So a 3 legged coyote crosses a metropolitan backyard

[HereSince1628]

I call the police to say, this injured animal is in my backyard...

The police say--yeah we get calls about him all the time.

Now, I wonder, with $9000 in taxes per year, isn't animal control getting some money to help this poor critter.

[EFerrari]

1. Animal control here has been cut down to almost nothing. n/t

[MadHound]

2. Is the coyote bleeding?

It seems to me from the police response that this coyote has been around awhile, and he is simply adapting your neighborhood as his own. After all, the coyotes were probably there first.

If he isn't bleeding or in distress, don't bother the poor guy, he knows what he's doing, and frankly it is you who need to deal with the fact that you are living in his home.

[Warpy]

5. Just keep small pets indoors

because cats and little yappy dogs are their favorite foods.

If he's not bleeding or showing signs of distress, he's coping well with three legs, able to hunt enough rodents and other prey to stay alive.

Respect his ability as a hunter and leave him alone.

[HereSince1628]

13. and little children!!

[TankLV]

16. Keep the cats inside - leave the little yappy dogs outside and do everyone a favor...!

I'm KIDDING!!!

[XOKCowboy]

6. There is a lot of truth to what you say...

Coyotes are very smart and adaptable. What would Animal Control do if they caught it? Euthanasia would probably be the result. Wildlife rescue? They might be able to relocate it but it sounds like the coyote is doing just fine as it is.

[HereSince1628]

9. I'm not so worried about the coyote, as I am about 2-4 year old humans

in their sand boxes.

Really, I have a PHD in Zoology. I'm not a kook about this. THe animal's behavior does not represent what is typical of the population of this species as it is usually present here in the area. I am not crazy after seeing a coyote, I see them all the time, but usually between 4:30 and 6:00 am when I do my wake-up three mile walk.

I'd really hate to read in the news about a small child being injured or worse from a starving coyote that is just trying to stay alive.

[thelordofhell]

18. Lighten up Francis

You should know, being a Doctor Of Zoology, that a child is more likely to be attacked by your family pet than a hungry Coyote.

http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/coyote_attacks.html

[HereSince1628]

19. f--k you too frisbee. That myth has been shown wrong at least 2 times

in the past 6 months.

Do the google.

[thelordofhell]

20. Myth? 4-5 times in a year(coyote) vs. 3,000 times in a year(dog)?

Lighten up Francis.

Oh, and this is a message board, not the floor of the Senate. Stop cussing.

[MattBaggins]

24. Apples and Oranges

Kids have much more exposure to a dog and get bit pulling a tail or stepping on a paw.

An injured wild animal is dangerous. An injured domesticated animal is dangerous.

[thelordofhell]

26. The animal is not injured

It just has 3 legs. It's not running around bleeding from it's stump and terrorizing people. It's just an animal looking for food, and I guarantee it's more scared of you than you are of it. If you treat it like the wild animal it is and don't feed it because it reminds you of your old dog "fluffy", it won't become emboldened and try to bite you, or come near you for that matter. You're more likely to get hit by lightning than attacked by a Coyote.

I'm a native Arizonan(sorry about the racists pricks that are trying to make being brown a crime) and I've seen Coyotes on golf courses and they don't hurt anyone, they just run away if they see you.

[MattBaggins]

27. Is the leg missing or just gimped?

One of the posts Here says the leg looks broken or dislocated. If that is the case the animal should be removed.

[Bigmack]

25. Myth? Myth?...

A survey by the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta ("CDC") concluded that dogs bite nearly 2% of the U.S. population -- more than 4.7 million people annually.

Almost 800,000 bites per year -- one out of every 6 -- are serious enough to require medical attention. (Weiss HB, Friedman D, Coben JH. Incidence of dog bite injuries treated in emergency departments.

Dog bites send nearly 368,000 victims to hospital emergency departments per year (1,008 per day).

The number of fatal dog attacks in the USA has been going up. The yearly average was 17 in the 1980s and 1990s; as stated above, there were 33 deaths in 2007, 23 in 2008, and 30 in 2009.

Dog attack victims in the US suffer over $1 billion in monetary losses every year.

http://www.dogbitelaw.com/PAGES/statistics.html

Research shows half of all children are bitten by dogs at some point, and half of those attacks occur at home with a familiar dog.

Children under 15 years of age represent 70 percent of dog bite victims.

Coyotes....

Coyote attacks on people are extremely rare. There have been a small number of attacks on people in the U.S. and Canada, with most of the attacks involving small children under 5 years of age. Since 3 million children are bitten by dogs every year, your small child is millions of times more likely to get hurt by the family pet than by a coyote.

