The release had little in details but I'm sure more will come out in news articles. I don't know the circumstances in this case but I know that certain, extremely potent pesticides are sometimes used by the unscrupulous to seed dead animals in order to attract and kill coyotes. The perpetrators simple minded thinking is that these creatures are the cause in the decline of game animals. Something similar to fishermen thinking that DC Cormorants and Pelicans are eating up their game fish. The after affect of such baiting is that other small animals also feed on these carcasses and die. Raptors become second or third level victims by eating on the original carcass or the smaller secondary victims. One account that I heard about years ago, had dead animals and raptors including an eagle laying all over the area. It seems the poison is quick acting and the animals don't get far from the immediate area. In that case a local farmer's expensive Black Lab was a secondary victim. More power to the officials in pursuit of such criminals............. Let's see $15,000 that is 300 times more than a Trumpeter Swan is worth in TN. Good Birding!!! Jeff R. Wilson OL' COOT / TLBA Bartlett Tenn. =================NOTES TO SUBSCRIBER===================== The TN-Bird Net requires you to sign your messages with first and last name, city (town) and state abbreviation. ----------------------------------------------------- To post to this mailing list, simply send email to: tn-bird@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx ----------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send email to: tn-bird-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'unsubscribe' in the Subject field. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Topographical Maps located at http://topozone.com/find.asp * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Visit the Tennessee Ornithological Society web site at http://www.tnbirds.org * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * TN-Bird Net Owner: Wallace Coffey, Bristol, TN jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx (423) 764-3958 =========================================================