Colorado Springs, CO…A coalition of environmental and animal protection citizens' groups filed a lawsuit in federal court in Denver, CO yesterday, July 27, 2000 seeking an immediate stop to the killing of coyotes at the Colorado Springs Airport. The citizens pleadings stated that the federal government and the Airport have slaughtered three coyotes and plan to kill an additional seven in violation of federal environmental laws. The citizens' groups prevailed and the Court entered an order stating that no killing will be allowed for 11 days, by which time the citizens will provide the court with further evidence as to why the killing must be stopped or the opposing parties will have reached a satisfactory settlement of the matter.

The attorney for the citizens groups, Gretchen Biggs, stated, "We got what we came for here today. Our only remedy at this time was to ask the Court for a temporary restraining order to stop this unnecessary and, we believe illegal slaughter of coyotes. The federal government agreed to stop, in response to our lawsuit, but it is only a temporary solution. The next step is to get an injunction which will stop them hopefully, for good. Until we have that, thelives of seven more coyotes are on the line. My clients want to make sure those coyotes are protected."

Co-founder of Pikes Peak Wildlife Preservation Society, Connie Perham stated, "We will continue our fight to encourage the Airport to use non-lethal methods of predator control. These methods include the use of a wildlife perimeter fence that has been proven to be an effective method of coyote exclusion by other major airports in the United States. Our goal is to stop the slaughter permanently and to bring the Airport and Wildlife Services into compliance with federal environmental laws."