Ohio City Won't Shoot Coyotes Instead Will Launch Public Education Campaign

The Cincinnati Enquirer | 03.01.03 | Jennifer Edwards

[yankeedame]

Saturday, March 1, 2003

Fairfield won't shoot coyotes

By Jennifer Edwards
The Cincinnati Enquirer

FAIRFIELD - Sharpshooters will not be dispatched to curtail the city's coyote population despite resident complaints.

Instead, Fairfield officials say the best way to approach the issue is to launch a public education campaign about how to live with coyotes, and have police monitor the situation.

LIVING WITH COYOTES • Keep garbage and garbage cans in the garage. Secure lids. • Put kitchen compost only in an animal-proof bin. • Do not feed pets outside and bring in all food and water dishes at night. • Cover ripe fruits and vegetables at night. Enclose gardens and fruit trees with fencing. Pick up fallen fruit and vegetables. • Do not leave small animals out after dark. • Do not put cats outside. If you must let your cats out, put them out during midday. Bring them in before dark. • Never cut an outdoor cat's nails or put a declawed cat outside. • Do not put a bell on your cat. • Fence your yard.

Police Chief Michael Dickey had contemplated hiring sharpshooters or trappers if the coyote problem was determined to be dangerous.

But most City Council members say the coyotes are not out of control, and the population isn't large enough to warrant such a drastic move.

"Experts far and wide have said they don't pose a danger to humans," Dickey said. "This is one of those situations where there may be people who aren't happy with the decision. However, there are many people who think we should do exactly what we are doing, which is public education."

Some residents have complained to the police department that coyotes are roaming subdivisions, placing children and small pets at risk.

Fairfield's neighbor to the south, Springdale, had a similar problem last year and hired sharpshooters after a pack of coyotes killed a 10-pound poodle. One coyote was killed.

In a recent letter to Dickey, resident Michael Land accused police and city officials of not taking the hazard seriously, and warned they risk a potential lawsuit.

"We live in a neighborhood infested with coyotes," reads the Jan. 22 letter. "The response from the city of Fairfield is - live with it! I find that a pathetic response and one I feel is unacceptable as a caring adult and taxpayer."

Residents are not permitted to shoot coyotes, the police chief said. They usually leave once they see humans.

"They are wary themselves and don't even get in that close," Dickey said. "People who have lived around here for years see them occasionally and accept them."

E-mail jedwards@enquirer.com

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, the truth is, people have to do a little of both. Stop attracting them by setting out easy food... and then shoot those who don't leave for better places.

[Kerberos]

Looks like what we really have here is animal rights activist's running wild.

[Amerigomag]

Strange, no warning about protecting toddlers < 3 years old.

Guess they haven't read about the losses in southern California.

When the coyotes get their first kid, then the guns will come out.

[Saturnalia]

Oh dear god, my city made it online.
We also pay the mayor far too much and we only got a downtown a year or two ago.

[xzins]

Coyotes eat anything from a beagle on down. I assume in ideal/desperate circumstances (for the coyote) they wouldn't have an aversion to eating toddlers....I have absolutely no evidence to support that statement, though. (Just an opinion.)

Thin the population to very few. Transplant to locations where there is no conflict.

[aeronca]

Strange, no warning about protecting toddlers 3 years old. Guess they haven't read about the losses in southern California. When the coyotes get their first kid, then the guns will come out.

Most parents supervise toddlers outside, but I get your point. Some people have been able to adopt the "3-S" policy; "shoot, shovel and shut up" if they live outside of city limits.

[HairOfTheDog]

Or people who recently moved in from the city freaking out because they see a coyote. I have seen coyotes my whole life. Don't leave food and small pets outside and they move on through.

[headsonpikes]

LOLOLOL!!!

This is absurd. Just wait until a coyote bites a toddler on the face...it won't be long.

Once the coyotes sense that they're tolerated, they become very aggressive.

Coyotes are intolerable in urban areas. A few around the edges are not usually a problem, but a thriving population will decimate pets and result in human attacks. Bet on it.

[B Knotts]

Residents are not permitted to shoot coyotes, the police chief said.

Is this a city ordinance or something? Weird.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

A little girl was killed by a coyote about 10 years ago in Glendale, California. My dad was stalked by a pack when he was walking the five miles from the highway to the base gate at the gunnery school in Indio California during WWII.He kept them at bay with his cigarette lighter.

[chuknospam]

This is illegal, do not do this. For informational purposes only.

For those of you who are troubled by coyotes, put all your pets inside at night and advise your neighbors to do the same. Then get some anti-freeze, not the enviro friendly kind, the ethelyne glychol kind. Mix that with some dog food in some small wash tubs and leave the tubs around your property. Anything that eats the mix will die.

This is illegal, do not do this. For informational purposes only.

[logic101.net]

Ah yes, "Public Education"; a subject the left is so good at. I like the title, Living with Coyotes (sp?). Will we next have Living with Mass Murderers in Your Neighborhood?
Or public education on how to live with child molesters next door? IL actually needs a lesson on mass murderers since their former Governor just let so many out on the streets!

MARK A SITY
http://www.logic101.net/

[Tijeras_Slim]

Coyotes, especially in packs, will attack children, and larger dogs. We've got tons of them where I live in New Mexico, but they are wary of people because we can shoot them. Once they sense they are safe, they are bold. Some idiot will think they're safe and try to feed one by hand, and get the bejaysus bitten out of them. This has happened many times in areas where coyotes hang around dumpsters.

[HairOfTheDog]

So put out tasty bait to draw them in and then claim they are the nuisance?

[Paleo Conservative]

Ohio City Won't Shoot Coyotes Instead Will Launch Public Education Campaign

Coyotes never learn.

[AEMILIUS PAULUS]

Coyotes are smart. Get out of your car with nothing in your hand and they will watch you-for a while. Get out of your car with anything in your hand and they are gone.

[johnny7]

... the police chief said. They usually leave once they see humans.

This Dickey coudn't pour pee out of a boot! Coyotes in a pack of 5 or 6 are not scared of a kid or an adult.

While I've never heard of one of them attacking either, an infant in a stroller would be a turkey dinner.

Dickeys advisors must be the big-wigs at PETA!

[saluki_in_ohio]

This Dickey coudn't pour pee out of a boot!

Even with the instructions on the heel!

When I was living in Southern Illinois, one of the counties had a bounty on the pests...

[Nowhere Man]

Remember the "Three S's" (SSS) - Shoot, Shovel, Shut-up. B-)