Doug
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Check out what the Phoenix ADC guys are charging to remove problem coyotes.
Doug
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0625coyote25.html
Plucky coyotes becoming more brazen
In latest incident, pup is snatched
Kate Nolan
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 25, 2003 12:00 AM
At 4 pounds, Raleigh the American rat terrier was just the right size to be carried around in owner Kathy May's handbag.
Monday night, it turned out Raleigh was also the right size to be carried off by a coyote.
About 9 p.m., May's husband, Gary Updike, 60, walked the 14-week-old pup outside their home near McDonald and Hayden roads in Scottsdale. Raleigh, who was not on a leash, gave a yip just before a coyote emerged from a bush and snatched him in its mouth.
Raleigh is the latest victim on a growing list of aggressive acts by Scottsdale area coyotes.
Experts say the animals are losing their fear of humans. Cat and dog snatchings are now common in several neighborhoods. In the past four months, two Scottsdale kids have been bitten by urban coyotes, the first time bites have been recorded in several years.
On June 14, a 17-month-old boy was bitten on his face, abdomen and neck at CrackerJax Family Fun & Sports Park, 16001 N. Scottsdale Road, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
In an earlier incident, a coyote entered a family's back yard and bit a young girl.
Neither coyote has been recovered.
After the CrackerJax incident, Game and Fish spent a week trying to find the animal, department biologist Randy Babb said. What they found was a perfect urban resort for wildlife.
"Kierland Golf Course is the hub," Babb said. "Coyotes are seen regularly. Everything that makes this area attractive for people makes it attractive to them. The area has a maze of interconnecting washes, alleyways and corridors that coyotes can live in. We found a spot where people were leaving water out for coyotes and another where there was a water run-off.
"Coyotes here are anything but starving. Life is as good as it can get."
The situation is repeated all around the Valley.
Babb said the northern and eastern edges and near Fashion Square mall are particular problems in Scottsdale.
It isn't so much an increase in coyote population as an increase in pluck.
"We're seeing more coyotes that are behaving in a bold, unfearful manner with humans," Babb said. "Bites, taking of pets, going into back yards and following people for handouts are all increasing."
Most animals leave or die off when an area becomes developed, but coyotes adapt. Because they can eat almost anything, coyotes are fans of garbage, pets, whatever's handy.
As many as 10 generations of coyote families may occupy long-developed areas.
What's the solution? Game and Fish is starting to work with municipalities to reduce nuisance coyotes.
Game and Fish usually recommends that residents who see coyotes acting boldly call someone to remove them.
Wes Patrick of Critter Control finds that callers lose their urgency when they hear the cost: $350 to set up traps and $199 per captured animal. Trapping them is labor intensive, Patrick said.
Do all coyotes pose a threat?
"Probably not," Babb said, "but they should be treated as though they do."
Doug
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/0625coyote25.html
Plucky coyotes becoming more brazen
In latest incident, pup is snatched
Kate Nolan
The Arizona Republic
Jun. 25, 2003 12:00 AM
At 4 pounds, Raleigh the American rat terrier was just the right size to be carried around in owner Kathy May's handbag.
Monday night, it turned out Raleigh was also the right size to be carried off by a coyote.
About 9 p.m., May's husband, Gary Updike, 60, walked the 14-week-old pup outside their home near McDonald and Hayden roads in Scottsdale. Raleigh, who was not on a leash, gave a yip just before a coyote emerged from a bush and snatched him in its mouth.
Raleigh is the latest victim on a growing list of aggressive acts by Scottsdale area coyotes.
Experts say the animals are losing their fear of humans. Cat and dog snatchings are now common in several neighborhoods. In the past four months, two Scottsdale kids have been bitten by urban coyotes, the first time bites have been recorded in several years.
On June 14, a 17-month-old boy was bitten on his face, abdomen and neck at CrackerJax Family Fun & Sports Park, 16001 N. Scottsdale Road, according to the Arizona Game and Fish Department.
In an earlier incident, a coyote entered a family's back yard and bit a young girl.
Neither coyote has been recovered.
After the CrackerJax incident, Game and Fish spent a week trying to find the animal, department biologist Randy Babb said. What they found was a perfect urban resort for wildlife.
"Kierland Golf Course is the hub," Babb said. "Coyotes are seen regularly. Everything that makes this area attractive for people makes it attractive to them. The area has a maze of interconnecting washes, alleyways and corridors that coyotes can live in. We found a spot where people were leaving water out for coyotes and another where there was a water run-off.
"Coyotes here are anything but starving. Life is as good as it can get."
The situation is repeated all around the Valley.
Babb said the northern and eastern edges and near Fashion Square mall are particular problems in Scottsdale.
It isn't so much an increase in coyote population as an increase in pluck.
"We're seeing more coyotes that are behaving in a bold, unfearful manner with humans," Babb said. "Bites, taking of pets, going into back yards and following people for handouts are all increasing."
Most animals leave or die off when an area becomes developed, but coyotes adapt. Because they can eat almost anything, coyotes are fans of garbage, pets, whatever's handy.
As many as 10 generations of coyote families may occupy long-developed areas.
What's the solution? Game and Fish is starting to work with municipalities to reduce nuisance coyotes.
Game and Fish usually recommends that residents who see coyotes acting boldly call someone to remove them.
Wes Patrick of Critter Control finds that callers lose their urgency when they hear the cost: $350 to set up traps and $199 per captured animal. Trapping them is labor intensive, Patrick said.
Do all coyotes pose a threat?
"Probably not," Babb said, "but they should be treated as though they do."
