This really wasn't meant to be a post, it was a comment I made on NextDoor in relation to a post this morning about Coyote aggression.
After posting there, I thought in the effort of awareness for the sake of all Animals, I'd make a post here. This is a Human/Animal conflict issue. Unfortunately, there are reasons these kinds of interactions will continue, but the more awareness that is put forth, might bring some sense to those who need some.
This is an issue anywhere there are wild places, not just in San Francisco. It is also not limited to our Parks, but our Beaches, and anywhere else Wildlife decides to make their home.
During the short time I've been on NextDoor I have read many Coyote tales. The last one, just a bit ago, told of aggression aimed at a woman and her leashed Dog, who were chased by three Coyotes. While that particular encounter was noted as possibly being near a den and the aggression was a protection run off, there is something else to note and Dog owners should heed.
I have witnessed an endless stream of self-entitled Dog owners who find it entertaining to let their Dogs (both off leash and long leash) harass and terrorize Wildlife. No Being wants to be chased. Ducks, Squirrels, Raccoons, Shore Birds, and yes, including Pigeons and Gulls. It's all bullying. Even letting your Dog sit and wait to pounce on a Gopher when it peeks out of it's home, is harassment. The most horrifying after effect I've seen was one Duck who didn't escape and sadly ended up with a puncture wound on it's back the size of a quarter. Not only is this mentally sick, especially coming from an assumed Animal person, but any such behavior, harassing, terrorizing, ect. by Human or their Pet, toward any Wildlife, is a violation of the Park Code.
If anyone witnesses such behavior, by a Dog or Human, Please call the Park Patrol/Rangers and report the offenders.
That all said, in regards to the Coyote reports, I have to wonder if there are acts of aggression coming from Coyote's in a non-den protecting action, as a result of Off leash Dogs chasing them?
People need to respect Wildlife. Whether or not you think they have rights, our wild places are their home. If you can't respect that, then you should stay in your own home.
Additionally, there is one thing that I'm always reminded of when I read Coyote tales. Either with the storyteller or the comment makers, there is always those who will say the Coyotes need to be relocated, or something done. About fifteen years ago, when I started spending more time in the Park, almost daily, I'd hear reports of sightings. When a beloved Muscovy Duck at Stow Lake was killed by a Coyote, I entered into a conversation with a Gardener I knew. At the time, he estimated there were less than a dozen, but possibly up to twenty, Coyotes in the Park.
I emailed Eric Anderson, who I thought was Park Manager (at the time) but is currently listed as Park Superintendent. I questioned whether there was a population control plan. He forwarded my question to another department. So long ago, but I think it was to those who dealt with Wildlife. I asked about population control and noted that there may be only twenty now, but what happens in the years to come? There could be 200, living in a confined space of an urban park. Whether or not a valid option, I questioned birth control, either by capture, or possibly in food left in den areas? At sometime not long after, I wondered if something like a TNR (Trap, Neuter/Spray, Return) program would have been doable. Better than something that needed annual updating. Either way, it would have had to happen when population was just starting to grow. The reply I got was, There is no plan. The Rec and Park's position was to let live and flourish, and we have to coexist. I'm all for coexisting, but I'm empathetic and responsible, what do we do with the growing population of self-entitled Humans?
