In July of 2007, California Department of Fish and Game officials made the decision to shoot two coyotes in Golden Gate Park. The USDA was called in to kill the two animals after several residents described what seemed to be unusual and aggressive behavior by the coyote pair.
Public response to the shootings was dramatic. The San Francisco Chronicle fielded hundreds of comments from San Francisco and Bay Area residents, many angry and shocked over what, to them, seemed like a decision made in haste.
The issue is a particularly potent one in a city known for having a more a conscientious ethos where environmental issues are concerned.
Latest News
The California Department of Fish and Game is trying to steer people toward its Keep Me Wild campaign. San Francisco residents have reported sightings of humans interacting with or feeding wild coyotes. When wild animals like coyotes become habituated to humans, the risk of such interactions increases. And those interactions often do not end well for the animal in question.
Fish and Game claimed that the coyotes were not afraid of humans and thus presented a safety threat. Bay Area residents who opposed the actions of Fish and Game in Golden Gate Park, were not appeased by the explanation that shooting the animals was the only option. At the San Francisco Chronicle comment boards, readers have cited relocation or other more humane measures that might have been taken on behalf of the coyotes.
Managing and limiting human interaction with coyotes has been the predominant methodology when dealing with coyotes in the city, in areas like the Presidio. As might be expected, last week's shooting came as a bit of a shock to residents accustomed to this manner of peaceable living with the coyotes in our midst.
Fish and Game suggested that relocation was not an option, due to territorial issues and other possible untoward effects of moving the pair to a new location.
Background
A week prior to the coyote shootings, a woman walking her large dogs in Golden Gate Park, reported that coyotes had chased and inflicted minor injuries on her dog. Another dog walker reported additional aggressive behavior on behalf of a coyote pair.
Coyotes are reclusive by nature, shy of humans. In spite of living in many major, urban areas around the country, they have learned to co-exist, in part, by avoiding interaction.
So, the behavior in Golden Gate Park was cited as unusual. Speculation was that the coyotes may have been protecting a den and pups, accounting for their more visible and forward reactions to humans and dogs.
Fish and Game claimed that no pups were found, and that the female was not lactating. Some readers at the San Francisco Chronicle, angered by Fish and Game's actions, responded that a lactating female was not proof that there were no larger cubs in the vicinity, ones that were no longer nursing.
Sources: San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner