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In a milestone for Manhattan, a pair of coyotes has made Central Park their home
- doug-moen 1y agoIf the coyotes breed, then attacks on humans will begin as the coyotes will instinctively defend their cubs from humans who get too close to the den, even unwittingly. It would be better to remove the coyotes before this happens.
- fmbb 1y agoCoyotes are tiny critters. Surely they don’t attack humans?
- pinkmuffinere 1y agoThey do on occasion, and there have even been a couple of deaths. But to your point, the rate is very very low. Edit: see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_attack https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_attack
- throw0101d 1y ago> Coyotes are tiny critters. Surely they don’t attack humans? Perhaps adult humans are less likely, but child humans the risk could be higher as a coyote may think they can 'take' them; from a few days ago: * https://globalnews.ca/news/11267424/nobelton-coyote-attack/ https://globalnews.ca/news/11267424/nobelton-coyote-attack/
- kibwen 1y agoIt sounds like you're on the west coast, where coyotes are tiny. East coast coyotes are much larger, on the order of a good-sized dog. That said, I welcome coyotes in urban spaces, and have admired from afar the few bold urban coyotes I've come across. Humans need reminders that they're a part of nature and not apart from nature, especially in the city. In terms of actual danger, coyotes kill approximately infinity times fewer people than cars do, so let's focus infinity times more energy on solving that problem first.
- billfor 1y agoOn the east coast the coyotes interbreed with wolves and form coywolves which are really huge and can be nasty. Look at the picture on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_coyote https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_coyote. It's only a matter of time before something bad happens to a small child. They've already killed a lot of small dogs.
- pfdietz 1y agoThey're expanding/evolving into the niche that wolves occupied. The superabundance of deer is facilitating that.
- GauntletWizard 1y agoDingoes are a good percentage smaller than Coyotes on average and maximum (Dingoes 22 – 33 lbs, Coyotes 20 – 46 lbs). Dingoes are small, to the point where "Dingoes ate my baby" was a common and sarcastic joke after a reported attack - And yet that attack was extensively proven[1]. Yes, a small group of Coyotes could easily corner or snatch a small child and pose a danger to such. Is it likely? No. Is it reasonable to relocate the coyotes? Absolutely. It might also be reasonable to manage and not relocate the coyotes. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Chamberlain-Creighton#Evidence_that_a_dingo_took_Azaria_Chamberlain https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_Chamberlain-Creighton#Ev...
- triceratops 1y agoThey're the size of a medium size dog, only not friendly. If we don't accept off-leash dogs in public I don't understand why coyotes are tolerated in human cities.
- amanaplanacanal 1y agoThey are tolerated because there is no human you can yell at to keep them on a leash.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- skeeter2020 1y agoWhat do you mean tolerated? How many coyotes have you personally eradicated? If not you then who?
- triceratops 1y agoDepartment of animal control usually.
- vunderba 1y agoThe ones I've come across in the southwest portion of the U.S. are pretty small, and from Wikipedia: "The average male weighs 8 to 20 kg (18 to 44 lb) and the average female 7 to 18 kg (15 to 40 lb).". My Pyrenees/husky mix absolutely dwarfs them and they give her a WIDE berth the few times I've seen them while hiking.
- southernplaces7 1y agoAt least when it comes to coyotes on the Pacific Northwest, they're not tiny at all. I've seen specimens that easily had the size of a largish German shepherd, many times. 30 to 40 kilos isn't rare, and that's not a tiny critter at all. It's definitely a threat to a kid or nearly any dog and could give even an adult male human a run for their money if the coyote actually got aggressive enough to lunge (that at least isn't likely, since they're fantastically cowardly when confronted by any aggression from adult humans, at least in my experience)
- kjkjadksj 1y agoCoyotes are all over socal and they really don’t go for people at all. Small dogs maybe.
- giantg2 1y agoGenerally true but there are exceptions.
