Notice of Hearing on the Application to Use Sodium Fluoroacetate ...

a cGyoce wculd be either m t ~ n by the coyote or would "celt dcwn"
wi thin cwo days.
54. iclr. Chase Hi bbard, a fourth gzneration sheep and catt1s rancher frorn
Helena, Montana and a witness for AF3F, t~stified that the family
ranch was best suit2d f3r she? and has hisiarically besn a sheep
ranch. He stated thac in 1969 they Idere running 3,3GC swes and iost
3 ierc2nt <strong>of</strong> the lamb crop betxeen dockjng in ezrly June and shi ?piqg
in late September. Ouring the nex; flve years losses rose from 14
percsnt in 1971 XI 33 percent in 1973 and 35 perc2nt in 1373. ?e
acknowis!d~ed +sat ihese wer? totz! 1 osses anc caac i c dotili be vsry
di "=. I , cult to ~stirnate the loss r2t2 att~i5utabi 2 t3 coyole przdation,
He asserzed, however, that he ;vas artributing the xaj'cri cy <strong>of</strong> the losses
to predators, chi sf7 y coyotes , and that when the numbers jump from 5
percent in 1970 to 39 percent in 1973, s~mething was happening
other ",an deaths to natural causes. He asser~~il -,hat the oniy way
they were able to survive was by switcning frcrn sheeo to cattle and
thac in 1975 they sald most <strong>of</strong> the rerna'ining commercial sheep.
55. Mr. Truman Julian, a sheep rancher from Kemerer, Wyoming and a witness
for Wyomi ng, et a 1 . , began kee~i ng loss records in 1975 shortly after
joining his father's sheep ranch. He testified that in 1977 they lost
700 lambs or 24 percent <strong>of</strong> the herd and in 1981 they 10s: 635 lambs
or 10 percent <strong>of</strong> the herd. Herd figures are based on the numbers <strong>of</strong>
lambs docked. He asserted that 477 or 68 percent <strong>of</strong> the 700 lainbs
lost in 1977 were lost to predators. He testified that the 477
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