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I stopped by the booth of the Animal Protection Institute while attending a recent convention of the National Conference of State Legislatures last month in Nashville, Tenn.

I picked up and thumbed through API's publication, called "Coyotes in Our Midst." I like coyotes but haven't really given much thought to them - not 64 pages worth of consideration, anyway.

Everything you would ever want to know about coyotes is in the API publication, including the role of coyotes in the ecosystem, population management techniques and the increasing conflicts between coyotes and humans, a consequence of our expanding civilization.

Several states have enacted laws to provide some protection to coyotes. However, the killing of coyotes in New Mexico is completely unregulated. There is no season. Actually, there is - all year round. Coyotes are killed using dogs, firearms, bows and arrows and are clubbed for their fur after being caught using leghold traps and snares. There is no limit on how many coyotes an individual may kill. Coyotes are the most persecuted native carnivore in the country.

Coyotes are not endangered. They are in fact quite resilient and adaptive creatures. There are more coyotes living in North America today than ever before.

I live in Rio Rancho, where coyote sightings have become common. A mother and her pups were in my neighbor's front yard a few weeks ago, prompting alarm among the subdivision's residents with small children and pets who are allowed to roam free.

If you live in an area with coyotes, you shouldn't let your companion pet roam around at night. Coyotes like to feed opportunistically after the sun goes down, primarily on rabbits and rodents. If that type of prey is not available, cats taste just fine.

It's impossible to deny that coyotes can pose problems for private-property owners. API statistics from 2003 show 5,402 coyotes were killed in New Mexico by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services program. Most were killed by aerial gunning and sodium cyanide poisoning, although a large number were also killed using leg traps and snares.

The village of Corrales has adopted some positive initiatives to make its community more coyote-friendly. There is a sign just outside the village that says "Coyotes Live Here," and many residents have been fighting to have leghold traps and snares banned in the village.

Leghold traps in New Mexico must incorporate an offset design to minimize the damage to bones and limbs. However, neck snares often result in particularly cruel deaths, resulting from restricted blood flow and suffocation.

Corrales Animal Control publishes a three-page brochure on how to co-exist with coyotes, which includes several non-lethal suggestions on how to deter the animals from hunting and dwelling on your property.

If you are interested in obtaining packages of "Coexisting with Coyotes" door-hangers or copies of the API's publications, including "Coyotes in our Midst," you can visit this Web site: www.coexistingwithwildlife.org.

Bullington is a senior policy adviser for the Brownstein, Hyatt and Farber law firm. He welcomes comments at jdbullington@gmail.com