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Poor coyote will wake up somewhere and be really confused
By adamg on Wed, 01/16/2008 - 11:22am
Jef Taylor, the Urban Pantheist, considers the case of the North End coyote:
... They are going to release it "to the wild" whatever that means. A Coyote found that far into Boston didn't wander there from the Worcester Hills. This guy was a local, and as far as he was concerned, he was in the wild. Nonetheless, the belief that the city is NOT wildlife habitat must be protected at costs, no matter that the wildlife continues to view it as such. He'll be let go someplace woodsy, wondering just what happened. ...
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Comments
Coyote's home was the North End
I've talked to numerous people through the years who have told me that coyotes live in and around the North End as well as the TDBank Garden.
That's going to be one confused coyote.
What??!
How do coyotes survive in the North End and around the TDBank Garden? Just curious, because there are no wooded areas around either place. I could see Jamaica Plain, Dorchester, or some other parts of the city, but the North End?!
Coyotes Don't Need No Stinkin Forests
Coyotes adapt to a variety of environments, including desert habitats, scrub, etc. This means they can also adapt to urban areas as well.
There is plenty of "open land" around the North Station area - the MDC Dam on the Charles, the areas under and around the Zakim bridge, the park on the Charlestown side of the river. A loner - a 'yote without a family or pack - could easily find enough resources and shelter to survive, making rat hunting and garbage sniffing foraging forays into the North End at night.
Falmouth Coyote
Coupla years ago I was a guest in a cottage in Falmouth, maybe 3 blocks from the beach. My brother said, "Well, it's 4 PM, time for the coyote." Sure enough, about ten minutes later, damn thing walks right up the street, doing his best 'ordinary dog' imitation. Oh, my brother is a vet. Animal kind, not military kind.
Wiley
Its food the need, not trees. In the city there's plenty of food for a rodent hunting coyote. I welcome all predators of rats and pidgeons to our urban environment. Just the other day I saw a hawn snatch a squirel out of a tree and then eat it on the sidewalk. I have no problem with that at all.
Don't Ask Don't Smell
Those who like the idea of coyotes and other predators in the urban environment will often notice and talk about the coyotes, they just won't report them.
Our neighborhood is like that - we are on the edge of the forest, but we keep mum about the coyotes because we don't want them hassled. There were people on the other side of the woods who live next to the fells and panicked and freaked out about coyotes in their driveway (?!?!?!?!?), got lots of press coverage of their idiocy, and got the cops deputized to shoot them. We didn't want any of that anywere near our homes, dogs, kids, etc. because the coyotes belong here.
I know some people who work for an environment-oriented organization in the North Station area and they knew about this coyote all along. I suspect the people at Hilton's Tent City have seen this guy and know about him too, they just aren't reporting anything.
Being in places where there are wooded areas is one thing.
The only trouble is that when coyotes and other predatory animals begin wandering into urban and suburban areas, one never knows what they might or might not do to people. Wild animal-human incidents have been on the increase, so it's best to err on the side of caution, and, if possible, animal control people should turn them back over into the forests where they really belong. People, on the other hand, should not feed them or pet them, either.
I'm just glad they didn't
I'm just glad they didn't put it down. I hate when animals get put down just because they happened to wander into what we determine is the wrong place.
The only trouble is though...
what happens if the animal who wanders into what people determine is the wrong place
ends up attacking and seriously hurting or possibly killing someone's pet or even a human being who's unlucky enough to be in its path?
Urban Legends
When my children were younger, like 30 lbs each, I taught them a "coyote drill". They did the drill three times. Each time it wasn't a coyote, but something potentially more dangerous - off leash German shepards and huskies.
Coyotes rarely go near humans, and tend to avoid us. Domesticated dogs that are off leash and out of control are vastly more dangerous to people and pets than coyotes. Yes, coyotes have attacked in a few rare instances, but compare it to the number of dog attacks and it is a very small risk. It would be safer to just ban all dogs than target coyotes.
Since you've lived in places where coyotes are rampant,
then that's one thing. It's necessary to teach kids and other family mambers to co-exist with wild animals. Unfortunately, however, the problem lies when people who're not accustomed to living where coyotes and other wild, predatory animals are a regular sight. Problems frequently come up when people are neither educated or diplomatic enough to have a certain amount of healthy respect for wild animals. All too often, one reads/hears about somebody feeding, or even petting the bear or coyote, thinking it's a cute, cuddly animal, and woe betide them in the end...it often backfires, horribly. Many people don't have enough respect for Mother Nature, which is where the trouble starts.
I think you missed the point
It would be more dangerous to try to pet a dog you don't know than to try to pet a coyote you don't know. The coyote would be more likely to just run away, and the dog would be more likely to bite you. No special amount of caution is required with coyotes, over and above that one should exercise with strange dogs.
Coyotes are not Wolves and not Guard Dogs
Coyotes are less a danger to humans than domestic dogs because the domestic dogs aren't afraid of us. It has nothing to do with our being afraid or not afraid of them. It has nothing to do with any unfounded beliefs in their being savage or being cute.
Large breed dogs that were designed to live with humans and exhibit agressive and territorial behavior - rottweilers, dobermans, pit bulls, German Shepards, etc. - are vastly more dangerous than coyotes. For the coyote, "being wild" actually makes it LESS dangerous to humans, not more.