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Chicago Using Coyotes To Fight Rodents
Brad Block, a supervisor for the Chicago Commission on Animal Care and Control says a coyote recently spotted downtown is part of a program designed to monitor the rodent population. "The animal has the run of the Loop to help deal with rats and mice," He said no one has called today to complain. “He’s not a threat. He’s not going to pick up your children,” Block said. “His job is to deal with all of the nuisance problems, like mice, rats and rabbits.”
I read this and thought they were paying Mexican smugglers to fight rodents for them. Which, ironically, is what we actually do here in AZ.
Finally, the city is taking the problem of Owls seriously.
Wouldn't it be nice to tell the public BEFORE you let the coyotes run wild?
Oh, and by the way, we had to release some tigers to deal with the bugroeoning coyote population....
THL phish sticks
This is actually great. I sincerely wish Pennsylvania would culture a few nice wolf populations to control the deer. I'm tired of dodging them with my car.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
not going to make much of a difference to the citys rodent problem is it. they are probally going to need 1000 or more to have any effect.
One neighbor of mine watched a coyote carry off her miniature dog, and when coyotes start being sighted, the Missing Cat posters start appearing.
http://urbancoyoteresearch.com/Coyote_Project.htm seems like a much more likely reason than pest controll
The politians are probably scared shitless !!
Should be interesting to see how many outdoor, domesticated cats get shredded by these guys.
vos nescitis quicquam, nec cogitatis quia expedit nobis ut unus moriatur homo pro populo et non tota gens pereat.
sort of small, furry creature, say one with a long furry tail, specifically bred for this purpose over the past several hundred years that people wouldn't mind seeing around... Maybe one that enjoys drinking milk and- ah hell, screw the sarcasm. Why didn't they just use cats??
There is no -1 Disagree.
wait until they start building up noticeable herds.
Read radical news here
We know that coyotes suck at catching roadrunners (or at least one of them does), and roadrunners aren't much bigger than some rodents. Anyone wanna take odds on the rats and mice winning this round as well?
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
With all the coyotes running around once the rodents are gone?
Reminds me of introducing mongoose to the Hawaiian islands to eat the rats - now there are two invader species there. Coyotes may not be as much of an invader species in Chicago as mongoose are in Hawaii, but we as a species have a pretty poor track record of attempted ecological control.
It doesn't end well. A bunch of gorillas freeze to death in the winter, as I recall.
... a sensible solution to weed out corrupt Chicago politicians!
This is the important question no one has answered.
I think it is pretty obvious who this will benefit: Anyone smart enough to invest in ACME before it gets acquired by Haliburton.
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
They should use dingos. Um, actually, hang on.....
the dingo ate my baby!!
This plan is airtight. Nothing could possibly go wrong.
Sigger than your average
It is funny or sad that this was also my first thought when I read the synopsis?
I'm not so sure that I should laugh...
Coyotes eat lots of stuff. So maybe not many chickens in the loop, but how about pet cats? I guess they probably already need to be indoor cats I suppose.
before Brooklyn brings in coyotes to take care of its new possum problem...
Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
Skinner: No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
About a year ago a coyote stole a bag of chips from a downtown 7-11, and I've heard stories of one riding the subway here. One more coyote isn't going to do much, Chicago already has an population.
In case anyone missed it: reintroduction program
'Look, I can explain,' he said.
Lord Vetinari lifted an eyebrow with the care of one who, having found
a piece of caterpillar in his salad, raises the rest of the lettuce.
'Pray do,' he said, leaning back.
'We got a bit carried away,' said Moist. 'We were a bit too creative in
our thinking. We encouraged mongooses to breed in the posting boxes to keep
down the snakes...'
Lord Vetinari said nothing.
'Er... which, admittedly, we introduced into the posting boxes to
reduce the numbers of toads...'
Lord Vetinari repeated himself.
'Er... which, it's true, staff put in the posting boxes to keep down
the snails...'
