Coy-wolf!

Roland Kays and Jeremy Kirchman, two curators at the New York State Museum, published a paper this week in the journal Biology Letters about the emergence of bigger and stronger coyotes in the Northeast over the last few decades. They report that DNA evidence indicates that coyotes bred with the remnants of wolf populations -- and these coy-wolves (wolfotes?) have since become the top predator in this part of the country. Earlier on AOA: Roland Kays gave us the scoop on fishers and other wild things.

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In related news, the ACME Corporation is reporting a sharp increase in sales for its northeast division.

It was several years back, a coworker of mine shot a 52 or so lb. coyote on his property near Ravena, and this seemed to be an anomaly at the time. Perhaps not any more?

I have seen several "coy dogs" as they have been called in Washington County. Its interesting to discover that they are a hybrid eastern wolf-coyote. The ones that frequent the woods and fields on my land are not particularly vocal and extremely shy. If they have added deer to their diet, then I think there isn't any reason to shoot them, there is no shortage of deer. I think is sad that people shoot these animals on site. Hunting should put food on the table, but some people just like to kill criters. I found a dead coydog one day and the hunter kept its tail as a trophy. I'll bet that looks great on his car antennae.

Thank you for this forum. I have left messages on others and have voiced concerns.

But first, let me be clear, I don't want to see wolves, coyotes or any other animal abused. I'm glad that they are protected.

However, here in New England, spotting them in both suburbs (where I live) as well as cities, is becoming frighteningly common. The word used most is coyote who looked more like wolf. Beautiful, big, and a little ....worrisome.

One was spotted very near my own front door. The maintenance team warned me "a wolf" was spotted, not 50 feet away. I live, unfortunately, close to a dumpster. So was warned to keep my door closed at all times.

My point is this: We know what they are. We know that they are not afraid of humans. We know that they are bigger, smarter and much more aggressive. But no one has voiced fears yet of their impact upon humans because nothing that large has been in our proximity (immediate and in any number) in our lives.

I worry. These animals are big. Big enough to take down a deer. I don't want to call them dangerous, but it's probably too soon to tell.. Therefore, a level of unpredictability must, for the sake of human reasoning and common sense, be addressed.

So what happens, God forbid, in the aftermath of an actual attack? I would like to hear about more "contingency plans" taking into account that we are dealing with a large, new, and I daresay, wild animal.

I'm glad that wolves made it. But I will not be glad if we start seeing situations that we, as a generation, are probably ill schooled to handle. Please remember, our forefathers were probably wrong, but I don't think that they were as ignorant or crazy as we now portray them. It seemed we haven't had the life experience that they had - until now.

Maybe the moral questions, in terms of the worst case scenario will have to be addressed now, by our generation. I hope we do the right thing.

But please, for the love of Heaven, will someone concede that these animals could probably be dangerous! I know that they are beautiful, but let us start to watch them with an objective eye.

Thank you and apologies for the long post.

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