Greenwood Village’s shoot-to-kill coyote plan likely will have an ironic twist.
Eradication efforts have, time and again, produced coyote populations twice as high as before, research shows.
So much for the bang-bang Wild West theory.
Hopefully, when representatives from several cities and the Colorado Division of Wildlife meet Wednesday to devise a coyote strategy, they’ll move beyond the sniper scenario.
Two people recently have been nipped in broad daylight by brazen coyotes, which is a concern. We understand the desire to do something about it. But the answer lies not with a broad-based, shoot-and-trap approach. A smarter policy, with a better chance of success, is more nuanced and, frankly, more difficult.
It involves removing the handful of brazen coyotes that have become aggressive toward humans. Sorry to say, the coyotes will have to be killed. Relocating them typically doesn’t work.
Then — and this is the important part — people have to realize the part they play in causing the coyote problem. The public has to stop feeding coyotes. If you feed them and try to tame them, you’re essentially signing their death warrant.
Most people probably don’t realize how many coyotes live in their neighborhoods.
Stan Gehrt, an assistant professor at Ohio State University, has put radio collars on hundreds of coyotes that live in Chicago and surrounding suburbs. He found coyotes, by and large, go out of their way to avoid humans and pets.
The few that have “flipped over to the dark side” were fed or tamed by people.
Realizing this dynamic, Colorado in 2004 made it illegal to feed foxes and coyotes, and imposes a minor fine for offenses. But clearly, that law isn’t working. People must stop feeding the wild animals, and make sure they don’t get into garbage or find outdoor pet food to eat.
Coyotes live comfortably in some of the most urban areas in the country, howling away in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. They’re not going anywhere. As Colorado’s cities and towns expand, encounters between people and wildlife will continue.
It’s our responsibility to manage that interaction in an intelligent way, and not just go Annie Oakley on interloping coyotes.
