Views differ on ‘dispatching’ coyotes in Stamford
STAMFORD — Video from a home security camera tells one side of the story.
It shows an older woman bundled up in a coat walking her small dog on Waterbury Avenue in the Cove, unaware that, behind her and across the street, a coyote is following.
The woman moves slowly, her dog on a leash about 5 feet ahead. The coyote picks up its pace, gaining ground.
The coyote, trotting now, passes the woman then stops several feet ahead of her, assessing its chances of taking her dog. Just then a homeowner steps out her front door and appears to shout. The elderly woman stiffly bends to pick up her dog.
The coyote takes one more look then continues down Waterbury Avenue.
On social media, people praised the homeowner for saving her neighbor’s little dog. They called for the city to do something about the aggressive coyote that has been hunting in the Cove for weeks.
Others, however, took the coyote’s side.
People have chased coyotes from their territory by building on it, critics wrote on social media. People must take more care with their pets and learn to live with the coyotes that now occupy every neighborhood in Stamford, they said.
The controversy has made its way to the Board of Representatives, where the Public Safety Committee last week discussed the wily Cove coyote that has killed two dogs, approached several people walking dogs, climbed onto back decks and left yards strewn with animal carcasses.
Just ‘get along?’
“If the solution is euthanizing them, that works for me,” said Rep.
David Watkins, R-1, whose district includes Shippan and the Cove. “I am prepared to argue with those folks who say we just need to get along with coyotes. Something different is going on and it is a significant public safety problem.”
Public Safety Director Ted Jankowski said the Animal Control Center is getting multiple calls about the Cove coyote, which likely has cronies.
“Animal control officers are in the Cove daily, and we have hired a licensed professional trapper,” Jankowski said. “He’s seen at least three coyotes. He believes they may be living in the preserve at Cove Island Park.”
Setting traps won’t likely work, said Rep. Nina Sherwood, D-8.
“Trapping is not always effective,” Sherwood said. “Educating the public to not feed coyotes and explaining how to repel them is the best thing we can do. We can remove this one but there’s a good chance there will be more. You can’t trap
them all.”
Rep. Virgil de la Cruz, D-2, wanted to know what happens to a coyote that gets caught. Jankowski said it will be “dispatched.”
“So state regulations are to euthanize the coyote, not release it elsewhere in a wild area?” de la Cruz asked.
“Yes,” Jankowski said.
Killed in the trap
In fact, state-licensed trappers shoot captured coyotes in the brain using a small-caliber rifle, said Chris Vann, a wildlife biologist with the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection. The state, which issues a permit with each request to control a problem coyote, has used the procedure since the mid-1990s, Vann said.
“No permit allows relocation. It is not a responsible solution to any of our wildlife nuisance cases,” Vann said. “We don’t allow the liberation of animals. You can’t be permitted to say, ‘Get it out of my backyard and let it go in someone else’s backyard.’ It is a biologically unacceptable solution to anyone’s problem.”
DEEP issues fewer than a dozen of the permits each year, Vann said. The one just issued for the Cove is Stamford’s second in his tenure, said Jankowski, who took his post nearly nine years ago.
The state restricts traps to the padded metal type commonly known as a foothold, Vann said. It usually is placed in the coyote’s burrow, he said.
“There is no danger to any person. Even if someone stepped on one it would not hurt them. They are sized appropriately for coyotes and cause no real damage to the animal,” Vann said. “The traps are monitored by remote camera. The trapper gets instant pictures of what is going on at the trap site and responds quickly, usually within a few hours.”
Under-reported
Vann said coyotes rank first in the state in complaints about wild animals, but Connecticut has no record of one killing a person or attacking a child.
“Over the past 25 years, we have gotten maybe half a dozen reports of coyote attacks a year, mostly non-lifethreatening bites,” he said. “They have bitten people who were protecting their pets or injured people by ripping a bag of groceries from their arm.”
Jankowski said Stamford gets about 100 reports of coyote sightings a year. Two representatives said that’s far fewer than are actually sighted.
“We have had coyotes in Springdale for the entire 25 years I’ve lived here,” said Rep. J.R. McMullen, R-18. “We see them on a regular basis. We don’t bother reporting them.”
“I grew up in District 19 and have been here my whole life,” Rep. Raven Matherne, D-19, said of his neighborhood in the northern reaches of the city. “I would be just as likely to report a coyote as to report a deer.”
The state gets only about 200 complaints a year, Vann said.
“We hear of 25 to 30 dogs attacked each year,” he said. “People don’t call us anymore when their cats are gone.”
Educate
People must educate themselves about coyotes, Jankowski said. Secure garbage cans. Remove fruit that falls from trees. Don’t leave pet food in the yard. Walk your pet on a short leash. Flap your arms and your coat, make loud noise and throw things in the direction of a coyote if one approaches.
Asmall dog left unattended in a fenced yard is not safe, Vann said.
“Coyotes can jump over a 5-foot fence,” he said.
Coyotes are opportunists, so remove their opportunities, he said.
“They will travel the streets and crisscross backyards. If they find a rabbit, they will hunt it. If they find a cat, they will hunt it,” Vann said.
Some representatives said coyotes are indigenous to Connecticut, but Vann said that is not the case.
“There is no clear record of coyotes in the East,” he said. “Coyotes are descendants of wolves that originated in the Midwest. They have been found in Connecticut since the late 1950s and early 1960s.”
They are a problem the city must address, Watkins said.
“I understand coyotes need to be somewhere. I just don’t need them to be in District 1,” Watkins said. “We need to be very aggressive in keeping coyotes out of Shippan and Cove, where they are not native, they are not natural, and it is not historically the case to have them here.”