198 CONSERVATION OF CANADIAN WILD LIFE 
when it would not be desirable to kill a steer for the ranch hands. But 
the coyotes have got the whip hand of us and our bunch will all be sold 
in a few days.” 
An Expert OPINION 
Mr. A. Bryan Williams, for many years Provincial Game Warden, in a 
letter to the Wool Growers Association last March (1918), states: “It ap- 
pears to me that the coyote question is one in which your Association 
and my Department are equally interested, and if I had been retaining 
my present position I should have been extremely pleased to have worked 
in conjunction with you. There is one thing, however, to which I might 
call your attention, which I believe is of particular interest to your Asso- 
ciation, and that is that the sheep-killing coyote is very seldom killed. 
The great majority of coyotes killed are not sheep-killers, the latter is 
very wary, and it takes a really first class professional to catch him, and I 
believe it would pay to have such a man employed by the Department of 
Agriculture, to go from place to place, wherever his services were re- 
quired, and trap these coyotes. I believe that more good has been done 
in the United States by these professionals than any other way. I im- 
agine, however, there would be extreme difficulty in getting such a man, 
at any rate at the present time, but the idea is well worth considering.” 
In British Columbia a vigorous campaign against these 
animals has been carried on for a number of years. During 
recent years bounties have been paid on the following num- 
bers: 
Cougars 
Coyotes 
The greatest number of cougars was killed in Vancouver 
Island. In spite of this destruction the number of these 
predatory animals has undoubtedly increased, and the 
coyote nuisance, in particular, has become more serious in 
the sheep-raising sections. In his annual report for 1916 
the provincial game warden of British Columbia states: 
‘The coyote nuisance has become a very serious one, as 
