WPCNR THE FEINER REPORT. By Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner. June 18, 2006: In recent years more people have expressed concern after seeing coyotes around the town. A few months ago a coyote was even seen at the Greenburgh Town Hall parking lot! Some residents have expressed concern about their personal safety and the safety of their pets and property.
Wanted: Westchester E. Coyote. Suspect is nocturnal, stealthy, often mistaken for a fox, since the coyote is redish brown in coat, distinguished from the fox by his skinny tale, not bushy like a fox, dragged low to the ground, and sharp snarly snout. Preys on cats, small dogs, rodents, has no natural enemies in this area. The CitizeNetReporter has seen coyotes in the Havilands Manor area. Others have spotted coyotes in the Saxon Woods neighborhood of White Plains. Photo, public domain.
Cornell University’s Department of Natural Resources has contracted with the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation to conduct a study in response to the increasing interactions between people and coyotes within many urban and suburban areas across NY. This study is designed to document the ecology of suburb dwelling coyotes to better understand the behaviors that lead to nuisance interactions with people and to identify a means to prevent heightened interactions between coyotes and suburban residents.
The Greenburgh Town Board has been asked to participate in the study which will involve the live capture and release of radio collared coyotes on town owned property; the radio tracking of collared coyotes during daytime and night time periods, diet surveys to document important food sources of coyotes and genetic analysis to estimate coyote demographic information.
The police department reviewed the request and determined that the capture of these animals would be done humanely. The methods employed in this study follow the protocols recommended by the International Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and had been scrutinized by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee comprised of members from the Cornell Research Staff, independent veterinarians in order to provide an unbiased assessment of research ethics. Cornell has demonstrated to the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee that all capture and handling techniques are the most humane methods for studying wild coyotes.
The Greenburgh Town Board voted unanimously to participate in the study.
The Greenburgh web site: www.greenburghny.com (police dept) has information about coyotes that may be of interest to residents.
PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor
