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Why California officials are killing coyote, after coyote, after coyote

by Coyotes In Orange County 6 Comments

Why California officials are killing coyote, after coyote, after coyote

Why California officials are killing coyote, after coyote, after coyote

 

 

 

Emily Guerin | March 15, 2018

On Wednesday night, a 5-year-old boy was walking with his father on the campus of Cal State Los Angeles when a coyote came up from behind and bit him on the leg. The boy went to the hospital and likely received a rabies shot. But what happened to the coyote?

In California, coyotes have the same legal status as pigeons and rats. They’re considered “non-game animals,” which means anyone can kill as many of them as they want, at any time of year.  There are some restrictions: it’s illegal to poison them or capture them with a leg-hold trap.

What happened next at Cal State LA on Wednesday night was perfectly legal: according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, a university police officer fired his rifle at the coyote, after it was seen stalking a woman shortly after biting the boy. But the coyote got away.

Now, the search for the offending coyote has intensified. DFW officers took the pants of the boy who was bitten to a lab to attempt to get a DNA sample. Thursday night, after dark, they plan to set up traps all over the Cal State LA campus. Working with Wildlife Services, a federal agency whose mandate is to “resolve wildlife conflicts to allow people and wildlife to coexist,” they’ll use animal calls to lure coyotes in. Because they’re so difficult to trap, officials often end up shooting them instead.

It’s not something DFW Lt. J.C. Healy particularly enjoys.

“I don’t really enjoy killing animals,” he said. “It’s a challenge. Because they’re pretty saavy.”

After each coyote they kill, DFW officers and trappers take a saliva or tissue sample and look for a genetic match to the sample from the pants of the boy who was bitten.

“If it’s the first coyote we capture, we’ll cease operations,” said Healy. But if not, they’ll keep going. They can trap and kill up to half a dozen coyotes a time, looking for the culprit. “Sometimes it takes one, two, three nights.”

People vehemently disagree about whether this is the best approach to deal with aggressive coyotes.

In an interview with KPCC last April, Niamh Quinn, who studies coyote-human interaction at the University of California Cooperative Extension in Orange County, said killing coyotes does not reduce their overall number, because it creates a vacuum that other coyotes move in to fill. Rather, she said, the aim is to eliminate problem coyotes, and hope that whatever coyotes move in to an area next won’t be as aggressive.

“It does look like lethal control is a good short term option. But it’s not the long term solution,” she said. “The long term solution is making citizens aware of how to act in areas where coyotes are, because coyotes are not going anyway. They’re here to say. Coyotes are not coming from the hills anymore. We have urban coyotes.”

Lisa Lange, senior vice president for communications at People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), said the long-term solution is to prevent conflicts in the first place. She said people can eliminate the reasons why coyotes are hanging around populated areas in the first place: open garbage cans, food that is left out or even intentional feeding.

“We need to start ticketing people when they leave food out for wildlife. We need to fine people when they have a picnic and leave their trash out,” she told KPCC last May.

It’s hard to tell whether human coyote conflicts are getting worse.  Many people feel that they are, thanks to posts on Nextdoor or Facebook, but data is lacking because there’s no single agency that tracks coyote attacks. California Department of Fish and Wildlife only keeps track of when the agency is called in to kill aggressive animals. And Los Angeles County Department of Public Health has a database of the number of county residents who received rabies shots for coyote bites. In 2012, three people got shots. That number jumped to 16 in 2016, but fell to 5 in 2017.

But anecdotally, public health experts say coyotes appear to be getting more aggressive.

“The way they’re interacting with people is just not the way we used to see things occurring,” Karen Ehnert, the chief veterinarian for county public health, told KPCC in May 2016. She said before, it seemed like coyote attacks on people happened when a coyote was going after a pet, and the person intervened to try to save the pet.

“Now we have people being attacked, and there’s no pet around. There’s no food. There’s really no reason for the coyote to attack the human. So it’s disturbing.”

So, what to do if you are stalked by a coyote, or one is eyeing your dog on a walk?

Experts say to try to frighten it away: get big, make a lot of noise, and throw rocks at it. Do this even if it isn’t stalking you, because this helps reinstall a fear of humans in coyotes that may have lost it. If it attacks you – which is very rare – don’t be afraid to fight back.