- otoburb 1y ago>>Small dogs maybe. A judge in Brooklyn recently ruled[1] that dogs are (now) classified as "immediate family members". I wonder if the this might push the Central Park Conservancy to step up considerations for eradication of the coyotes to avoid potential emotional damages in light of the ruling if such a situation were to occur. [1] https://www.nonhumanrights.org/blog/dogs-family-members/ https://www.nonhumanrights.org/blog/dogs-family-members/
- skeeter2020 1y agoif we're lucky maybe the coyotes will take out this judge?
- throw0101d 1y ago> Coyotes are all over socal and they really don’t go for people at all. From four days ago: * https://globalnews.ca/news/11267424/nobelton-coyote-attack/ https://globalnews.ca/news/11267424/nobelton-coyote-attack/ ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
- mikestew 1y agoNo one is saying that it doesn’t happen. One-off stories don’t prove anything one way or the other.
- metabagel 1y agoSmaller children are at risk for coyote attacks. A 12-year-old boy does seem a bit unusual, but he wasn't paying attention to his surroundings. It may depend somewhat on whether the animal was rabid, or how hungry/desperate the animal was for food.
- IG_Semmelweiss 1y agoIf you have plentiful prey (rats outnumber humans in NYC) , this is not likely to happen
- lawlessone 1y agoAs the other post mentioned they can be aggressive to protect cubs then it is not about hunger..
- steveBK123 1y agoProbably biggest human coyote interaction risks in Central Park will be the bikers and dog walkers.
- slwvx 1y agoHumans are a bigger risk to coyotes than coyotes to humans. > It would be better to remove the coyotes before this happens. following this logic, we should just kill all coyotes. We did this to lotsa other species, I hope we've stopped that.
- bpodgursky 1y agoIn cities where parks are the few places kids can play outdoors yes that is a reasonable idea.
- skeeter2020 1y agoI wouldn't worry about this; pretty rare that today's parent lets their kid farther away than arms length!
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- triceratops 1y ago> we should just kill all coyotes At least relocate them out of cities. Why would you ever want a predator that large living inside a city? Let a dog, a domesticated animal that we trust to live in our homes with our children and babies, off-leash in a city and people lose their minds. But coyotes move in and everyone's chill? Wtf
- rufus_foreman 1y agoWhere I live you can shoot coyotes in any season with a hunting permit. That's chill? OK then, let's be chill about off-leash dogs and apply the same rules to them.
- triceratops 1y agoThat's not what the story is about. But you sound like you want to shoot dogs.
- cowmoo728 1y agoI've seen this exact pair of coyotes three times now. I have a few blurry photos of them. They're about the size of my dog, who is roughly 60 pounds, so they are sizable and could hunt a small dog or child. However, they're very cautious around people still, and appear well fed. The wildlife in central park is highly adapted to the presence of people and stays away, except to dig through the park trash.
- msgodel 1y agoSssh. They don't want to hear it. It won't bother those of us who don't live there and they'll figure it out in a few years.
- bell-cot 1y agoCoyotes have been breeding near human settlements, at scale, for thousands of years. Attacks happen, but are very rare. I'd speculate that there has been considerable selective pressure against the "not highly avoidant of attacking humans" trait in coyotes.
- VTimofeenko 1y agoIME(living in almost rural area, coyotes live in/near stormwater ponds and are abundant) they will follow you if you get too close to the den to try to drive you away, but won't engage. Coyote pups are adorable though. A couple of them made a lair in a drain about a month ago but have relocated since. Still see one of them around the neighborhood with his distinctive tail.
- woodpanel 1y agoOr a couple of decades of lost human lives until enough voters realize that the underlying ideology (that celebrates Coyotes next to playgrounds) absolutely values human life lower than what should be acceptable.
- qoez 1y agoThis being a positive thing in the sense of managing the rodent population feels like in the simpsons when they introduce snakes to eat lizards and then gorillas to take care of the snake overpopulation.
- fluorinerocket 1y agoBut the gorillas freeze in the winter. That's the beauty of it
- thePhytochemist 1y agoThere have been some hilarious and unfortunate disasters using introduced populations for pest control. But coyotes are not introduced. They are native to the area which means there are many checks and balances in place. Rat control is not just a nice bonus option to reduce an irritation - we need to take it seriously in light of the Black Death. The fact of the matter is I see people having trouble with rat control in my area and we could use help to manage something that is potentially a lot more dangerous than coyotes.
