The U.S. Forest Service is loosening rules to deal with
predators. The new rules would allow livestock owners and others to hunt down wolves, bears, coyotes and mountain lions using trucks, helicopters and cyanide-laced traps. The GLRC’s Lester Graham
reports:
Transcript
The U.S. Forest service is loosening rules to deal with predators. The new rules would
allow livestock owners and others to hunt down wolves, bears, coyotes and mountain
lions using trucks, helicopters and cyanide-laced traps. The GLRC’s Lester Graham
reports:
The Forest Service says the proposed new rules simply clear up a program that’s
designed to get rid of nuisance animals that prey on livestock. Erik Ryberg is with the
Center for Biological Diversity. He says the new rules permit killing any local predator
instead of just the animal that’s killing livestock. They would also allow off-road
vehicles and even helicopters to chase down the animals on federal land, and they would
allow baited traps that explode with poison gas:
“These are buried cyanide bombs that when triggered release an explosive cloud of
sodium cyanide crystals and kill whatever has triggered it. They’re very dangerous both
to domestic pets, to children and to people. They certainly don’t belong in federally-
protected wilderness areas.”
The current rules state that the agency is to “consider the benefits of predator species in
the ecosystem” before it starts killing any predators.
Coyotes have started to lose their wildlife habitat, and now they are adapting to cities and suburbs. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Department of Natural Resources)
Justin Brown is one of the researchers tracking coyotes in the suburbs. His research is exploring the predator's impact on Canada geese.
Coyotes have even found their way into downtowns of major cities.
A coyote was recently found in New York City's Central Park. Coyotes frequent Chicago's downtown Lincoln Park, in search of food such as young geese and other waterfowl.
As wildlife habitat is displaced by subdivisions, some animals are adapting to their new surroundings. That’s created new food for some kinds of predators, such as coyotes. The GLRC’s Lester Graham reports on how their range is expanding:
Transcript
As wildlife habitat is displaced by subdivisions, some animals are
adapting to their new surroundings. That’s created new food for some
kinds of predators, such as coyotes. The GLRC’s Lester Graham reports
on how their range is expanding:
Wile E. Coyote hasn’t always had the greatest life out in the wild.
(Sound of Roadrunner)
So… some coyotes are moving into the city, and why not? There’s a
smorgasbord for coyotes in the city.
(Sounds of ducks and geese)
We’re in Lincoln Park in downtown Chicago. Coyotes are occasionally
sighted around here. Rob Curtis has seen one in his neighborhood a few
miles north of here, but the wildlife photographer had a close encounter
with a coyote here in Lincoln Park.
“Well, I knew that it was living there because people had seen it before,
but I hadn’t seen it. And then, I was trying to photograph a rare bird that
was in front of the fence there and I was camouflaged and it came up
right in front on the other side of the fence without it noticing me, and
then it just walked on.”
The coyotes eat just about anything they can get a hold of: rats, young
geese, squirrels… and… sometimes pets. In the Chicago suburb,
Arlington Heights, coyotes have been a problem.
Police Sergeant Nick Pecora says sometimes coyotes are pretty brazen.
“In the last 18 months Arlington Heights has lost one Yorkshire Terrier,
taken off the patio in the owners presence, and in one case the dog had an
electronic collar on and when the coyote took it, it received a shock and
dropped the animal and ran away.”
Pecora says some Arlington Heights residents haven’t been too keen on
what some see as an intruding predator.
“Coyotes are indigenous to the area and – maybe it’s the perception that
this is a large animal and the bunnies, the skunks, the squirrels, that’s
what Arlington Heights is used to, and a 35-pound animal walking
through your yard, I think they’re perceived as the big, bad wolf, if you
will.”
And… although there hasn’t been a documented case of a coyote
attacking a human… some worry that they might.
Not too far away researchers are putting radio collars on coyotes to see
where they’re going and what they’re doing.
(Sound of tires on gravel)
Justin Brown is with a research project out of Ohio State University.
He’s just located the spot where a coyote is hiding. We can’t see him,
but we know he’s there because of the signal his collar is emitting.
“We very rarely see them, especially during the day. At the night —
during the night, occasionally we’ll get good visuals, but for the most
part during the day times you never see them.”