This story has been updated to clarify who California Department of Fish and Wildlife is working with to trap and kill coyotes.

source:  https://www.scpr.org/news/2018/03/15/81707/what-happens-when-a-coyote-bites-a-person/

 

 

Fish and Game Hunting Regulations for Mammals

 

 

 

Filed Under: Articles, Fish and Game, Los Angeles County

Rebuttal to the Daily Pilot article – Coyotes are Here to Stay (30-Oct-2012)

October 31, 2012 by Coyotes In Orange County 2 Comments

Rebuttal:  DP-Coyotes-rebuttal_31-Oct-2012(RJB)

Original article:  Daily Pilot

31-Oct-2012
Regarding the Daily Pilot article “Coyotes are Here to Stay” (30-Oct-2012), I found the
attitude of our public service agencies, typical of those expressed in this article, to be
utterly condescending and infuriating. These people who say “just live with it” and
“there’s nothing that can be done” are missing the point. No one denies coyotes exist,
but some of the statements were just ludicrous. Who feeds coyotes? Why would anyone
compare tracking coyotes to reporting stray cats? Coyotes are wild animals, as much as
any mountain lion or bear, that should be regarded in a developed area as a serious
public safety concern, but far more numerous and adept at concealment. This
widespread deference to coyotes is beyond comprehension.
The point is there are far too many of them, way too close to humans (and pets), with
too much freedom to terrorize the neighborhoods as they have been this year and in the
recent past. The point is that the coyotes among us, both on sightings data and on an
anecdotal basis, are worse than they’ve ever been in this area during the almost 30
years I’ve lived here. Just last week, I had my own close encounter chasing away a
coyote on my street in the middle of the night. The point is that the population needs to
be “managed” (i.e., exterminate a number of them) to reduce the chances of something
terrible.
We’re told they’re important for the ecology. Maybe so, but they’re eating our pets! From
personal experience, it is horrific enough to lose a pet in this way where we’ve invested
both emotion and money in their health and well-being, and then be blamed for letting
the animal out in its own yard. Any feedback for solutions from public agencies has
been both insulting and frustrating. I hear that Huntington Beach charges for the pick-up
and removal of remains (usually of a pet) left by a coyote on one’s property. Also,
Animal Control in my own City of Newport Beach had the audacity to tell me what I’ve
been reading is exaggerated. If no one on the public side is keeping track, as stated in
that article, how could they make such a statement? Other responses trivialize the
threat and disregard logic as we’re told there are more dog bites than coyote bites or
that there are more cats killed by cars than coyotes. If unrestrained dogs can command
public safety’s attention, then so should the unpredictable, indiscriminate, and
increasingly frequent encounters with residents and casualties to our pets from these
wild dogs called coyotes.
No one expects 100% eradication, but what we don’t need are more tips on how to let
them control our behavior……..in our own homes, on our own property. We need
solutions for reducing the anxiety, minimizing the aggravation, and regaining some
peace of mind. Since it’s a multi-jurisdictional problem, the easy route for any city is to
pass it off and ignore it. According to some notifications, coyotes are rarely seen in
December and January. So, once again the issue will go dormant…… temporarily.
However, next spring we can anticipate more of the same, maybe worse. “Just living
with them” isn’t a very good option. It’s just a matter of time before a serious incident
(for example, with a child or a deadly disease) motivates some action, be it public or
private, to adequately address the problem.
Roberta Buchanan

Filed Under: Articles, Orange County, What's Up

Coyote vs. Bobcat

October 30, 2012 by Coyotes In Orange County Leave a Comment

Coyote vs. Bobcat
AdTech Ad

Web Extra: Meow! Coyote vs. Bobcat in Montgomery County

By: KARK 4 News
Updated: October 30, 2012
http://arkansasmatters.com/fulltext?nxd_id=602082

The wooded areas of Arkansas are filled with wildlife.

A game camera in Montgomery County recently snapped a photo of a coyote approaching a bobcat outside Mount Ida in the Ouachita National Forest.

Kevan Chown shared the photo on the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Facebook page.

He also shared the next frame showing the coyote still in the area but the bobcat was nowhere in sight.

