The trouble with killing contests is that they don't help us understand our environment and usually lead to a heated debate instead of a rational one. Rather than launching a killing contest to deal with the alleged acts of the Eastern Coyote, our efforts should be to learn more about the role the Eastern Coyote plays in our environment. We should learn about the larger role of top predator in an environment increasing hostile towards anything that annoys some people. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation itself admits that it needs to investigate the role that the Eastern Coyote now plays in an area without other major predators. But that is going to be difficult if a thoughtful inquiry is set against a background of prejudice, misinformation, and hideous retaliations for differing views on the worth of another creature. FrankRegan@RochesterEnvironmen t.com