Joey forwarded the following information and links from an editorial that was recently posted on “North Shore Nature News.” We’ll post the first several paragraphs from the editorial, and the comment from Jim Schmidt that Joey found particularly interesting. In fairness to the author, the See More, directs the reader back to the original editorial.
“In Nancy Gurney’s classic children’s book, “The King, the Mice and the Cheese,” a king brings in cats to get rid of the mice eating his cheese. He then brings in dogs to get rid of the cats. Lions to get rid of the dogs. Elephants to get rid of the lions. And, finally, mice to get rid of the elephants.We find ourselves in similar straights with the eastern coyote.
Wolves once occupied the top of the area’s food chain. But we hunted them into near extinction. So, with no wolves in the area, coyotes began to enter the commonwealth in the 1950s as the food chain’s top dog. DNA evidence shows the coyotes mated with what was left of the wolves and with dogs. The cross breeding created the eastern coyote, a larger version of what wildlife experts now call the western coyote.
The coyote is bolder and more adaptable than the shier, more reclusive wolf. So, instead of confining itself to rural areas, as the wolf once did, the coyotes occupy rural, suburban and urban habitats. Add the fact that Massachusetts loses an estimated 40 acres a day of rural land to development and it’s inevitable the human and the coyote worlds will collide.” – See more at: Ipswich Wicked Local
Comment from Jim Schmidt:
“I have 54 years of first hand and face to face experience with coyotes. I retired as a fulltime USDA government coyote specialist recently. I have dealt with coyotes in New York, South Carolina, Kansas, Texas, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona. Many remarks in this editorial are very incorrect. Coyote are dangerous wild predators. They are smart, problem solving, professional killers. They kill and eat everything too.
They DO NOT have to be rabid to be dangerous. Look up the “Biting Coyote of Green Valley, Arizona” as an example. This unprovoked coyote attacked and bit 8 adult people. The media and local medical professionals claimed it “must be Rabid” and it was not. How do I know? I was the one that removed him. Coyotes have a very low history of rabies too. I know first hand that coyotes will attack any size animal if it wishes. Three coyotes attacked and killed a large Rottweiler dog while the owner was walking it and another large dog. They killed and ate it-I was there again.
How do they kill a horse you ask? They will run it until it over heats and stops and often lies down and they take them. I have seen it again. They stand at the rear of a cow or horse giving birth and attack and kill the newborn when it hits the ground. Goats, sheep, chickens, cats, apples, water melons, garden hoses, and much more are at risk all the time…basically nothing is safe from the clever coyote. This dangerous animal will never be on welfare as it can take care of itself better than anything I know of or experienced.
I encourage you to learn the truth about coyotes not fantasies. They are a marvel of nature and they are in your state and community now. This is a professional dangerous killer for sure.” Jim Schmidt – See more at: Ipswich Wicked Local
Good Morning Gloucester 