Sandy Springs HOA Plans to Capture and Kill Coyotes
Decatur Metro | November 10, 2011 | 12:39 pmThough no coyotes or coyotes experts are quoted in this article, many Decaturites are well aware that if you bring in experts, they will advise against capture and killing coyotes. Not for any moral reason, but because the animals will just quickly repopulate your coyote-friendly areas. Guess Sandy Springs has some money to burn. From the AJC…
Confrontations between residents and coyotes in a Sandy Springs neighborhood have gotten so serious, a homeowners association board recently voted to hire trappers to capture and kill the animals – the latest to do so in the area, but creating a split in the community.
“It was a tough decision, but we’ve made it. I’m having about 12-to-1 calls and emails in favor of this process,” Dane Seibert, president of the Huntcliff Homeowners Association, told the AJC in a phone interview.
Ah well, ’tis better to have killed and lost, than never to have killed at all, I suppose.
“Huntcliff …”
Whaddaya expect, with a name like that? But seriously, I think that’s what a lot of communities do. If you end up with a sense that these specific animals that are being particularly bold and problematic, trap/relocate/kill those individuals. You’ll get a respite before nature re-hires, and the replacements may not cause the same types of problems… at least for a while.
Let’s give the people of Sandy Springs a chance to try what seems to me like a terrific idea.
Meep Meep.
Cat & R.Runner, thanks for the early afternoon laugh 😉
Reason #2,042 we left that heck-hole and moved here…
Haha… I’m from AZ, where coyotes regularly roam the neighborhoods, and honestly, (unless rabid, I guess) they are much more frightened of humans than we are of them. They will run away if you even LOOK at them. Not sure this is the best solution, but then again I have no alternatives to offer up. It just seems a little bit drastic…
The article suggests they’re being somewhat less cautious in Sandy Springs. Quote: “We’ve had animals being attacked literally on the steps of our houses, in our back yards. We just felt it’s time to fight,” he said. “I had one chase my cat all the way up to the deck.” If that is correct — and I suspect that none of us can say that it isn’t — they do seem to have a serious problem up there. I have no desire to hunt or kill coyotes myself, but I wouldn;t be too happy about them hunting my cat on my front lawn, either.
On Halloween we had a report from East Parkwood of a coyote taking a cat off the porch of a house and killing it before the observing people could react. Cat died in owner’s arms.
http://datelinedecatur.com/2011/10/31/coyote-kills-cat-on-east-parkwood/
Two days later my neighbor watches a coyote scouting inside my fenced backyard, then jump the 4 ft fence to her yard, prowl around awhile before jumping over her back fence into the Sugar Creek green space between 2nd Ave and 3rd Ave. She estimated the size at 55 – 65 pounds, similar to her dog. I’m very glad my 2 small dogs were inside at the time, and we continue to monitor their outdoor time.
Fear often causes us to grossly overestimate size. The average coyote weighs 25-30 pounds. Southern coyotes are smaller than northern coyotes and the largest (non-wolf hybrid) coyote ever recorded weighed around 70 pounds. If your friend is really seeing coyotes that big in her backyard, she might want to call the Guinness Book of World Records.
Like Daisy said, when I lived in New Mexico, coyotes were everywhere and did not seem problematic other than pooping on your lawn if you were foolish enough to maintain a lawn in the desert. But read the book “Tortilla Curtain” and you’ll have a different feeling about coyotes….
I have read most of TC’s work and that is a good one. I think his moral lesson (or at least the story’s ending) is one that many of the people commenting on this web site, should think about. I mean those who seem to fear incessantly about their property values above all else.
Anyone want to bet the guys with the guns eventually lose?
Article says they are trapping them, not shooting them.
They will wait unitl they are outside the city limits to shoot them…
As DM pointed out capturing and killing isn’t a long term solution. I think they should look at a more natural solution. Introduce the coyotes’ natural predators – wolves.
I find raccoons scarier than coyotes. Both can be rabid and should not be fed.
“But seriously, raccoons will get up here. So don’t leave any food around, because they will get territorial.”
But worries can’t climb trees.
Well done!
A couple weeks ago, at the lower parking lot of the Decatur Post Office down by the creek, I was watching several of the feral cats lounging around with a young raccoon right there in the middle of them acting like a cat. I had a picture in my mind they were sitting around the poker table playing cards.
We’ve spotted that raccoon twice. Pretty darn cute.
Slow roasted Coyote goes well with Red Ale.
I live in Sandy Springs but have a business in Decatur. Our cat, Midnight, was about 11 or 12 years old when we moved into our neighborhood 6 years ago. After about a year, he came up missing. He never did go that far. Just around the yard to do his business. He was too old to exercise.
