.()00
worth of livestock m PCM), according to
Ptioio fry ArXfcr* fUnn*
Jack Spencer, the animal damage control tpacieliat lor Lane County, sets up a trap to catch predators ol ranchers livestock. Al
though ranchers appreciate his efforts, many environmentalists argue against his methods of trapping
**N5#0 by An*}** H»r m'
Spencer imitates coyote calls to draw the predator that recently killed a ewe in the
nearby woods
figures provided f>v I'um Hoffman. the
tiim:l»r of animal <1.image i onlrul in l )r
egon Hill Hoffman said tfit; actual mini
tier of animals killed "is prohatdv vs .1 n .
way in excess of that " In I'l'KI his de
parlment trapped and killed H. 1 cos
otes and trapped 111 him k bears. kill
mg some and relocating others
Storm of 1 ontroversy
Spent er was a part of that trapping el
fort and thus is a man in the midst of a
controversy Environmentalists, like
Kelley, say Spencer uses txirharn meth
ods. at taxpayers' expense, to kill ani
mals so ranchers won't have to look af
ter their own livestock
Spencer hotly disputes tills "I do a
lot of work for ranchers, hut w ith opos
sum and rootnon, it evens out," fie said
"Opossums and racoons alone cause
thousands of dollars of damage
"1 get it from both sides," Spencer
said "If I kill a cougar or a covote, I get
it from the environmentalists If I don't
kill tfie problem animal. I get it from the
ram hers
Hut when in doubt. Spencer tends to
side with the ranchers
They're tin* only people w ho uppre
i iate me." Spencer said
He said it is important to remember
that he doesn't want tu kill all the pred
ators in tin' area just the problem ani
mals
"Once a coyote starts killing sheep,
they keep killing sheep.' Spencer said
"We i an t reform the animal
Money problems
Someday. Spent er might not have his
job Hat h year the Lane (County Hoard
of (Commissioners votes on whether to
fund Spencer's position Hoard (Chair
man (at k Roberts s,ntf planned budget
t uts could result in the elimination of
Spencer s funding
That would lie fine with ferry Kust
Since Kust was elected to the commis
sion. he has voted against funding Spen
t er He opposes Spent er s program, not
for humanitarian reasons, but bet ause
he said it only benefits ranchers
"I'm not opposed to rant hers taking
t are of their livestock." Kust said "But
I'm opposed to the taxpayers paying for
it "
Spencer is not without supporters
(Commissioner Kllie Dumdi has voted to
fund Spencer's work in each of her four
\ ears on the board
Yet, even Dumdi admits that Spen
cer's job may eventually lie In jeopardy
"Because of declining revenues, noth
ing is sat red, she salt!
Possible effei Is
Of course. Spencer is concerned nlxmt
what will huppen if his program Is cut.
he h'lirs not for himself, but fur the
urea's wildlife, lie said
"A lot of people are going to use
whatever means they can to control
predators." he said. Some of those peo
ple are going to use poison halt and kill
every damn thing around
One woman. Spencer said, shot a deer
and laced its carcass with poison in an
attempt to kill covotes She killed a cou
ple of foxes and a neighbor's dog, but
didn't get a single coyote Spencer, on
the other hand, said he uses methods
that are more selective
Kelley said such incidents could he
avoided il a non-profit organization is
sel up to educate and encourage ranch
ers to use guard dogs instead of traps
and poison
'Phis way. Kelley said, with guard
dogs they (the ranchers) are forced to
care for their own animals ' At least,
Kelley said, taxpayers would no longer
be paying lor the steel leghold trap,
which have been banned in t»4 coun
tries
But Spencer has more in his arsenal
than |ust Ins H5 steel leghold traps
Spenier also has a large number of steel
snares, sodium-i vanide traps, some live
traps, his rifle and a 22-caliber revolver
The steel snares he places around
holes in ranchers' femes tti.it coyotes
craw l through When the coyote passes
halfway through the snare, it cinches
around its torso Spencer said the ani
mal does not suffer while it is snared,
hut once Spencer finds an animal in a
snare, he immediately kills II.
Spencer also has around 75 M-44
traps, which when set up are placed
flush y\ ith the ground with a piece a hail
placed over tile trap. When the hail is
pulled, a sodium-cyanide capsule is
shot into the mouth of the animal
Spencer said it is ironic that with
more funds fie could develop and trap
yvith more humane methods.
We have people working in govern
ment latis designing traps that get along
better yvith the animals," Spencer said
"About a quarter of animal damage con
trol money goes into research "