Coyote Howlings

The howling about coyotes got so intense that the website NextDoor banned all discussions of the issue. Alas, the issue is flourishing on Facebook. It is close to reaching hysteria level and psychiatrists may need to be called in to defuse the situation with medication.

According to an article in the Wall Street Journal on March 12, there has been one human death attributed to coyotes. It was a 3 year old girl in Glendale, Arizona in 1981.

I run very early in the morning and have routinely seen coyotes on the island and they want nothing to do with me. (Of course, that could be saying something about me…)

It is quite possible the coyotes have killed a cat or two, but I don’t think this has ever been proven. But if so, it is easily prevented. Keep your cat inside. This really isn’t so bad. Most pet owners view their pets as members of their family. Well who lets a family member run around the neighborhood in the middle of the night?

Furthermore, in my experience, most pet owners are animal lovers. Well, shouldn’t we also love coyotes? After all, they are animals, too, and they are not killing us and they don’t even eat our flowers like the deer do in my front yard.

Finally, cats are well known to kill pretty, defenseless birds! I like birds. Should we kill your cat if it kills a bird? Well, there is one way to protect the birds. Keep your cat inside.

The poor coyotes, they don’t have a spokesperson. If they did have one, Rodney King Coyote would be saying, “Can’t we all just get along?”