- dylan604 1y agoHow effective will a pair of coyotes hanging out in Central Park be for rodent control in the city? It's the rats running in the drains, streets, buildings that are the problem. Rats living in the park are not what the people living in the city care about
- tastyfreeze 1y agoGive it time. Predators breed until prey numbers are diminished enough that they start starving.
- lordnacho 1y agoSo then there will be thousands and thousands of hungry coyotes in NYC, since NYC is famously full of rats?
- delichon 1y ago> Coyotes can also help manage the city’s rodent problem and keep other wildlife populations, like Canada geese and raccoons, in check. Not just wildlife. A pack tracked my wily cat for months. I saw a couple of close calls. They learned that the cat liked to leave the house for a stroll a little before dawn. One morning they waited for him and took him right outside the cat door. It was pretty amazing that he lived nine years as thick as coyotes are around here. I can't bear to keep a cat locked in the house, so haven't had the nerve to get another since then. I previously lost a cat to a pack of raccoons. But my cats collectively are way ahead of the game in terms of animal biomass harvested.
- rescripting 1y agoProbably best to keep your cats inside even if you do get another one, considering the devastating effect they have as an invasive species on local wildlife. [1] [1] https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380 https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms2380
- bpodgursky 1y agoIf your cat actually eats what they kill (ours did) it's not nicer for the environment to turn forest into farmland to grow corn to feed chickens to turn into cat food. You're just pushing the environmental impact somewhere you can't see it.
- tristan957 1y agoFrom the abstract of the article: > We estimate that free-ranging domestic cats kill 1.3–4.0 billion birds and 6.3–22.3 billion mammals annually. I don't understand how to marry the point you're trying to make to this. Cats are an invasive species to most small animals, and should be kept from accessing them. In addition to the havoc they wreak on local small animal populations, outdoor cats live shorter lives than their indoor counterparts. https://www.vetinfo.com/indoor-outdoor-cat-life-expectancy.html https://www.vetinfo.com/indoor-outdoor-cat-life-expectancy.h...
- thePhytochemist 1y agoThanks for posting this, such a nice story and writeup! Where I live in Vancouver the coyotes have been very noticeable this year. I love to hang out with them in the park and garden, and hear them howl with the cop cars at night. They are not pets though - I always keep my distance and keep aware of the possibility that they might sneak up on me. I take care of an outdoor cat in the neighborhood, and yes it's possible that a coyote will eat a cat or small dog. I worry about her but there are many fences, she is smart as well as a good climber. There are many hazards in the city that don't have the positive sides that coyotes do, and I think it's important that we learn to live with them and honour what they bring to our lives. That includes rat control, which we rather need here.
- mikestew 1y agoI take care of an outdoor cat in the neighborhood, and yes it's possible that a coyote will eat a cat or small dog. I live near a trail which also serves as a wildlife corridor, including coyotes that we regularly see on our dog walks. Years ago, we had a feral cat that we would feed and care for (including neutering). He remained outside because he refused to even be brought inside, let alone live with us. This guy was huge, and looked like he had won his share of fights with the scars to prove it. If a cat would survive in the wild, it would be this guy. But even he wasn’t tough enough to hold off (what I assume were) coyotes forever, and one day he just quit coming around. After that I’ve noticed that we just don’t have outdoor cats in our neighborhood. (And for context, we aren't out in the boonies; this is within the city limits of Redmond, WA, where the local elementary gets locked down about once a year because mama bear and her cubs showed up off that same trail.)
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- novaleaf 1y agoI'm in cottage lake woodinville, same. Even more bizarre I fenced in my yard hoping to keep out the rabbits, but they always find a way in. Last winter I went out there and found a dismembered rabbit in the middle of the yard. I went to get a bag to pick it up, and when I got back, all that was left were a couple feet. An eagle maybe? I left the feet, but nothing came to get them :D
- srean 1y agoGiven all the news about elevated levels of human Coyote interactions over the last 10 ~ 15 years, I wonder whether we are witnessing the beginnings of another domestication/speciation event -- new "dogs". I just wish this does not turn adversarial.