Lord Vetinari remained unvocal.
'Er... These, I must in fairness point out, got into the boxes of their
own accord, in order to eat the glue on the stamps,' said Moist, aware that
he was beginning to burble.
'Well, at least you were saved the trouble of having to introduce them
yourselves,' said Lord Vetinari cheerfully. 'As you indicate, this may well
have been a case where chilly logic should have been replaced by the common
sense of, perhaps, the average chicken. But that is not the reason I asked
you to come here today.'
'If it's about the cabbage-flavoured stamp glue -- ' Moist began.
Vetinari waved a hand. 'An amusing incident,' he said, 'and I believe
nobody actually died.'
If they have the choice between a scrawny rat or a fat cat they'll take the fat cat. I live in an urban centre, near a golf course and have heard how the local grounds keepers occasionally clean out the cache where the golf course coyotes discard the things they cannot eat, collars, halters, dog tags, that sort of thing. We have a constant posting of lost or missing small dogs and cats in our area.
Our city has taken a co-habitation stand with the coyotes which means that they won't take action against them. However, with our long range forecast for this winter being what it is I expect that having the coyotes starting to circle the playgrounds and schoolyards, licking their chops at the thought of taking some kindergarten through 2nd grader away might change that stance. I hope it won't take having some children actually killed but the government will do what it thinks is right, whether it is or not.
There's an animal expert at the local university that's spoken up on the matter and says they should simply be hunted down and killed in the city. They're not endangered. They are a danger and they will continue to be a danger even if they are moved to a new location since they will find their way back to familiar (that means urban) environments.
More and more I find this quote from the Tick (comic book/ cartoon character) appropriate, "You're not going crazy in a sane world, you're going sane in a crazy world."
This is just a corporation using it's political connections in order to save huge amounts on shipping costs.
ACME Manufacturing, we are on to you!
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office
What animal is required to control the coyote population?
time to bring in road runners and ACME catalogs
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
Coyotes are endemic to most of the North American continent. They were here before long before there was a 'Public' to get hysterical about them. I would be willing to bet that animal control in nearly every major city in the lower 48 can tell you stories about coyotes making a living in urban areas- this is NOTHING NEW, but is probably noticed more frequently as fewer people in outlying areas are shooting them on sight these days.
Coyotes frequent my rural property, although I only find out about it when I find their tracks or scat or- more rarely- hear a nocturnal sing-along happening close by. Over the years I've picked apart quite bit of coyote poop with a stick, and as the article suggests there are a lot of obvious rodent bones usually included with a smattering of deer hair (I suspect they go back to road/winter/cougar kill and chew on the hide, which takes months to break down). Sometimes it's obvious they've been feasting on ripe native berries. If I happen to see one while hiking, mountain biking, driving, etc. it's usually just a flash and they're already gone, but a couple times I've been able to spot one out on a hay field obviously pouncing on mice. It's a rare treat to find "God's Dog" out and about doing it's thing, as under normal circumstances they are highly motivated to keep human interactions both infrequent and distant.
Feral cats on the other hand are NOT endemic to the North American ecosystem, and there is evidence to suggest that bird populations have been hit very hard by them. Even discounting that aspect, I can't even wrap my head around why any thoughtful person would advocate for exterminating a relatively harmless native scavenger-predator and replacing it with a non-native, domesticated scavenger-predator. This is just asking for unintended ecological consequences.
Or hit a smaller deer:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGTbJs2RqPQ
Obligatory warning: The video linked above is pretty graphic as it was captured from the dash cam of a speeding patrol car. In spite of the deer quite literally exploding and its small size, it still does a noticeable amount of damage to the vehicle--and that's in spite of the guard assembly on the front.
I may get modded down for posting this, but I think it's educational. If you doubt that even small deer are potentially hazardous, you really need to watch this.
He who has no
Heck, in Chicago the coyote could get elected to public office.
