California Coyotes At It Again

As the Orange County Register points out,  urban coyotes are continuing their expansion in southern California seaside cities, now terrorizing beach-goers.

 

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This particular incident followed a familiar pattern: law enforcement was summoned, eventually shots were fired, a coyote was killed and another seriously wounded and found later where it was ultimately dispatched. Both underwent DNA analysis to determine if they were involved in the attack and are being tested for rabies. 

The role of the coyote in modern life is controversial in that it's capable of not only attacking children but also pets and farm animals while providing little benefit to man, although they do seem to aid in keeping the rat population in Chicago from overrunning the city.

Once more, there are more issues involved in coyote control than meets the eye. Is it really  wise to have law enforcement officers firing weapons at wild animals in a populated area? Cops frequently put bullets in innocent bystanders even during real criminal events, blasting around at the beach is dangerous. Worse yet is wounding an animal that escapes with the likelihood that it will confront a child or adult minding their own business?

Making the case that all urban coyotes be exterminated probably won't succeed with people that have had no confrontations with them.

Another consideration is this: according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife from 2012 to 2016 there were 50 incidents of coyote bites on humans in southern California.

On the other hand,   The 1992-1994 National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey estimated that 333,687 dog bite injuries are treated in emergency departments each year [Weiss 1998]. Health authorities say that dog bites have increased by over 44% in recent years. Of course some biting dogs are dispatched immediately, preventing another incident but that does little to discourage other dogs. Just a few days ago a lady sent to investigate a biting incident by a pack of dogs was killed by those same dogs. Since dogs considerably outnumber coyotes, perhaps we should concentrate on preventing domestic dog bites. 

California coyote update: The DNA of a coyote shot and killed in the vicinity of the Huntington Beach pier matched that of the DNA found on the toddler bitten there on April 28. " the animals are known to harass pets and livestock. Coyotes may continue this behavior even if they are relocated, so those that become a potential threat to humans must be killed, according to Fish and Wildlife officials." 

Ergo, in general, coyotes unfamiliar with the human world aren't much of a worry but those that have experience in the modern environment must be eradicated. It's an accepted fact that omnivores such as bears can "lose their fear of humans" and begin to regard them as food so they gotta go.