Two deaths by coyote since around 1980... one small child in California in 1980, and a woman killed in eastern Canada last year... probably by wolf/coyote crosses.

Those are not myths.

[MattBaggins]

21. Talking about a specific coyote which from the info given,

seems to be acting in manner outside of normal behavior for the species. Removing this animal might be a prudent choice.

[HereSince1628]

22. Exactly

[HereSince1628]

7. No it's either a broken right hind leg leg or a dislocated hip

Yeah, I'm living in his and his family home, but HE is usually active at time other than the middle of a suburban Saturday.

[csziggy]

3. See if there os a wildlife rescue group in your area

That's what I have done for the immature foxes who are starving and suffering from mange that have been hanging around the farm. We've had several good years for the foxes and now we have an over population. Once the mama fox had her litter this year and chased last year's kits off the hunting territory, they have been in poor shape. So far we've trapped one and I am waiting for the wildlife group to bring back the trap so we can try to capture the one that comes by the front porch every morning. There may be another one. but I have not seen him for a while. He either moved off to the north or lost his fight for survival.

I don't call Animal Control anymore. Last year we had some aggressive dogs harassing my horses, cats AND us - Animal Control said unless I knew where they lived, they could do nothing. So I found out who the owners were, then Animal Control would not even visit the home and give them a warning or inspect their fences. Since the dogs continued to be people aggressive, I started carrying my gun and let the owners know that if the dogs kept coming over, they might be shot. Since then, I have seen the owners more often than the dogs - they show up here every time the damned dogs get lose. The next time the owners show up here I will tell them to keep the hell off my property as I am fed up with them claiming their dogs almost never get out, when they are here looking for them twice a month.

[bondwooley]

4. Their response reminds me ...

When I read their response that they "get calls about him all the time" it reminded me of a time when I had a cold and came home from the grocery store with some chicken. I couldn't smell anything, but my roommate nearly gaged at the smell coming out of the package.

I went back to the store, got in line and told the cashier that I was returning the chicken. She looked at me and said, "I'm not surprised. People have been returning it all day."

[pnwmom]

8. I had what appeared to be a rabid raccoon stumbling around in my front yard

but animal control wasn't interested. They said they didn't have the resources to answer complaints about raccoons -- even potentially rabid raccoons -- and that I should hire a trapper. I pointed out that by the time any trapper arrived this animal would no doubt be in someone else's yard.

My husband says this is what shotguns are for (but you can't shoot in our city limits).

[postulater]

10. I had a starving deer against my foundation a couple weeks ago.

Its' lower jaw had been broken and it couldn't eat.

The police wouldn't shoot it, animal control wouldn't do anything. After about a week, it finally was found and killed by the local coyotes when it couldn't stand anymore.

The coyotes ate everything to the bone within three nights. Their yipping was a nuisance but otherwise the only time they bother us is when they rip off the roof drain hoses to get at the rabbits that run into them.

Our taxes are the same as yours. But we just got nice new recycling bins!

[MiniMe]

11. I would go to the press on that one

It is a public safety danger, that is just ridiculous,

[HereSince1628]

12. As a zoologist I get the whole natural scheme of things.

And I actually have a decent grasp of what wild canid behavior is. It certainly isn't about wandering half starved on 3 legs through a dense inner-suburban neighborhood.

Monday I'm calling the WiDNR. I've got 75 acres including 8 wooded acres that I could move this critter into. I just need a live-trap permit for a nuisance animal.

[postulater]

14. Here's the advice given by the Wis Humane Society

http://www.wihumane.org/wildlife/coyotes.aspx

I like the "Attempt to leave the area calmly."

[HereSince1628]

15. Yes, and I can pass that on to my neighbors but will 3 year olds

in their sandboxes really be able to act appropriately.

Human behavior here is based on the notion that the neighborhoods are 99% percent free of risks from wild animals. I don't believe any of my 30-something neighbors have ever talked to their young children about reacting to the presence of a coyote.

It is still very common behavior in this comfortable Milwaukee suburb to let kids play in the backyard as mom does chores in the kitchen and watches them through a window.

[marmar]

17. I'm sure the animal control budget is among the first to get axed during times like these.

nt

[MattBaggins]

23. Yup axe the animal control buget just at the time

more and more folks will be abandoning animals.

Brilliant.

Reminds me of attending a local town board meeting and animal control was one of the topics. It was amazing trying to make people understand that it would be better to tag the feral cats and sterilize them then to kill them. Can't get people to understand that if food is available and a niche is there, it will be filled. Management of the feral cat problem is the only choice since they can not be eradicated.