Coyotes cause controversy among local residents

By Taylor Renkema

They say it’s impossible to please everyone. That fact is proving to be true for Ron Pierce, who works as an animal control contractor in Belleville.

He’s caught in the middle of a lose-lose situation. Pierce is trapping coyotes that are attacking domestic cats in Belleville. While some are relieved to be rid of the coyotes, others think trapping them is inhumane.

Pierce said his traps are as humane as they can be- they’re leg-hold traps with rubber pads on them, which spring on the coyote’s leg when it steps on the jaw of the trap.

“People visualize a cage, but you can’t get them to go into a cage,” Pierce said.

Pierce said after the coyote is caught, he euthanizes it.

But Jennifer Nichols said that’s not going to fix the problem. Nichols founded the Quinte Lost Dog Network- a Facebook page where residents in the Quinte West area can post photos and information on lost pets, she also volunteers daily at the Quinte Humane Society.

“They just breed more, they produce more, to bring their numbers up,” she said. “It’s something that coyotes do, it’s a gift they have. I’m just more on the coyote’s side.”

Pierce has collected and dismantled his traps for a few weeks, because he said it’s risky having the traps out when people are out hunting. Deer hunting season opened Monday Nov. 5. He said he would be putting more traps out in a few weeks, when it’s less busy.

Until then, his plan is to use what he calls ‘bait stations’ to see how many coyotes are still in the area. He plans to place different meats and animal carcasses in the area, and then monitor them to see if any coyotes feed on them. He said they look at tracks and how an animal feeds on the carcass to tell if it’s a coyote or a fisher.

He said relocating them is not an option.

“They don’t understand the habits of the animal,” he said. “If you take and relocate an animal to another area, first of all, they have to fight for territorial rights right away. When you move coyotes somewhere else, there are resident coyotes there already, and they start fighting.”

Nichols said she doesn’t think many people realize the coyotes are being euthanized, and thinks the public won’t be happy when they find out.

“There’s a lot of groups out there that are trying to save wildlife regardless, whether it’s coyotes, cougars, wolves, etc.,” she said. “Whenever there’s any kind of kill action implemented, it gets a rise out of the public, except the odd person who has been directly affected by it may think differently.”

Pierce doesn’t just handle coyotes. He said he got a call this week from a woman who wanted to live-trap squirrels and relocate them. He told the woman he wouldn’t do it at this time of year, because the squirrel already has nuts stored in the roof of her house, or trees, for winter.

“That would be like me taking you up to Algonquin Park, giving you a fur coat, and saying, “there you go”, he said. “You’ve got no shelter, no food stored up, no way to survive. That’s cruel.”

Nichols said the solution is simple: keep an eye on your pets while they’re outside.

“They’re at risk. It’s not just coyotes, it’s everything out there. There’s poison, there’s crazy people, there’s cars, there’s other predators, it’s just not safe.”