- tonymet 1y agoRangers and farmers are no longer culling them.
- gotoeleven 1y agoThat we should be overprotective of dangerous animals--in this case celebrating that they are living in the middle of a very dense city--is a luxury belief. It makes dumb rich people feel good and the costs are borne by others. For another example see the reintroduction of wolves in Colorado.
- sdwr 1y agoCoyotes are adorable! https://youtu.be/UW5Or7bIVJk https://youtu.be/UW5Or7bIVJk
- throwaway984393 1y ago[dead]
- HocusLocus 1y agoRemember when kids were safe in Central Park? I was going to link to The Prince of Central Park [Rhodes, 1975] But Wikipedia is too flaky to remember the 1975 novel, only the 2000 movie
- macinjosh 1y agoIt is hilarious to me to be reading about city folk being amazed at a few coyotes and an owl. In Nebraska coyotes are vermin and you shoot them on sight if they are on your farm for all the trouble and danger they can cause. We used to go out on the property and call them for target practice. edit: lol at the downvotes, welcome to the real world?
- samrus 1y agoGrass greener. Im sure new yorkers are similarly dickish to nebraskans who come to the city and rubber neck all the tall buildings like hicks
- dyauspitr 1y agoWhat trouble are the coyotes? We have tons of coyotes in the rural area I live in but no one around here shoots them.
- 01100011 1y agoDo you raise animals?
- dyauspitr 1y agoGoats and chickens but they’re fenced in.
- madaxe_again 1y agoWe do. We also have wolves about. In the last year there has been a grand total of one sheep in the entire district possibly lost to them. Wolves, like many other apex predators, have been selectively bred over generations to be avoidant of humans and livestock, as the consequences are typically mortal, and remove those tendencies from the germline. Same kinda deal as why we no longer have ducks here that aren’t scared shitless of human presence.
- dwood_dev 1y agoRural south here. Goats, chickens, ducks geese. Had the most success with goats and chicken kept behind an electric fence at night. Everything else ends up eaten by the wolves/coyotes within a year. Luckily the eagle populations less than 50 miles away have not yet noticed us. We're more of a target of opportunity for the wolf population due to the abundance of whitetail deer. Those deer provide an excellent source of inexpensive protein from hunting. We can have one of the local butchers process the entire deer for under $200. The usual agreement is that the meat from the first deer of the season goes to the landowner(they pay for processing). The rest is up to the hunter. Most years we end up with enough extra that we donate the processed meat to local churches for distribution to their congregation.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- PeterStuer 1y agoNext up: Roadrunners! Honestly, as a curiosum and token wildlife insert I get it. Bit like zoo animals. But I'm not sure coyotes and mega cities are a good mariage. I see people mentioning rat controll, but imagine the size of the coyote population you would need to make even a small dent in that.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- nkrisc 1y agoCoyotes seem remarkably adaptable to urban environments. The coyotes I’ve seen in Chicago are something else. I’ve seen them trotting down the sidewalk of four-lane roads in broad daylight (they were quite fat too). Even had one run right past me as I was waking down the sidewalk, I thought it was a dog at first. One of the best Chicago coyote incidents was one around Lincoln Park (I think it was) that walked into a Quizno’s or something on a hot summer day and hopped into the drink cooler. Edit: here’s a picture of it https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/tv8y26/today_is_the_15th_anniversary_of_quiznos_coyote/ https://www.reddit.com/r/chicago/comments/tv8y26/today_is_th...
- SoftTalker 1y agoCoyotes are basically wild dogs, they are quite smart and can become tame around humans if they figure out that people don't pose much of a threat and might give them food (tame is different from domesticated however, they are still potentially dangerous).
- rrrrrrrrrrrryan 1y agoIn North America, Coyotes have almost completely replaced the ecological niche that feral dogs fill in most of the rest of the world's urban environments.
- tomcam 1y agoA bunch of them live on my property. They have a roll call at night and it’s an eerie screamhowl I’m still not used to after 5 years. We don’t usually see them in daytime.