Then we got Java from an animal shelter. Even though he was a little menace, he was a good cat. He went outside on Mother’s day 2 years ago to never return.
So then, we got the cutest little kitten from South Ga. We called him Pita. He was the most loveable pet I have ever owned. Followed you around like a puppy dog. Never went past our street. He was only 4 months old. He went out on a Thursday in September to never be seen again.
I have actually seen Coyotes on the adjoining streets in our neighborhood. I am almost certain that our cat’s fates have all been caused by these vicious animals. Needless to say, no one has any cats in our neighborhood anymore. I certainly will not get another. Too dangerous.
A coyote isn’t a “vicious” animal, it’s just a wild animal, being itself. As for owning another cat, I daresay it wouldn’t be too dangerous if you simply kept your kitties inside, ’cause as far as I know, coyotes can’t turn doorknobs!
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I’m much more troubled by the fact that you continue to let your cats roam free even though you suspect something is killing them. Cats are subject to numerous threats when allowed to roam free, and coyotes are among the least likely killers–cars, dogs, rabid animals, etc.
The sad reality is that outdoor cats are a risk to self and others. There have been studies to estimate the (huge) #s of wildlife killed by domestic cats. See http://www.abcbirds.org/abcprograms/policy/cats/materials/predation.pdf
I’m not making light of your loss; losing a pet is always hard. But coyotes are no more vicious than hawks or lions–a predator is a predator. Now, what is different about domestic cats is that they have a food supply at home and they still hunt, and that they don’t necessarily consume everything they catch. So yes, people can get a bit bent about it when others make the decision to allow their pets to (illegally) roam and “sport hunt” birds that are actually protected by federal and state laws. When you think about it that way, it puts a whole other spin on both cat and coyote.
Do you mean my squirrel, bird, chipmunk killing cat could be prosecuted in Federal court? Hmmmm… Who can I notify without the spouse finding out?
When part of their family group are killed, the remaining females have more pups in the next litter to compensate.
http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/coyotes.html
“Where coyotes are hunted and trapped, females produce more pups per litter than in areas where they are protected.”
FYI: A good deterrent is a motion-sensor light, coyotes hate the sudden bright light and will tend to avoid the area. Of course, that only works at night.
Selective quoting is selective. From the same article:
“In suburban areas of southern California, trapping and euthanizing coyotes has been shown not only to remove the individual problem animal, but also to modify the behavior of the local coyote population. When humans remove a few coyotes, the local population may regain its fear of humans in areas where large numbers of humans are found. It’s neither necessary nor possible to eliminate the entire population of coyotes in a given area. Contact your local wildlife office for additional information.”
Speaking as someone who’s worked in wildlife management….
Selective quoting is selective quoting for sure, but articles that cite no sources are even more troubling. Whenever someone says, “has been shown” or “studies say” without saying which studies or how it has been shown, it’s a big red flag. The claim that killing coyotes changes the population’s behavior hogwash. Fifty years of research into the behavior of wild canids indicates that they don’t understand long term cause and effect as it pertains to death. They’d have to understand that to say, “Hey, my friends seem to be dying in this area so maybe we should move.” I’m not sure why Washington’s Department of Fish and Wildlife is making such a claim.
The only way selective euthanasia could conceivably change the behavior of a population is if all of the members of the population actually witnessed an animal being killed. I also think it’s important for people to stop and think about what trapping really means. In most cases, it means using a leg trap. Coyote walks into trap and is in agonizing pain for hours, if not days, until someone finds it. This is profoundly cruel.
Thanks ZV, makes sense to me — closest I have come to Wildlife Management related to coyotes is to try to hunt/trap the little buggers on a buddy’s farm because of a hypothesis that they (along with a pack of wild dogs) likely are having an impact on his deer population – almost no fawns recently. They are so wily (pun intendend), I haven’t spotted one yet…
And next we’ll be hearing about Sandy Spring’s massive rodent problem.
Do coyotes eat COD rats? Raccoons who tip over garbage cans? Roaches? Maybe there’s an upside to coyotes?
Coyotes are scavengers and will eat just about anything, but prefer meat if it’s available (they, like their canid cousin dogs, are primarily carnivores). In a couple of cities –Chicago comes to mind–they’ve actually released coyotes to control pests, specifically rats.
Because they’re scavengers, they prefer an easy meal; they’ll eat a dead animal before a live one. This makes them important neighborhood cleaners and they play an important role in the ecosystem.
It’s also a little weird that so many dog lovers are rabid to kill coyotes. They’re practically the same animal.