That's our life, the big wheel of shit. - The Fat Man, Blue Tango Salvage
The entire business of introducing non-native species to solve a local problem can be held up as a perfect example of the Law of Unintended Consequences. Here in Jamaica mongooses are extremely common and have caused untold damage to native species. The British released several pairs in the 1700's with the notion that they'd breed and control the rats (another introduced species) that were a huge headache to the sugar plantations. They bred alright, but they were useless against the rats, which quickly learned that climbing trees was an effective method of avoidance. The mongooses had no natural predators and nearly drove the two species of native constrictors, the Jamaican Green Snake and the Jamaican Yellow Snake, as well as the Jamaican Iguana, to extinction. The Jamaican Iguana was thought to be extinct until a tiny remnant population was discovered a few years ago, but all three species remain critically endangered.
That being said, cats and pigs are by far the worst animals to have been introduced into many ecosystems, and between them have caused the extinction of many, many species, particularly ground-nesting birds, which have absolutely no defense against them (cats kill the nesting birds and pigs destroy the eggs).
Mod parent up.
I'm in a big city with some coyotes, and tons of coyotes all over the desert outside. The people who live near the desert sometimes get their little fluffy critters eaten, but -- by what? It's either coyotes, or bobcats, or the giant owls that will eat pretty much anything smaller than them. Some of them probably run afoul of rattlesnakes, too, which we have about a zillion of.
Coyotes, along with bobcats and owls and snakes, are part of nature. They eat stuff, and if you keep little stupid creatures outside they might eat your little stupid creatures. None of them are going to eat *you*, or your kids, unless you tie them to a tree at night with a sign that says FREE DOG CHOW.
I'm sitting in Chicago's O'Hare airport right now, and we could use a coyote. I'm watching a mouse run around the empty first class lounge. TSA didn't touch my junk.
--why?
Along with various rocket-propelled devices.
And if you do see a falling coyote, remember he'll hit the ground in a big puff of dust about 2-3 seconds after he disappears from view.
I live in Chicago, the city - not a suburb, around O'Hare. I saw a coyote on my way home from work last week. It was about 5:30 in the afternoon, the coyote was watching rush hour traffic roll by standing on the side of the road. I've seen them around here my whole life, I'm 32. The coyotes have been around here far longer than us humans have, it's native here - not like introducing some weird outside creature. They aren't that big, smaller than the pitbulls around here, I don't see what the big deal is?
I sincerely wish Pennsylvania would culture a few nice wolf populations to control the deer. I'm tired of dodging them with my car.
If you haven't hit a deer, you haven't lived... in Pennsylvania. This is a particular problem there because of their use of Jersey barriers up and down the middle of the highways, with few if any gaps for deer to find. So you'll round a turn and find yourself traveling at high speed within a herd of deer who are standing idly around on the road at the Jersey barrier trying to figure out what the hell. It happens to a lot of people. Both times it happened to me I was really lucky.
The first time I ran into a herd of deer in Pennsylvania, I was driving a POS 86 Ford Thunderbird at about 60+ mph on Route 70 and as they were stampeding all over the place a doe rolled up the side of the car, perfectly. She did a sort of somersault up the frame, rolling over the side of the windshield and the side view mirror. I remember the car seemed to handle the load without even noticing; this was a heavy V8 engine. The trunks on those eighties Thunderbirds were sort of brachycephalic and stunted if you remember, and when you're trying to clear a doe at 60-70 mph, every cubic centimeter of that lost trunk space counts. So she ascended over the car and cleared the shitty trunk on her way down, and slammed onto the asphalt halfway into the right lane behind me. *I* was really lucky because she didn't even crack the windshield or dent the car anywhere. This was southeast PA and there are a lot of rednecks around, and one of the first guys to pull over was a redneck in a pickup halfway loaded with crap. We figured since her leg was broken and she was crippled and staggering around, she had to go. So he got a jack out of his pickup and smashed it into her skull. Then he decided that there was no point in wasting all the meat so I said sure, I'd help him load her carcass into the back of his pickup. This was before Thanksgiving so the timing was perfect for him and wherever he was going. (Not quite perfect since I hit a deer and not one of those wild turkeys you sometimes see there.) But first he had to bash her skull in with the jack again because of all the go to hell looks she was giving him.
