Spokane7
50°
May 14, 2010 in City, Idaho
Brazen coyotes menace Coeur d’Alene pets
Public agencies say they can’t help
Wade Williams holds his dog Grizzly near his home Coeur d’Alene on Thursday. Williams said Grizzly was attacked by a coyote Tuesday.
(Full-size photo)
Grizzly hadn’t been outside long when Wade Williams heard his 3-year-old dog “screaming and hollering” Tuesday night.
The Coeur d’Alene man immediately ran outside and saw his part-Pomeranian, part-Chihuahua just escaping the jaws of a coyote.
“There he is, breaking loose from the coyote in the yard,” Williams said. “There’s blood on the porch and everything.”
For several weeks, residents of Williams’ north Coeur d’Alene neighborhood have been keeping their dogs and cats inside due to regular coyote sightings. One couple said their dog was killed and half-eaten by a coyote outside their mobile home. Another woman said a coyote followed her and her dog on a walk Tuesday night.
The neighbors are looking for a public agency willing to address the problem but said they haven’t had any luck yet.
“The cops already told me I can’t shoot ’em,” said Williams, who trapped coyotes for cash growing up in West Virginia. “So I’m supposed to leave my dog out and let them eat him?”
The state Department of Fish and Game does not have “the expertise nor the funding source to try to deal with them,” said Craig Walker, the regional conservation officer. He said the agency has received a lot of calls from concerned neighbors and has issued news releases advising people on how to deal with coyotes. Ultimately, Walker said, it’s the landowners’ responsibility.
However, Walker said he’s never dealt with an urban coyote problem in 24 years with the department. He said the agency licenses commercial trappers to handle nuisance animals such as skunks and raccoons.
“The landowners are responsible for dealing with it, just like they would be if they had a skunk living under their house,” he said.
Residents have reported coyote sightings in neighborhoods all around Kootenai County’s solid waste transfer station on Ramsey Road. Solid waste director Roger Saterfiel said that when he first received calls from residents about a month ago, he called a trapper licensed by the state to see what it would take to get rid of the coyotes. However, Saterfiel said he has since decided not to pursue it because the coyotes are not on county property.
“Once I got the information, I decided it’s a no-win situation, so I’m not going to be involved,” Saterfiel said, explaining that people also get upset when wild animals are killed by public agencies. “They’re not living on my property, they only cross my property. It’s hard for me to accept responsibility for them.”
The Coeur d’Alene Police Department has received enough calls from residents that a crime analyst mapped the coyote sightings. The map shows eight sightings from April 6 to May 11 in the northwest quadrant of the city. Police Sgt. Christie Wood said calls about coyotes are not common.
“It isn’t something we typically deal with,” she said.
Licensed trappers Bill Haywood and Scott Dinger said Washington Initiative 713, which placed limits on trapping and selling animals captured in traps, is partly responsible for the overflow of coyotes. The initiative took effect in December 2000.
“A lot is directly related to Washington state becoming anti-trapping,” Dinger said. “Coyotes can travel 30 miles in a day. Over the past few years, you have the influx from Washington. You have an animal that’s usually in the wild and a community growing in size.”
None of that, however, helps Williams and his neighbors resolve their problem, Williams said. Grizzly usually goes outside by himself, at the end of a long leash tethered to the house, but no longer.
“The coyote followed him right up on the porch,” Williams said. “He stood right there on the sidewalk and looked at me. He was really aggressive.”
Two Fernwood residents dead after Monday accident 
Mr_Bloggy on May 14 at 12:47 a.m.
First of all, naming a lap dog like that “Grizzly” if it’s not meant to be ironic, is silly.
Second of all, if it was a Moose you know fish and game would hightail it out there.
Thirdly, why hasn’t someone called famous Republican coyote pest controlller, Texas Gov Rick Perry, to come out for a photo op and gun a few down?
Erik_T on May 14 at 1:12 a.m.
Silencers/suppressors can be legally obtained and owned in the State of Idaho. HINT HINT
fishinjay on May 14 at 7:44 a.m.
The coyote near Ramsey lives in the abandoned house next to the Holiday Inn on Seltice, right above Riverstone. Give the folks at the Holiday Inn a call. They see it all the time.
BigE on May 14 at 8:44 a.m.
Respect mother nature, the animals were here long before us.
