Public support for restrictions on the killing of coyotes at odds with organized stakeholder group preferences for management.

Coyotes are expanding their range throughout North America and are typically managed as a "nuisance" species in the U.S.A., where take is legally permitted anywhere, anytime, and no limitations on the number of coyotes any individual can kill. Recent interest surfaced in Ohio around limitations on coyote hunting, and to better understand support and opposition to such limits, we surveyed the public, agricultural producers, hunters, and fur takers regarding several coyote-related variables. We found disparities between public support for limitations and organized stakeholder groups opposition to limitations, highlighting a misalignment, yet likewise found some disagreement within organized stakeholder groups in their opposition to limitations. To understand potential drivers of these preferences, we used regression analyses predicting preferences as a function of emotions, risk and benefit perceptions, symbolic beliefs, and gender. We found for fur takers and producers, beliefs about risks, benefits, and symbolic existence of coyotes predicted their opposition to limitations, while for the public, perceptions of risk and benefit were not predictive of support for limitations. Our results suggest some potential for conflict around coyote management both within organized stakeholder groups themselves, who represent a small proportion of the public, and between these groups and the public writ large.