Well you can’t say that I haven’t done my research on our coyote problem.
I spoke to our local animal control officer.
I spoke to a police officer.
I spoke to the people who work at a gun shop.
I went *back* to the police department to ask a few more questions.
I’ve read every comment on the Facebook pages for our town and our police department.
I spoke to a professional trapper.
I spoke to a person at Fish and Game.
In a nutshell this is what I’ve been told (again and again.) The coyote has discovered our flock (end of sentence.) He is not going to be going away. We can’t “scare” him off. we can’t train him to go away. The only solution for this particular predator is to trap and dispose of him. (Relocating is not an option. We’d just be pushing our problem onto someone else.)
The working theory is that there is a den nearby. It’s my (naïve?) hope that if this coyote is caught then other coyotes would then learn to stay away.
Because, trust me, I really don’t like the idea of “dispatching” any animal (you’ve seen the measures I’ve taken to rehab some of my injured chickens.) The trapper told us that we have to be okay with our decision and I said I was okay, but he then said it’s the “after the trap” part that I have to be “really okay” with.
I once hid in the bathroom with my hands over my ears singing Lalalalala because Marc was boiling some lobsters and I had read that you could hear them scream when you put them in the pot. I know, when you come down to it I’m a big, fat baby.
But I also have a right to a flock and personal safety in my backyard. And my neighbors have a right to the safety of their pets and children.
So yes, like it or not, I am “really okay” with this decision.
Of all the issues I’ve had over the years with our flock, this is one I never expected. The only way to turn this into a positive is to make sure I pass this information onto others so that they can take precautions which might allow them to avoid having to make a decision like this for themselves.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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