If a coyote can take on a bobcat,  why would a 3 year old be safe?  

Filed Under: Articles Tagged With: bobcat, coyote

Another rare attack on a human from a coyote

October 30, 2012 by Coyotes In Orange County Leave a Comment

Another rare attack on a human from a coyote

Coyote shot and killed after attacking Malabar woman

Victim’s daughter-in-law killed animal

Google Maps
Written by
Andrew Ford
FLORIDA TODAY

Ed Mills was standing on his deck in Malabar on Wednesday evening when he heard screaming and gunshots. Minutes later he heard ambulance sirens.

“It was scary,” Mills said. “My thought was it was either domestic or somebody had shot a dog in their yard or a raccoon.”

 

Turns out , a 54-year-old woman who lived nearby on Hall Road had been attacked by a coyote and was transported to Palm Bay Hospital. A family member shot the animal dead.

 

Brevard County Sheriff’s Deputies received a call at about 2:50 p.m. that a resident had spotted a coyote in the 2000 block of Duncil Lane, but the resident said the wild animal disappeared into an area of forest, according to Maj. Vic Desantis.

 

At about 5:30 p.m., a woman on Hall Road called to say her mother-in-law had been bitten by a coyote and that she shot the dog.

 

“On the way home from work, I glanced over at their house and saw this ugly little dog thing out front,” said Mills, who lives nearby on Flashy Lane. “I thought, man that’s a mangy looking dog, that one.”

 

Mills said the residents of the house where the woman was bitten moved in recently and he doesn’t know them well. He didn’t see the attack, but he did see the dog’s carcass.

 

Laurie Smith, a neighbor who also lives on Flashy Lane, said she’s not worried about the coyotes in the area. She’s home during the day, and her three horses are kept inside at night.

 

“I feel bad for her,” Smith said of the injured woman. “I guess she got sliced up pretty bad.”

 

Brevard County Animal Control and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission also responded to the scene to deal with the coyote carcass. Desantis said the carcass likely will be tested for disease.

 

Desantis urged Brevard residents to be careful around wild animals.

 

“Wildlife is just that, it’s wild and best left alone if at all possible,” he said. “The same holds true for alligators and other critters.

 

“If you do get bitten, your first thought should be of getting medical attention,” he said. “If at all possible, try to have that animal contained so it can be tested later to see if it has communicable diseases.”

 http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20121025/NEWS01/121025025/Coyote-shot-killed-after-attacking-Malabar-woman

image from:  http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/19918846/woman-attacked-by-coyote-in-brevard-co
MALABAR, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35 ORLANDO) -A 54-year-old woman attacked by a coyote in Brevard County is being treated in a hospital.

Sheriff’s officials say the woman was attacked Wednesday and taken to Palm Bay Hospital. Authorities have not released her condition or name.

The attack happened in Malabar along Florida’s east coast.

RELATED: Coyote trouble in Orange County

RELATED: Coyotes hunting in Merritt Island neighborhood

A woman called authorities to say her mother-in-law had been bitten by a coyote. The caller said she shot the dog.   Brevard County Animal Control and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission responded to the scene to remove the carcass.  Authorities say it will be tested for any disease.

Earlier this year, trappers were called to a Merritt Island neighborhood to track down a pack of coyotes living in an old abandoned orange grove.   Residents along South Tropical Cove reported missing pets and suspected that the coyotes were to blame.

Just last month, in Orange County’s Dr. Phillips neighborhood, FOX 35 caught up with a trapper who told us that coyotes that are used to the presence of humans should be considered very dangerous.   He said trappers will often use anvils, special cages or BB guns to rid a neighborhood of the nuisance animals.

Coyotes are usually three to five feet long and hunt small animals.  According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission, their interaction with humans is becoming more common.

Read more: http://www.myfoxorlando.com/story/19918846/woman-attacked-by-coyote-in-brevard-co#ixzz2AnkzLm00

Filed Under: Articles, Attacks On People

Coyotes more scarier than Halloween for Florida Residents

October 30, 2012 by Coyotes In Orange County Leave a Comment

Coyotes in Abandoned Florida Mansion Have Neighbors on Edge

By Graham Wood 

| Posted Oct 29th 2012 4:00PM

Some parents in Clearwater, Fla., are afraid to let their children go trick-or-treating on Halloween, because of coyotes holed up in an abandoned mansion down the street, they say.

