Hey, there! Log in / Register
Wandering coyote disrupts traffic on major Mattapan thoroughfare, forces school kids inside
By adamg on Thu, 10/18/2012 - 11:33am
UPDATE, 12:20 p.m.: After making its way back to the school yard and evading Animal Control and police, the coyote made its way up Norfolk to Hosmer Street. At some point in that trip, it was hit by a vehicle and wound up cornered in a rear yard, where it was captured.
Boston Police are monitoring a coyote that's been sauntering up and down Blue Hill Avenue by Walk Hill Street this morning. Around 11:30, the Mildred Avenue School was put into "safe mode" when the coyote entered the schoolyard - students were ordered inside, but otherwise went about their normal school day.
Animal Control, which normally no longer responds to coyote reports, arrived on scene around 11:40 to try to capture the wily coyote, which may have made its escape by way of the nearby Fairmount Line tracks (on a rocket-propelled train?).
And, yes, of course there's already a MattapanCoyote Twitter account. And, yes, of course, WHDH sent its action-news copter for a look - and Victoria Block.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
Stupid freaking
helicopters and news cameras. Why can't they live the coyote alone?
Ouch... ouch... your cameras
Ouch... ouch... your cameras are hurting me!
What's the world coming to?
News helicopters, Victoria Block, school lockdowns? For a coyote? This is what this country has come to. Why aren't they busy looking for people carrying umbrellas that might have a remote chance of being guns, or scouring T stops for CVS bags that might remotely be bombs left behind by absent minded commuters?
Coyote hardly most dangerous on the streets
Helicopters overhead annoy me with the noise, let alone three or so.
The coyote seemed mostly frightened, running away - much tougher humans roam the streets in Mattapan, Roxbury, and Dorchester every day without school lock downs and the calvary called.
Generalizations about humans aside ...
Would they go into lockdown if a stray dog - likely to approach humans - went by the school?
to protect the coyote or the kids?
I'm half joking...even if we know that coyotes are pretty harmless, it was probably a good idea to keep the kids and staff in the school so they did not interfere with the capture or get caught in the crossfire. And I don't think it was really "lockdown"--where the kids are herded to interior rooms away from windows and all the doors are locked. This was just "safe mode" = don't go outside.
My elementary school went into "safe mode" lockdown
for a solar eclipse. We had to stay inside and close all of the shades. No peeking! (I tried to peek to see if it was over. I got in trouble.)
They'd probably be less liable
We get it. Coyotes are close to dogs evolutionarily.
But a neighborhood going crazy over a wild animal is a lot different than a stray domesticated dog sniffing around.
I have a feeling school admin is acutely aware of liability issues these days
Right
A stray domesticated dog is more dangerous.
Coyotes run when people approach, usually.
Dogs don't necessarily do that.
Being a "wild animal" makes the coyote less of a risk than being a stray, unvaccinated dog with no fear of humans.
Perhaps, but tell it to the jury
I'm not arguing which is more dangerous. I'm arguing which has more possible liablity. Dogs are dogs. There may be a kerfluffle if a student got bit by one while in a school playground.
Butr imagine if a kid at school were bitten by a COYOTE?
It would probably make the national news and some people might get fired. Especially if there were a tremendous amount of fair warning.(Helicopters and cruisers.)
let me make sure I have this straight:
A frightened coyote winds up in Mattapan, everyone freaks out.
Dozens of aggressive pitbulls are roaming the same neighborhood with their owners, some of which dogs have been misused and conditioned to fight. And THIS is what we're afraid of?
It's the coyote that was in danger.
Bicyclists are far worse
I wouldn't be surprised if the coyote was legally in a crosswalk, crossing with the light, and was hit by a red light running biker.
Double standard
I saw a pigeon on my roof and called Animal Control, no one showed up.
Obama in the vicinity, coyote placed into Protective Custody
Good move by Animal Control placing the coyote into safekeeping while a desperate President Obama campaigns nearby in New Hampshire.
OK, stop right there
I will allow *one* reply to this message about Seamus the fear-ridden dog in a box on Romney's roof or something. Then I'm going to use my awesome moderator powers and delete every single additional reply about the presidential or senate races. This is a post about a frickin' coyote.
Where's the equal time?
I was going to complain. But you got Seamus in there. Well played Adam.
how about instead of dog
how about instead of dog posts you just delete every post with "fish" in the username?
Romney family jubilant
At being reunited with Seamus, their long-lost dog, who fell off the car roof last week when they were briefly detoured through Mattapan.
Said Taggg Rmoney, "We were certain the 47% would eat him, and my mother was terrified we might go looking for him in the place with those Negroes and soil our magic underwear. Now she can finally stop clutching her pearls."
Seamus was given a special ride home on the roof of one of Anne's Cadillacs, and the family treated him to a trip through the carwash on the way home to clean him off.
(how's that?)
Wow, we don't get that kind of response in Watertown...
... even though the coyotes are eating our cats (well, my neighbor-across-the-street's calico) and wandering down our block every morning around 6 am.
Maybe we should call Channel 5 instead?
Help the animal!
All I really care about is if the coyote is all right and has been released into a better area... the poor thing probably got lost trying to find the Blue Hills....