Belmont’s Animal Control Officer John Maguranis wants to create a coyote hazing team to deal with the town’s coyote population.
“This is absolutely the best alternative to dealing with coyotes,” Maguranis told the Globe. “Manage the ones you have, keep ‘em healthy and happy, and haze the [heck] out of them.”
Should we consider this in Newton?
This is an okay plan. However, there is a more dangerous dog amongst us. It’s time to faze out Pit Bull ownership. Coyotes haven’t killed anyone. Pit Bulls have. Grandfather current pit bulls and ban new ownership.
It’s too bad nobody saw the “coyote problem” coming years ago, so measures could have been taken to control their population growth in the suburbs. After telling people they could make this problem go away by banging a couple of pots and pans together, State wildlife officials have clearly lost all credibility, as hundreds of people in Newton alone have lost their pets to coyote attacks. And if anyone thinks these animals are not capable of killing a child, they simply don’t understand the nature of the beast.
These State wildlife “experts” are fond of pointing out that there have only been 5 reported attacks on humans in the [approximately] 60 years coyotes have been in Massachusetts. What they don’t tell you is that those attacks [most involving children] have all happened in recent years as coyotes have moved into Eastern Massachusetts.
Now most of the options are off-the-table, because you just can’t go around exterminating all these animals. Aside from that being an inhumane approach, it would be ineffective anyway, as the coyote population is so established that more would simply move in to take the place of any who are removed. This is now a permanent problem that requires resources and management.
Project Coyote is the best plan to manage the situation, although it has one major flaw. You can “haze” a coyote into running away, but where is it supposed to go? As soon as the hazing stops, a coyote is going to come right back to the exact same spot. This effort needs to include a sterilization program, to keep the existing coyotes in place, while getting a grip on their population growth.
Are we witnessing Mike Striar’s Etch A Sketch moment? : )
Mike – I think the point is not to make the coyotes go away, but to make them shy of people so that they will avoid direct contact. If they stay separated (as racoons and skunks tend to), then a lot of the dangers to people are averted.
mgwa– I understand the point, but it doesn’t work. Raccoons and skunks are not predators, so your comparison to coyotes is not a good one. The coyotes that are here are fully urbanized. They’re quite comfortable living around human activity. Harassing an animal once or twice, is not going to change it’s long term behavior patterns.
I think this is how it’s done>> http://tinyurl.com/bear-haze
Mike – hazing has been successfully used in Denver:
http://www.humanesociety.org/assets/pdfs/wild_neighbors/coyote_conflict_management.pdf
I prefer to think of it as, Mike Striar’s, “I told you so,” moment. [But that was pretty funny, Greg].
@mgwa– First, look at the source of that article. Then if you read it carefully, you’ll see this disclaimer…
“There is speculation in the literature that hazing is not effective with problem coyotes, especially for coyotes that have attacked pets or exhibited bold or aggressive behavior towards people. However, there is no published data to demonstrate either the effectiveness or lack of effectiveness of hazing.”
How do I keep them “healthy and happy”. By feeding them our cat???
First off, the Humane Society of the United States is a radical animal rights organization (currently being brought up on racketeering and fraud charges) that should not be regarded as a credible source. In my experience, very little they have ever said or published has ever had much basis in fact. Second, “hazing” the coyotes may work, but only for a short time. I have had much experience in dealing with coyotes, “living with” them for many years. I have learned one important thing about them in all that time; they have the best learning ability of any wild animal found in this part the country. You can make all the noise and threats you want, but eventually they will figure out that you are not willing to harm them. I know many may not want to hear this, but given the coyote population’s current trend here in urban areas, they are eventually going to eat themselves out of their own food source, and then we will have a large group of hungry, desperate, coyotes to deal with. Seeing as no animal is going to sit there and politely starve to death for you. They will get whatever they can for a food source, and if you are in the way, then no amount of “hazing” is going to help you. At that point, killing a few of them would actually be the more humane option than watching them either starve en masse. Coyotes need to be properly managed like any other wild animal. Whether or not you think that is “inhumane” is a matter of personal opinion, but I’m telling you right now, unless steps are taken to effectively manage the statewide coyote population (sterilization programs being too expensive to implement this way) than this problem is only going to get worse.
Alex, If food is no longer abundant and available that is going to help regulate the coyote population because it will have a direct effect on reproduction (according to every scientific article I’ve seen about managing coyote populations.) As you point out, coyotes are very adaptable creatures and they are omnivores so their diets are limited to just meat. They are also territorial and defensive of their territories. I agree that management is required, I’m just not persuaded that there’s any science to support your predictions.
“so their diets are limited to just meat.” forgot a word there – their diets are NOT limited to just meat.