![]() ![]() “If wanted to be honest about their product, they should have a tag on the jacket, showing a coyote in a leg-hold trap or a neck snare.” “The fur is used exclusively as a fashion statement. “That’s rubbish,” said Brooks Fahy of Predator Defense, a group that advocates for the “peaceful co-existence” of humans and wild animals in the US and reminds supporters on its website that the Navajo traditionally revered coyotes as “God’s dog”. Linkhart added: “Now we have a resource that has some value, that’s being harvested.”Īnimal protection advocates vehemently disagree with the trade and with arguments that wild coyotes are a “harvest” or benefit from trappers thinning their population. “Coyotes are hot,” said John Hughes, a buyer at J&M Furs in Roundup, Montana. Prices at auction are estimated to be up 25% from a year ago and 40% from four years ago. From the western US, especially states such as Montana, the silkier, paler pelts easily fetch two or three times at auction what an eastern US coyote does. Quality of fur, abundance and the number of trappers hunting the animals, which has been increasing as the popularity of fashion fur trim has risen, influences prices. The pelt of a coyote from the eastern US typically fetches between $5 and $40 at auction. But the popularity of Canada Goose has changed that. Until recently, the resulting coyote fur was not normally valuable enough to sell. Trappers like Morris are also hired by homeowners’ associations, farmers and ranchers to kill coyotes, in efforts to protect family pets or livestock from the common predator. I treat the animals with respect, and make a little extra money for that effort,” he said. “I’ve been doing this since I was 12 years old. It’s all due to the trim trade John Hughes, J & M Furs The coyote trapping, out in the plentiful woodlands of the region, is a side-earning hobby.īidding was brisk at the auction and Morris finished the day with a net profit of $1,000 on his 60 pelts, he calculated, after the cost of commission and buying the traps. Morris works as an emergency room nurse in a southern Ohio hospital. “The ones we’re trapping usually are suffering from various health problems because of big population growth, and we are dealing with their suffering in a very humane way,” he argued.Ĭanada Goose jackets at the brand’s flagship US store in New York City. ![]() He sets spring-loaded traps that snap on to a coyote’s leg, checks the traps daily and kills any coyotes caught with a gunshot. “People don’t understand how this is an animal like sheep and cattle and chickens, and we manage and use them as a renewable resource,” he said. “That’s probably the main thing that’s driving the coyote market right now,” said Dave Linkhart of the National Trappers Association.Īs Colton Morris continued grooming his pelts for sale he smiled wryly at a question about cruelty to wild animals for the purpose of fashion. The signature navy blue parka, with coyote-fur-lined hood and distinctive Arctic Circle patch on the sleeve, has become a trendy, albeit controversial, fashion statement, retailing for about $1,200 each. The company also handed out freebies to celebrities at the Sundance film festival, and it continues to soar, expanding into China last year. The brand shot to prominence when the model and actor Kate Upton wore a white coat on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 2013. ![]()
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