The home (pictured above) has been overgrown by foliage and unoccupied for years, and has turned into a breeding ground for animals, its neighbors say.

coyotes in Clearwater Florida mansion“We have a 5-foot lizard, which is a very aggressive species … living on that property,” Allie Lyon, who lives down the street, told TV station WTSP in Tampa. “We’ve had lots of rat problems — rats going through the neighborhood and going through our homes and yards. And now the coyotes are coming out in broad daylight and being in our front yards. It’s very scary.”

Neighborhood resident Sema VanBomel snapped photos of a coyote (pictured at left) stalking its sidewalks in the middle of the day.

“For some reason, that coyote keeps going towards her house,” VanBomel said of her neighbor’s property. “It’s, like, trying to get over the fence.”

Lyon, who has two children, ages 2 and 3, said that she fears for their safety.

“A coyote — they can attack small children,” she said. “It’s a concern for us being out trick-or-treating on Halloween, and this neighborhood has a lot of children in it,”

Lyon told another local station, WFTS, that she called animal control, police and other city officials about the coyotes, but that no one has stepped in and offered assistance.

“We can’t get anyone to help us and take care of this problem,” Lyon said.

Some neighbors have said that they’ve seen coyote pups coming from the property.

“I know they’re coming from there,” Tom Byrnes told WTSP. “I’ve seen them come in and out of there day and night.”

It seems abandoned homes are the perfect spots for coyotes to set up camp. Those living near a burned-out, abandoned home in Glendale, Calif., reportedly got quite a scare last year when a pack of coyotes took up residence there. The owners had to give permission to the city to trap the animals and remove them.

http://realestate.aol.com/blog/2012/10/29/coyotes-abandoned-mansion-clearwater-florida/

Filed Under: Articles, News Feed Tagged With: abandoned house, coyote, florida

Sharpshooter Kills Coyotes – Colorado

June 28, 2012 by Coyotes In Orange County 1 Comment

 

Sharpshooter Kills Coyotes In Adams County Neighborhood

Neighbors Concerned About Safety

Jaclyn Allen, 7NEWS Reporter

 

POSTED: 10:58 pm MDT May 31, 2012
UPDATED: 12:46 pm MDT June 1, 2012

ADAMS COUNTY, Colo. — Some residents in an Adams County neighborhood are outraged after they said one homeowner hired a sharpshooter to take out coyotes.

 

In the rural Adams County Horse Community near 15000 Zuni Street, the sound of shots fired seemed out of place. “So, I called the Adams County Sheriff’s office,” said Joyce Maggio, who said she soon learned from deputies that the bullets were actually fired by a sharpshooter a neighbor had hired to kill coyotes.

 

“I stood on my deck Friday night and I listened to the gunfire and I heard the coyotes howl as their mates and their pups were annihilated. That’s just not right.”

Natalie Quaratino said she saw the shooter dressed in camouflage walking near her back field, dragging a coyote carcass.

She was immediately concerned for her children, horse and dogs.

“It’s reckless to have a gun rural neighborhood, but the homes are still only maybe a half an acre apart from each other (or) an acre apart,” said Quaratino.

The neighbor who hired the sniper, Russell Farmer, said he believes coyotes tried to attack his dogs and may have killed his cat.

He would not comment any further, though, and said it was a private matter.

The Adams County Sheriff’s Office said private landowners can discharge firearms on their property as long as it is not within 150 feet of another home.

The Division of Wildlife considers coyotes a nuisance animal, so property owners have a right to kill them to protect their property.

Neighbors in the area said they just wish it had been handled differently, like it was when coyotes were attacking small children in the nearby Anthem neighborhood last year.

“They did isolate the offender — the rogue coyote — and then eliminated him and the attacks stopped,” said Maggio.

Quaratino said she thinks something needs to be done to keep this from happening again in their neighborhood.

“There needs to be an ordinance to keep people from walking around shooting in this neighborhood,” she said.

Filed Under: Articles

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