So I understand that a coyote in Central Park is a bizarre oddity and I also understand nervous park patrons -- but come on! Helicopters, a S.W.A.T. team, news conferences??
Don't get me wrong. I am not a coyote fan. When my headlights hit a coyote, I wonder if I'm not shining a light on Satan, himself. Coyotes are creepy, evil looking predators that prowl around at night stalking pets and leaving rabbit carcasses in your yard just to remind you that while you may have built a $250,000 home, planted pansies, and fenced them out, coyotes were here first.
Coyotes around here are becoming increasingly brazen as we concrete their homes and exterminate their food sources. Self preservation is conquering their natural fear of man and they are frequently crossing that comfortable barrier between wild life and urban life. Years ago, coyotes would just slink around hunting rabbits and stealing chickens here and there, but now they're jumping fencings and becoming a genuine threat as they scavenge for food in neighborhoods.
Not too long ago, a little girl and her friends were playing with a new puppy in her front yard when a demonic flash of light snatched the puppy and disappeared before her mother's brain could even register that a coyote had just blown by her feet and stolen the puppy in broad daylight right out of her daughter's hands.
So, no, I'm not a fan of coyotes and I can almost understand the helicopter following the coyote around to keep an eye on it until animal control caught up, but this wasn't a grizzly bear, bobcat or even a white bronco. Maybe I just don't get it because I'm a Texan and coyotes are not an unusual sight around here. But, what did catching that coyote cost New York taxpayers? Sure, he needed to be caught, but do they send out that many uniforms, alert the media and bring in a helicopter every time there's a mugging in Central Park?
Seriously, I don't want anyone's pet mauled by a coyote and while I consider myself somewhat of a naturalist, I wouldn't have second thoughts about shooting a coyote if it came at me. But coyotes don't usually attack people. Muggers, on the other hand --
4 comments:
Good points, guess y'all Texans are used to the coyots! By the way, I added your link to my links!
Maybe try to picture it as akin to what would happen if y'all had a rash of muggings in yer fine town. Or mayhaps a foot of snow. How do ya think all y'all would react then? ;-)
We get more ice than snow and that's a shame cuz we rock in the snow! But ice? Well --
http://fencingwiththefog.blogspot.com/2005/12/hell-on-ice.html
We did have a gorilla escape from the zoo a couple of years ago. No helicopters as I recall probably because the police shot and killed it outside the main gate. A little more dangerous than a coyote methinks.
New York...wusses...
Chicago has a steadily growing coyote population...they can be found everywhere from the outlying parts of the city to close to the Loop.
Nobody much cares.
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