COYOTE MISADVENTURES

Home | Tell-a-friend

Welcome Guest

Mossy Oak Forum

Home

Members

Calendar

Who's On

Welcome Guest ( Sign In | Register Now )

13 posts, Page 1 of 2

1 2 »»

COYOTE MISADVENTURES

Rate Topic

Display Mode

Topic Options

Author

Message

BowBo

Posted 3/10/2008 1:49:28 PM

Gameskeeper

Group: Moderators
Last Login: Today @ 4:19:27 PM
Posts: 2,953, Visits: 0

.

http://www.predatorxtreme.com/breakingnews.asp?NewsID=126

Coyote Misadventures Nationwide

Ed Park
3/6/2008

Our favorite predator keeps getting in the news as they learn that they can easily outsmart those two-legged, clothes-wearing predators we call humans.

Coyotes are only one of a very few species that has increased its numbers and range along with increases in our human population, and have become a growing problem in many urban areas as they dine on pets, such as cats and small dogs.

Populations of coyotes continue soaring in our eastern states and officials are scrambling to find solutions to some of the problems being caused. The Board of Supervisors of Bedford County, Virginia, had been considering a $50 bounty on coyotes after increases in complaints from citizens about livestock losses, but on February 27 decided against a bounty but in favor of a predator prevention education program. The Virginia State Code authorizes individual counties to create bounties by ordinance, and several counties already have such bounties on coyotes. For example, Campbell County pays $50 per coyote.

In Yellowstone National Park a female coyote stole a woman’s pack at the Old Faithful Snow Lodge. Family members got the pack back by throwing snowballs at the coyote. The coyote ran off, but circled back and attacked the lady. Bites to her leg punctured the skin. Within 15 minutes a Yellowstone Association employee, who was skiing nearby, was bitten on the leg by the same coyote. The skier hit the coyote with a ski pole. A park ranger tracked the pesky coyote to a safe area, then shot it. Tests for rabies were negative.

In Gulf Shores, Alabama, people in residential areas hear coyotes every night, and parents will not allow their children out at night. Residents call the howling “terrifying” and small children are scared. In Orange Beach, Alabama, officials have posted “Coyote Crossing” signs along parts of Canal Road.

This past winter a coyote began harassing skiers at the Copper Mountain ski area in Colorado. Its actions got more and more aggressive – approaching people with teeth bared. The Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) was finally called when the coyote nipped at a skier’s boot, grabbed at a child’s jacket, bit the board of a snowboarder who had fallen, and was driven off as it approached a three-year-old child DOW officers arrived, the ski area was shut down, and the officers located and shot the coyote. Tests for disease are being conducted.

A DOW spokesman said the coyote’s actions suggested the animal had become habituated to humans and looked to them as a source of food. Perhaps skiers riding lifts were dropping food to it, or local residents had been feeding it. As the DOW spokesman said, when people feed animals such as this coyote, they think they are helping, but in too many cases it results in that animal’s death.

San Francisco’s city parks are experiencing a ballooning coyote population and the resulting problems, and city officials are trying to figure out how to handle those problems without raising the ire of the city’s animal-loving human population. The coyotes are showing actions typical of habituated animals. People unthinkingly – and illegally – toss bits of food to the “cute coyotes.” The coyotes begin associating humans with food, get aggressive in their begging, are fed more, get more demanding and nip at the hands that feed them – and end up getting removed and killed. City animal-care workers are encouraging people to scare the coyotes without hurting them – an action they call “vexing” – such as yelling, but not throwing rocks.

In all urban areas having coyote problems, officials issue lists of things not to do, and to do – such as don’t leave pet food or bird feeders outside overnight or allow pets to roam free, and do store garbage in critter-proof containers and keep all pets indoors at night. Too many people ignore any advice, so the coyote problems increase. Along with that, some people scream to leave the coyote alone while others scream to exterminate them.

The bottom line – which is no consolation for those suffering losses from coyotes – came from Curtis Herbert, a wildlife manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. He said, “There will always be coyotes. Eradication’s just not the answer. That’s been proven time and time again.”

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Mathews Switchback
!!EXTREMELY DEADLY!!

I LIVE, BREATHE, and EAT the SPIRIT of the WILD!!!

*Click Here To See My Hunting Trophies*

Post #29536

Jason

Posted 3/10/2008 2:07:52 PM

Gameskeeper

Group: Forum Members
Last Login: Today @ 9:20:03 AM
Posts: 3,579, Visits: 0

BowBo (3/10/2008)

The bottom line – which is no consolation for those suffering losses from coyotes – came from Curtis Herbert, a wildlife manager for the Arizona Game and Fish Department. He said, “There will always be coyotes. Eradication’s just not the answer. That’s been proven time and time again.”

Eradication is not the answer my @$$!!! No what it amounts to is this...

Hunters needs to get out of this...