We have the same issue in Cheney, my policy for living in the country. Keep your eye on small pet’s, the coyotes will lure them away with playful tactics and swoop in. Early morning and evening is when “they” start moving, shuffeling for position, if you have ever heard coyotes feeding it is creepy, a frenzy.
Establish your buffer zone, take care of all issues that infringe upon said zone. Take care of the problem, don’t say anything to anyone, remove problem to back of property, live and let live but if you get my pets, I’ll get you.
spokanada on May 14 at 10:12 a.m.
I agree with BigE.
spokanecougar on May 14 at 10:54 a.m.
When you people choose to live in this area you are choosing to live with the wild animals that also call this area home.
I am sure however that Sarah Palin would come in on a helicopter and kill them all if you asked her though.
avboden on May 14 at 5:20 p.m.
Anyone complaining is just a whiner. We live in the country, plane and simple. There are coyotes everywhere!!!
These people have two options
1. Build a freaking fence
Or my preference
2. BUY A REAL DOG!
Seriously, I live on 50 acres, Never owned a dog under 100 pounds. Had a great pyrenees that would go kill coyotes for fun at night.
monkeyman on May 14 at 6:57 p.m.
Wow. 50 acres in Cd’A! avboden must be rich. Quite “planely” simple too…
avboden on May 14 at 10:15 p.m.
Never said I lived in Cd’A, but I live in the PNW, the coyotes are everywhere.
Erik_T on May 15 at 12:09 a.m.
avboden, the point he/she was making is that those people in the article DO NOT live in the country. They do in fact live in a residential neighborhood.
This same thing happen back in 1992 in Spokane (Northwood). It took a little girl getting bit by a coyote on the way home from school for the city to act.
Do people around here really forget history that quickly…. LOCAL history at that.
It really is not amusing how something bad has to happen before the peaceful/tree hugging/flower children (must I also add liberal?) folks in charge (of hearts and minds) these days act.
empyrius on May 15 at 1:16 p.m.
“Part-Pomeranian, part-Chihuahua”: yuck!
Save the coyotes and rid this planet of all of those yappy little yuppy dogs!
Why you complaining about those evil liberals Erik? Instead of waiting for the city to act, being so dependent on big government that you are; why do you not get into the “free”-market and start a private coyote removal business! Well, once you have gotten the proper clearance from the department of game and wildlife of course, get a government loan to start your business, and abide by union dictates, oooo, wait, only government employees get to join socialist unions (b/c of course the private sector cannot afford unions …) . . .
Har har har har
tami on May 15 at 7:13 p.m.
When you own a pet, personal responsibiity for keeping it safe and healthy is the owner’s job; putting a dog on a chain is animal cruelty! It only takes ten to twenty minutes twice a day to walk your dog and a plastic bag or two to clean up the mess; I agree with some of the comments here—put up a fence, let your dog run free in his yard, and put in a doggy door; that way he can run in the house if the boogy man comes; but note-coyotes are smart, so even a fence may not keep them out; they are great diggers, climbers, and jumpers, and our pets are simply stupid, easy food for them.
Considering that man is ulitmately more intelligent than any animal, keeping your pets safe is the easy part–just be responsible and do what needs to be done.
misjustice on May 16 at 10:09 a.m.
Note, these are BRAZEN coyotes, a very dangerous type of coyotes; unlike the UNBRAZEN type…geeze people, get a clue.
When you move into their territory then you must deal with that decision; those crafty, brazen, denizens of the wild were there FIRST!!! Keep your little ‘purse’ doggies in your purse…
Erik_T on May 16 at 11:55 a.m.
empyrius; Not being dependent on big government, or even lower levels of local government, will get ones self imprisoned, or at least in a whole heap of trouble.
Circa 1992; Three young folks in Northwood (sudo-suburb of North Spokane/Residential neighborhood); 8x8 Storm drain running under the neighborhood (coyote’s “cave”), 15 M-80’s, 3 shotguns, 2 .22 pistols; neighborhood authorization = the end of that coyote problem.
I know I was there. Try and pull that off nowdays.
Just from the comments on here, one can see that people are more for wild animal rights (lol) than property owners rights with regards to their domesticated animals (arent we domesticated animals as well? hahah). My point in its entirety is that nothing will be done until a human gets attacked.