Sunday’s are always a bit quiet here on Village14 so I have one word for you all – “COYOTES”.
Newton’s NextDoor.com site is usually filled with requests for good plumbers, notices about happenings in the neighborhood, babysitters wanted – i.e. a pleasant on-line community bulletin board.
Well that was until this week someone posted about coyotes and the site exploded with 188 comments on the thread.
So, COYOTES – for or against? Thrilling example of nature around us or scourge of our existence? Discuss.
We lost our last cat to coyotes while camping on Cape Cod. Our current pair of kitties are strictly indoor cats, much to their disappointment,and the local birds’ relief.
I had one in my backyard a few weeks ago. May of been after my neighbors dog. Luckily they have a fenced in yard. Got several great pictures before banging on the kitchen window. It took off into the yard next door. Eventually made its’ way to the street and proceeded to walk down the middle of the street for as far as I could see. After checking the Newton Coyote Reports (http://apps.newtonma.gov/coyote-reports), I noticed several more sightings listed in the neighborhood last week.
I have found several dead squirrels in my yard over the last couple of weeks. Coincidence? Not sure. It could be the bald eagle that is nesting in the Pine Trees on the Fessenden School property or some other predator.
In any case, if I had a small pet I would be concerned. I would suggest having a whistle or something that makes a loud noise when walking your dog.
Historically, is this considered usual? We should only be concerned when they loose their fear of people… not sure if we are near that point?
Over the years I’ve noticed an uptick in the number of dead mice, squirrels, and other small mammals n my neighborhood. Must be those damn coyotes, right?
Apparently just the local cats.
However we did have a fawn in our backyard once (when we lived on the corner of Aberdeen and route 9) but animal control wasn’t too worried. I hope she found her way back to Cold Spring Park.
Why shouldn’t they have a right to live in their habitat? We don’t live in a city; there is ample land for them to live on and they do. It’s up to us to keep our pets safe in suburbia (for the record: I have two little dogs that would be snack food for them). Coyotes have a place in our ecosystem; they keep the rabbits in check (barely so, unless you’d like a whole lot more of them) and other animals like rats and mice.
It won’t be a problem until it is; and then it will be too late. The link below is to a 2014 presentation by Dr Stewart Breck, a wildlife researcher for the department of agriculture. Because of attacks on humans, the DOA did a 4 year study of urban coyote problems in the Denver Metropolitan Area. This presentation illustrates what could happen in Newton should the animals become more habituated. The coyote is not native east of the Mississippi; as human settlers moved west they killed the wolf and mountain lion, and this gave room for the coyote to expand east, over the Great Lakes and through the mid-Atlantic states. Now, all those in favor of reintroducing the wolf and mountain lion raise their hand. Ok, so what’s the answer? Well, in my opinion we should implement Dr. Breck’s plan as outlined at the end of his presentation.
https://youtu.be/uO_NXs8Vtfc
I am neither for nor against coyotes. But folks should understand that killing or removing coyotes from Newton will not solve the problem, and could conceivably make it worse. Check the facts about urban coyotes on this website: https://urbancoyoteinitiative.com/10-fascinating-facts-about-urban-coyotes.
Ted – this is misleading – it says “Trapping and killing or relocating urban coyotes does not reduce the overall population of coyotes.”
The goal of management is not to reduce the overall population; it is to reduce the aggressive individuals, putting pressure by artificial selection to bring the aggressiveness down (you’ve heard of natural selection, well artificial selection works too – see Dr. Brecks video I linked to in my previous comment. )
Also, see this research paper “University of Nebraska – LincolnDigitalCommons@University of Nebraska – LincolnWildlife Damage Management Conferences –ProceedingsWildlife Damage Management, Internet Center forApril 2007A REVIEW OF SUCCESSFUL URBANCOYOTE MANAGEMENT PROGRAMSIMPLEMENTED TO PREVENT OR REDUCEATTACKS ON HUMANS AND PETS INSOUTHERN CALIFORNIARex O. BakerCalifornia State Polytechnic University, Pomona, CA”
In the study of Denver I mention above, during the study a 22 year old man was stalked and attacked by 3 coyotes. We don’t want to get to that place, because, as Dr. Breck says, a lot of coyotes will be killed necessarily because managers will have to take a broad approach to get rid of the problem individual.
Lastly, I know I’m not going to do much to reduce the mouse population in general, but when they get in my house I call the exterminator.
Ted – I forgot the link here it is:
https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=http://scholar.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1057&context=icwdm_wdmconfproc