Then a cop pulled over and we told him what happened. He decided we were innocent and he didn't have to write anything up, and *he* ended up helping the guy load her into his pickup truck instead. I didn't have to do *anything*. I really had a reason to feel thankful that Thanksgiving.
But I still felt guilty about it. The second time, though, I steered a POS Saturn on a path through a herd of deer on the PA turnpike at about 70 mph, and flew all the way through without hitting any of them! Although nobody was behind me to see it (except maybe one guy, not sure) it was one of my proudest moments.
http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/luckycoyote.asp
No Inflation Taxation without Representation
Great stuff. A lot of it sounds so familiar. My wife and I totaled 2 cars in 2 years. Within 5 miles of our house. Both times a huge buck literally just landed on the hood. Like it just started raining bucks from the sky. I've dodged or driven within 5 feet of a deer 4 times in the last month. But there are schools and parks around here. No hunting. 5 or 6 wolves would be perfect. Even if they ate 2 toddlers over the years it would be far less then the number killed by deer.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
Since when are rabbits are a problem?
How many people that have never seen a Coyote in their life can reply to this article with ridiculous misinformation? Coyotes are larger in northern Canada, but even there are never larger than a medium sized dog (50lbs or so) The ones in the Wisconsin/Illinois area are slightly larger than a cat... less than 20lbs. They eat mostly mice, birds and maybe rats. Cats are way too large for your average Coyote, and even if they were to target a cat, cats can easily avoid them simply by going vertical. Coyotes can't climb. They things are completely harmless unless you have chickens. If you have chickens, they can be a total pain in your ass.
What could possibly go wrong?
"The world is a construct of forceful imagination. Those who don't know walk around in the reailties of those who do"
With so many deer around, I doubt the wolves would EVER run the risk of dealing with humans.
...until rocket-powered anvils and explosive-loaded pianos start hitting buildings as a collateral damage of coyotes fighting the vermin.
45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
He’s not a threat. He’s not going to pick up your children
Let's see him put his money where his mouth is and offer a $1,000,000 guarantee.
“He’s not a threat. He’s not going to pick up your children,” Block said.
What an idiot. Coyotes kill pets, and evidence from the Carolinas indicates they are now affecting deer populations by decimating the survival rates of fawns. Coyotes are dangerous, and they attack humans. There were 142 attacks on humans between 1960 and 2006. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coyotes-suburban-attacks
Coyotes have spread naturally to all lower 48 states because of declines in wolf populations. Another interesting tidbit is that the coyote is the only predator in North America whose recorded population has NEVER decreased, only increased. Why someone would give such an adaptable predator a leg up when it is doing fine is completely beyond me.
Make love, not reality television.
The whole point of the coyotes is to get rid of rodents.... so any cats they kill is just part of the job.
Oh great, taking care of one pest animal with a bigger more dangerous pest animal. (Well ok, rats are more likely to carry disease.) Coyotes are about the only animal I won't swerve to miss in my car. (Hell, I'm tempted to chase after them if I see them and run them down.)
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
Exactly.
Operator, give me the number for 911!
Coyotes attacking humans are nothing new. What I worry about is when one of them attempts to attack a Mexican illegal and then immediately backs off saying "Professional Courtesy".
--
Here in the Northeast, we have coyote magnets.
Submission as evidence constitutes plaintiff and/or prosecutorial misconduct.
Dunning? Six Corners? Norwood? Edison Park?
With the first link, the chain is forged.
By Cumberland Ave and Lawrence Ave