ST. JOHNS — The Arizona Game and Fish Department will continue to lethally remove coyotes from Game Management Unit 2A as part of a program that the agency said has proven successful in aiding struggling pronghorn populations.

The department will conduct aerial lethal removal of coyotes in targeted locations where pronghorn fawn mortality rates have been high due in large part to dry range conditions and predation by coyotes.

The removal effort will be done the weeks of April 19 and May 10. It will be conducted in limited areas north of St. Johns and is expected to improve pronghorn fawn survival.

“Fawns are most susceptible to predation during the first few weeks of life. Our intent is to reduce predation to provide newborn pronghorn a chance to survive the most critical first few months,” said Regional Supervisor Chris Bagnoli of the Game and Fish office in Pinetop.

Surveys conducted after the first year of predator control showed a fawn-to-doe ratio of 26-to-100 does. The fawn-to-doe ratio before the predator control effort began in 2014 was 17-to-100.

Game and Fish biologists believe this effort will bolster the pronghorn population as it did in previous years. A similar program conducted from 2009 to 2013 boosted fawn survival rates in Game Management Unit 4A.