In light of the recent Denver coyote news, I thought I'd show some of our local reactions to coyotes. The following sightings were posted anonymously on this blog:
2/6/09: "I was woken up last night at 2:30 by the erie howls of a coyote very close and the response of 3+ coyotes further away. There is a single set of tracks across the upper yard. In contract to their night time demeanor, they are beautiful to watch as they play and frolic during the daytime hours."
2/19/09: "We have seen coyotes in our yard/ in front of our house on Moss Hill Road by the foot path several times a week since early January. We have spotted them at all times of day solo, pairs or three at a time. We were awakened by three howling and frolicking in the street in front of our house two weeks ago and they continued to 'play' for nearly 45 minutes. We have two small children and I am a bit concerned by the presence of the coyotes and how close they come to our house and car. We see them in our yard quite often and have found remains of a rabbit as well as a few squirrel tails in the yard - yes, just the tails"
I haven't put either report on my sightings map, for lack of specific location, but the descriptions and reactions are interesting. I sure hope one of the squirrel tails wasn't all white.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Coyotes, Not Eastern, But Still Urban
Denver has seen its share of urban coyote news lately, with a few related stories in the Denver Post, and even one on Monday in the New York Times. Denver-area residents seem to be dealing with coyotes on a large scale, with Greenwood Village, a 14,000-person suburb, having reported 110 sightings in the first two months of 2009.
After several attacks on both animals and humans, Greenwood Village has gone as far as to hire an animal management firm to shoot coyotes deemed "a threat to humans or animals," according to the New York Times.
Not surprisingly, the Times article paints a complicated picture of reactions to the coyotes, which have been "spotted hanging out in local parks, trotting down city streets and lounging in backyards, content and seemingly unafraid of humans." While the prevailing opinion expressed in the article is to want the animals gone, some in the town support eradication, while others have adopted non-violent methods.
Mentioned in the Times article, and at the center of the Denver Post article, is the practice of yelling and gesturing at the coyotes, hopefully to drive them away by instilling a fear of humans -- a method the Denver Post termed "hazing."
A coyote expert quoted in the Times article points out that the coyotes' comfort around humans may largely be our own doing. The Ohio-based expert, Dr. Stanley Gehrt, stated the following: “We do know that when coyotes start to flip over to the dark side, it is almost always because of human feeding... [the coyotes] become more comfortable, and then they become aggressive.”
The coyotes in Denver are not the eastern variety like ours here in JP, but they're still coyotes living in urban and suburban areas among humans. The articles (links above) are worth reading.
After several attacks on both animals and humans, Greenwood Village has gone as far as to hire an animal management firm to shoot coyotes deemed "a threat to humans or animals," according to the New York Times.
Not surprisingly, the Times article paints a complicated picture of reactions to the coyotes, which have been "spotted hanging out in local parks, trotting down city streets and lounging in backyards, content and seemingly unafraid of humans." While the prevailing opinion expressed in the article is to want the animals gone, some in the town support eradication, while others have adopted non-violent methods.
Mentioned in the Times article, and at the center of the Denver Post article, is the practice of yelling and gesturing at the coyotes, hopefully to drive them away by instilling a fear of humans -- a method the Denver Post termed "hazing."
A coyote expert quoted in the Times article points out that the coyotes' comfort around humans may largely be our own doing. The Ohio-based expert, Dr. Stanley Gehrt, stated the following: “We do know that when coyotes start to flip over to the dark side, it is almost always because of human feeding... [the coyotes] become more comfortable, and then they become aggressive.”
The coyotes in Denver are not the eastern variety like ours here in JP, but they're still coyotes living in urban and suburban areas among humans. The articles (links above) are worth reading.
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