(PHOTO: Rye PD Commish Connors handles the New York City media cabal Saturday at the coyote press conference.)
We keep hearing coyote stories at MyRye.com. Have you had a brush with Wile E. Coyote around town? Leave a comment below. We heard from Angelo Vassallo of Greenhaven, the Rye neighborhood adjacent to the Rye Marshlands Conservancy. Angelo wrote to MyRye.com:
"Last Monday at 5:30 am I was walking my dog on Brevoort and Greenhaven when out of the bushes a large coyote jumped out. I fell back but grabbed my small dog.
I yelled at it and it didn’t move. I started to walk backwards towards my house and it followed me. Finally I picked up a rock and chased it away. I called the police who indicated that they knew that coyotes were in the Greenhaven area. I now walk my dog with a stick in my hand."
The Jay Heritage Center will host an informational "coyote" meeting with Rye PD Commissioner Connors for area residents tonight, Tuesday, June 29th at 7pm at the Jay Heritage Center/1907 Carriage House at 210 Boston Post Road (698-9275).
Having lived in San Diego for most of my life where coyotes are a common sight and a natural part of the food chain, I am a little disturbed by the light-hearted banter that the coyote attack is causing around town. These coyotes do not belong here. They don’t have the canyons and wide open spaces they need to hunt the small prey they live on. If someone is trying to make you believe that it is normal that a coyote is attacking a young girl at 6:00 pm in her front yard then I think we have been misled. I consider myself to be an animal lover and have even been caught taking spiders outside but I think we need to get rid of these coyotes or think about bringing back the wolves and the bears to make things a little more balanced. Officials with the California Department of Fish and Game estimate that roughly one person gets bitten by a coyote per year in California. The last human to be killed by a coyote was a child in the Los Angeles area around 1980. (SDUT 1/3/95, B1; 5/16/00, B3) and that is in the STATE of California.
@Kim
Hi – I think some of us just cope with a potentially dangerous situation by making light of it. It doesn’t mean we’re not taking it seriously.
Although I do believe this is natural animal behavior. What is not normal is the environment.
I agree with you 100% that coyotes do not belong here.
Without natural predators and in too close proximity to humans they’ve apparently become emboldened.
Thank you for adding a new and informed voice to the conversation.
PS I see the large one late at night while I’m walking but he takes no apparent notice of me.
Should I be offended? (sorry, couldn’t resist)
Kim –
I agree that coyotes do not belong in Rye, and as a community, we should do everything in our power to eliminate them in the area and in surrounding towns. Coyotes are highly adaptive animals. Their range has expanded in the wake of human civilization, and they are known to actively breed in metropolitan areas. They are not considered as endangered, threatened or even near-threatened… which is a classifier’s way of saying they’re at pest levels. And the last human killed by coyotes was a 19 year old female folk singer was killed up in Canada, just last October.
Coyotes are better than dogs at observational learning, and can survive on just about everything from garbage scraps to insects to carrion – though they prefer fresh meat. It seems that they may be developing a taste for humans, at least in Rye.
EVERYONE should be aware that the best thing to do if confronted by one is to chase it away, making as much noise as possible. Use a whistle, an airhorn or simply scream at it. The best defense is a strong offense – and the elevated noise levels might alert others in the area that a coyote is in the vicinity. Then contact the police and let them know of the sighting. The cops may not be able to respond fast enough, but the more information they have, the greater their chances of success will be at killing them all off.
I love animals too – but if they’re wild predators, then I only love them from a very big distance – say, 100 miles or so. If they’re in my ‘hood, threatening my family or my neighbors, then they need to go.
I’m not in favor of bringing in bears or wolves, for the obvious reasons (surely you’re not serious about this idea). And another natural predator of the coyote, the cougar, has already been spotted several times downtown at Ruby’s, at night. So keep your young children (and young men) indoors at night…