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

[Let's Roll]

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

No you put out tasty bait to kill them - they are already a "nuisance and "in" the towns, neighborhoods etc.

[TexanToTheCore]

Eventually you will have a serious rabies problem. Our county (as well as most Texas counties) pays a ten dollar bounty for each hide.

[org.whodat]

Transplant to locations where there is no conflict

There is no such place,they are everywhere.

[nightdriver]

"Experts far and wide have said they don't pose a danger to humans," Dickey said.

This police chief has his head in full rectal defellade. Dickey and these "experts" never witnessed a coyote munching on the remains of the 8-year-old son of the farmer I know.

Methinks this is just a power play where the "authorities" do not want to have a populace that is able to defend itself. Lots of that going around.

[xzins]

I agree.

But my region out near the Appalachian Escarpment is a wild zone that goes down to Carolinas. We can far more easily handle coyotes than can Fairfield.

While we have our own, there are areas where it wouldn't matter. Plus....we shoot them out here when they become a nuisance. (See...there really are endangered species... :>) LOL)

[edwin hubble]

"Educate the public" that they must change their lives.


Fence your yard. ($$)

Don't let pets out.

And don't let unclawed cats out. This runs counter to those trying to save the songbirds from the hunting housecats that kill millions each year.

This is more that 'education' it is a change in the lives of citizens. It will be ridiculed.

[HairOfTheDog]

No you put out tasty bait to kill them - they are already a "nuisance and "in" the towns, neighborhoods etc.

And putting out poison bait in town that will kill any animal dumb enough to be attracted to easy food is callous arrogance. It is illegal for a reason. I hope your dog never gets out.

[Rifleman]

At my rural home there are five or six groups of coyotes that are identifiable when they start singing. We have outdoor cats and several small dogs that spend a lot of time outside in their pen (they have their own door) that would make good coyote snacks. I have kept the 'yotes off the property (about 13 acres) by walking the perimeter every couple of weeks and marking my territory the same way the coyotes do. My only male dog, Maynard (named after the captain that killed Blackbeard the pirate or after Maynard G. Krebs, depending on how he is behaving) helps me in this task.

It seems to work. I would rather not kill off the 'yotes as I like to set out in the dark and listen to them and look at the stars.

[mn_b_one]

I am a coyote hunter. Get a screaming rabbit call, or a howler call, callem' in close, and killem'. I use a .223 AR-15, with a bull barrel and custom trigger. Check our varmintal.com for pics of coyote depredation damage. Good luck. There is nothing cooler than watching a coyote come in to a call. Dust'em!

[Let's Roll]

1 - coyotes are already killing pets in the community

2 - he has already discussed it with his neighbors

3 - the poison is on his property

4 - the poison isn't going to be out there for months

If the general consensus is it's too dangerous to pets then that's the answer. But if, as in #1, coyotes are killing unattended pets anyway and the fear is children are next, I guess I will just have to be guilty of "callous arrogance".

[Tijeras_Slim]

Get out of your car with anything in your hand and they are gone.

Right you are. Once I was doing some landscaping when a coyote came up to the fence. My basenjis, being curious pups (they're lots faster than a coyote, and could get away if needed) were showing too much interest, so I put the shovel to my shoulder like a rifle and the coyote sped away.

[VietVet]

Coyotes are not indiginous to Ohio, and should be treated like any other foreign pest: eradicated to protect the natural environment.

Let the eco-nazis argue with that.

VietVet

[Chancellor Palpatine]

The solution in any neighborhood is to buy big dogs - they don't like hanging around. Where I live, there are coyote in the vicinity, but back on my specific street, there are enough really large dogs that they steer well clear.