MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) — State wildlife officials have drafted a new coyote hunting law intended to prevent live coyotes from being illegally sold to people who then hunt them down with dogs.

The proposed rule change was drafted after the Indiana Department of Natural Resources learned last year that coyotes trapped in Indiana were being exported to Southern states for use as live bait at hound-dog facilities.

Linnea Petercheff, operations staff specialist with the Indiana Department of Natural Resources’ division of fish and wildlife, told The Star Press of Muncie that there was “confusion among trappers as to what they could legally do” with coyotes they had trapped.

“Some thought the term ’prompt disposal’ meant as long as they promptly got rid of the coyote by selling it, then they were complying with the regulations,” Petercheff said.

The Indiana Natural Resources Commission, which drafted the new rule, is planning public hearings before considering final adoption of the changes to Indiana’s administrative code governing coyotes.

The proposed law clarifies that coyotes taken from March 16 through Oct. 14 — the period outside the hunting and trapping season — must be euthanized within 24 hours and cannot be sold or traded.

It also states that selling or trading coyotes within 24 hours of trapping them is not a legal means of prompt disposal.

DNR spokesman Phil Bloom said the agency understands that during the trapping season sometimes trappers catch a coyote but want to feed it and water it until its fur condition improves before they kill and skin it to sell the animal’s hide.

Questions aside regarding the ethical implications of selling live coyotes to dog running enclosures, Bloom said it’s unacceptable to export coyotes to states where the animals are not native. Doing so risks exposing other wildlife, livestock and humans to disease, he said.

In 1993, coyotes imported from Texas were linked to the introduction of the Texas strain of rabies into Covington County, Ala.

In 1994, the same strain of rabies was found in Alachua County, Fla.

Those two incidents led to the depopulation of coyotes and foxes inside two fenced running areas, and 24 people were forced to receive rabies treatment in Florida.

Other diseases of concern are distemper and a tapeworm that can infect foxes, coyotes and humans. The parasite can be fatal in humans.

Earl Hunt, 66, of Kennard, Ind., was arrested and jailed in New Castle in November on felony charges of unlawful sale or shipment of wild animals and conspiracy to commit unlawful shipment of wild animals, and other charges.

Authorities said Hunt was supplying foxes and coyotes to fenced running enclosures in Southern states, where the animals became running stock for hounds.

Indiana Conservation Officer John Salb said in November that up to 10 dogs chase the coyotes, killing them in a way that causes “prolonged agony.”

Hunt pleaded not guilty to the charges in Indiana. His trial is scheduled for April 30 in Henry County.

Posted 2/18/2008