Do they hunt coyotes in Central Park?

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I mentioned to a friend of mine yesterday that I was considering a move to New York City. She assumed a slightly alarmed expression , and said, “Think it over carefully. Look what they did to that coyote.” It took me a moment to process this statement.

“Yean mean an animal coyote?” (Thought maybe she’d been referring to to illegal immigration.) “Yes,” she said. “They found a coyote in Central Park, and somehow felt the need to chase it down and catch it. It eventually died. You see, in New York, they view coyotes as wild things from the west. They don’t want them around, and probably they wouldn’t wan’t you around either."

“Hmm, I thought. I could easily think of things a lot more dangerous than coyotes. Murderers and rapists came to mind.” But I thought about it further. As far as I know, at least one kind of coyote is native to N.Y. State. So why catch it, and then let it die? Coyotes abound in Griffith Park, and nobody seems to mind—they don’t hurt anybody as far as I know. They don’t even howl in the night, as protrayed in movies to give that scary-out-in-the-wild effect Hollywood is so prone to. I’ve come across small packs (well, maybe “family” is the more proper term), usually three or four, roaming around posh Los Feliz (and you can put the stress on the “Fel-“, no matter how good your Spanish is), where the likes of Madonna and Leonardo di Caprio have lived. They run away from joggers. Not Madonna and Di Caprio–I mean the coyotes.

I did a find a news wire that announced that the coyote in question had died:

Story

Poor fellow—if only he could have gotten a plane ticket to L.A. he might have lived.

But I must say, there is one coyote whose fate in Griffith Park I do lament—and even on this message board (most people just complained about the quality of the picture.) It’s the lone coyote in the L.A. Zoo, trapped in a lame cramped, den. The thing is that the L.A. Zoo is right in the middle of Griffith Park.

What not just let him go, and if people really want to see a coyote they can take a stroll in nearby Los Feliz, as they gaze at Madonna’s former mansion?

2

They relocate coyotes, they don’t kill them. Not that there is that good of a reason for doing so. NYC just doens’t like wild animals in its environs. (Heck, Rudy even outlawed tame, domesticated ferrets)

Of course, if you can’t handle stress, you don’t belong in NYC.

3

Ah yes…poor Hal the coyote. I started this thread about it when this went down.

4

There’s not really a native coyote species in this part of the country. That’s just something that has developed because of the vacuum left by the elimination of larege predators. Like my ex-wife, nature abhors a vacuum.

5

Yes, I did see it. I’m sorry I didn’t mention it. And it took me a day or two to make the post.

Also: the effects of the Guatamalan chile still hadn’t worn off. (Where’s the closest lighthouse?)

6

Oh, stress is no problem for me. I thrive on it (that’s why I live in L.A.–you know, bullet proof glass on my car windows, Salvatruchas, 18th Street, Harpies, La Cienega, the 405, traffic that only idiots could cause.

If you think L.A. is just a buch of people in Hawiian shirts under palm trees drinking lattes and talking about movie scripts they’ll never write before they meander toward the gym to pedal a few rounds, then perhaps you’ve haven’t spent enough time east of Vermont Avenue.

7

They didn’t intentionally kill the coyote, you know. They just wanted to relocate it. Then it died. Its sad, but the animal was very much out of its element. NYC is not inherently hostile to wildlife – did you know a community of Peregrine falcons nests on the MetLife building? They eat their weight in pigeons every day and are much beloved!

As for why it seemed so necessary to relocate it, coyotes carry rabies and parvo and particularly brazen or sick ones (and it seems our friend the Urban Coyote of Central Park was both brazen and sick) have been known to attack children.

Out west they “foxhunt” for coyote, as they are a threat to livestock. Bear in mind, you are also allowed to shoot a domestic dog on sight for harrassing your livestock out there. (This is also true where I live in Virginia. Not the coyote part. The shooting-the-dogs part).

8

Well Pale Male is doing well in central park. The thing with the coyote is that he really didn’t belong there. I think he was an exotic pet that either got out or escaped.

9

My friend and his brother tried to hunt coyote in hills around Ventura, CA. They gave up. The coyote can hide in the brush, is camoflaged, runs faster than you, etc. I suppose if they’d really put their hearts into it, they could have set up blinds and waited all day, but it wouldn’t be easy.
By the way, coyotes DO howl. I’ve heard them plenty of times from the hills of Ventura, at my parents’ house.

10

Right. That’s why they use dogs to flush them and horse to pursue them. “foxhunt” don’tcha know.

11

Well, thanks for the info, Hello. I didn’t know that. Nevertheless, I feel my livestock (emu) are safe from coyotes. But now I’m worried about all those damned radioactive squirrels at UCLA. Should I get out my AHR built 600 OK?

12

Or should I get out my "police helicopter and sharpshooters armed with tranquilizer guns,’ as they did in Central Park?

13

You could either the case for either animal, but I have to admit, putting pidgeons in Central Park is even sillier than putting a coyote in the L.A. zoo.

14

Nah, Coyotes are wild in Queens and Brooklyn. How Hal got to Manhattan, we’ll never know, but it’s not surprising he did. Maybe he took the tunnel, maybe he swam. Neither are impossible, but both are surprising. He could have walked along the Highbridge, or any of a few other ways that are just about completely unwatched.

Poor guy.