Dandelions were here before us, and show no signs of leaving

Difference in reactions to benign flowers and possibly dangerous coyotes is bizarre

“They were here first.” “We’ve encroached on their habitat.” “We have to learn to coexist with them.”

That’s what Calgarians always say about coyotes. The same could be said about dandelions, but it isn’t, even though dandelions are a lot less dangerous. At least, the city hasn’t had to close a green space to the public because a dandelion attacked and killed a dog, as a coyote did in the Panorama Hills neighbourhood last month.

So, why the annual spring dandelion madness? Some of the attitudes people express about dandelions are puzzling. Such as: What will visitors to our city think when they see all the dandelions? Hmm. I’d say they’ll probably think, “Dandelions! Just like back home in (fill in the blank)!” After all, it’s not like Calgary is the only city on the planet that has dandelions every spring. Or maybe the tourists won’t even be thinking about dandelions.

We pride ourselves on coexisting with wildlife but, apparently, that standard applies only when the wildlife is furry, four-legged and appealing. That’s probably why Natasha, the year-old coyote who lives as a house pet with a family in Saskatoon, has 63,482 likes on her Facebook page. Recently, Natasha was congratulated by many of her human followers for not killing a litter of kittens belonging to a cat in the same home. Yea, Natasha! What other coyotes thought of her for passing up such a golden opportunity remains unknown. Of course, anyone who sensibly suggests that a coyote belongs in the wild and not in someone’s house, or who speculates that Natasha could be dangerous when she is older, gets booed off the page and insulted by everyone else who says she is a precious and sweet fur baby.

Dandelions are rather more predictable and far less a potential threat than that. According to a treatise on Columbia University’s Invasion Biology website page, “Though the dandelion has been carried from place to place since before written history, it can at least be said that the plant is native to Europe and Asia. The earliest recordings can be found in Roman times and use has been noted by the Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain and the Normans of France. In the tenth and eleventh centuries there is mention of dandelions used for medicinal purposes in the works of Arabian physicians.” Blame the Puritans if you want to — they thought the dandelion was so useful they brought it over to North America. Further, “the dandelion has a low ecological impact and provides no real damage to the ecosystem.”

So, there’s no need to waste two weeks every spring getting exercised about dandelions. It’s not like we can stop them. The plant has been proliferating for centuries. If it can survive AngloSaxon wars and Norman invasions, it can survive the City of Calgary’s efforts to deal with it.

In fact, if you don’t have enough dandelions in your yard, you can buy seeds on Amazon, which advertises organic non-GMO dandelion seeds, Russian dandelions known as kok-saghyz and Richters French dandelions along with the standard seeds wafting through our backyards right about now. You can also order a “gift set” of Taraxacum officinale, the Latin name for dandelions, and even a “dandelion seed necklace make-a-wish glass bead orb.”

Ordering a gift set seems like overkill when the recipient can just go out in their backyard and pick some, but none of this explains why we are so keen to coexist in peace and harmony with coyotes, but not with dandelions. Especially since, as Natasha posted not long ago on Facebook, “Coyotes probably hate that you’re around, too. They were here first.”