Brown and his colleagues are trying to figure out why there are more
coyotes in the suburbs and cities. One of the reasons is car and deer
accidents. Coyotes feed on the carcasses. The huge increase in Canada
geese is another reason.
“Food ranges from deer to geese to even just dog food people leave out.
There’s definitely a high variety of foods available to them. For habitat,
it can be anything, any little wood lot, anywhere that they can find a little
hiding spot for the daytime and then during the evenings they run (in) a
lot of areas you wouldn’t expect such as residential areas and
commercial parking lots. They pretty much run it all, anywhere that they
might come across a meal.”
You’d think there wouldn’t be that many places for a coyote to hide in
the city and suburbs. But, Brown says they hide in parks, golf courses, in
wood lots, graveyards… anyplace with a little cover. Brown’s research team
leader, Stan Gehrt, estimates there are something like two-thousand coyotes
in the Chicago metro area.Justin Brown says the truly amazing thing is that
coyotes have learned to adapt so well… and even survive a lot of automobile
traffic.
“We’ve actually seen animals where they’re actually figuring out traffic
patterns. They know which roads are going which ways. We’ll see them
cross roads where they’ll actually look only the direction traffic should
be coming and then go and then stop in the middle and look in the other
direction for traffic and then go. So, they’ve definitely figured out how
the road systems work. It’s just amazing to see how they survive in this
environment.”
And, the experts say, the coyotes are probably here to stay. Most
residents don’t want the police to shoot the animals. So some
municipalities tried to trap and relocate the animals to a more rural area,
but coyotes are very territorial, and they immediately head back to the
place where they were trapped. Often they’re hit by cars on the journey
back, but sometimes they make it home, and the predator in the suburbs
is back and hungry.
Coyotes have started to lose their wildlife habitat, and now they are adapting to cities and suburbs. (Photo courtesy of Michigan Department of Natural Resources)
Justin Brown is one of the researchers tracking coyotes in the suburbs. His research is exploring the predator's impact on Canada geese.
Coyotes have even found their way into downtowns of major cities.
A coyote was recently found in New York City's Central Park. Coyotes frequent Chicago's downtown Lincoln Park, in search of food such as young geese and other waterfowl.
In recent years, coyotes have been increasing in numbers in many cities and suburbs. The GLRC’s Lester Graham reports there might be more of the predators because there are more Canada geese:
Transcript
In recent years, coyotes have been increasing in numbers in many cities
and suburbs. The GLRC’s Lester Graham reports there might be more of
the predators because there are more Canada geese:
Coyotes are sneaky, so people don’t see them often, but researchers have
caught a few and put radio collars on them to track their movements.
Justin Brown is part of an Ohio State University study following coyotes
in suburban Chicago. He says the research indicates coyotes might be
keeping a nuisance in check. It seems coyotes like to eat young Canada
geese.
“Coyotes are actually showing to be very important predators of them
and we’re actually even finding some adult kills, which is pretty amazing
that they can catch adult geese. They’re very wary. They’re always
watching. Even when they’re sitting on the nest, the geese do not sleep.
So, I mean, it’s just amazing seeing how good coyotes are at what they
do.”
Brown says it looks as though coyotes are also taking young deer, which
ultimately might reduce the number of car – deer accidents in the
suburbs.
A high-profile flock of whooping cranes may be winging its way back through the Midwest in the next few days or weeks. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
A high-profile flock of whooping cranes may be winging its way back through the Midwest in the next few days or weeks. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Chuck Quirmbach reports:
The cranes would be the first migrating flock of whoopers in the eastern U.S. The birds have left their winter home in Florida, and wildlife biologists hope the cranes are on their way to a summer nesting site in Wisconsin. The whoopers are flying on their own this spring, after having followed ultra light aircraft on their southerly migration last fall. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service spokesperson Charles Underwood says one of the biggest dangers on the northbound journey is from predators.
“Both bobcats and coyotes and as they get further north the possibility of wolves taking one of the birds is always of concern to us.”
Underwood is also urging people not to get to try to get too close to the whooping cranes. He says wildlife officials are trying to keep the huge birds as wild as possible. Two web sites will track the cranes’ progress.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, this is Chuck Quirmbach reporting.
