(no subject)

[cblj_backup]

There are so many things to enjoy about this story, I have lost count. (Thanks to everyone who linked me to it, btw!)

The story is about wild radio-collared coyotes who live in Chicago, and the people who study them. The Cook County Illinois Coyote Project is conducting the largest study of urban coyotes in the world, apparently, and we have more than sixty radio-collared coyotes telling us about how the local wildlife interacts with the local nightlife out here in the Second City.

I like coyotes, and used to run into them quite a bit when I lived in California, because I went hiking a lot. It's true that they stick to parks and quiet areas, and they're easily frightened -- those that didn't immediately bolt when they saw me used to run off if I clapped my hands a few times. And I LOLed along with everyone else when a coyote came downtown in 2007 and jumped in the drinks cooler at a local Quiznos. I mean, look at this face. "What, I can't hang out with the SoBe? Fuck off, everyone's hot and I'm wearing a fur fucking coat here."

I hear ya, coyote. I hear ya.

Comments

[lirren.livejournal.com]

That picture is one of the most fabulous things I've seen this week. Thank you for making me smile this morning.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

Police came and moved that coyote to someplace safer. Probably a park.

This reminded me of the people who get told that their pet has gone to a 'nice farm'... (I am sure the police did just shift the coyote to a park, but my mind goes plaes, y'know?)

Mind you when the evil velociraptor chickens vanished at work and we were told they had gone to 'people with a nice big orchard' I rather cynically assumed that this was via a cooking pot. Earlier this year I met the people whose garden they went to, which restored my faith in humankind (and the chicken keeper).

[lots42.livejournal.com]

It took me like ten years to realize my old, sick ancient dog didn't go live with a nice old man.

[bookwormsarah.livejournal.com]

I used to work in a museum with a chicken coop outside. There were about seven chickens at this point, two of them were large black hens and were really viscious. I wear sandles all summer and we eat on a bench outside when the weather is good - these birds took a liking to my toes and kept trying to attack them (maybe the blood red nailpolish confused them). They chased visitors on at least one occasion, and we all hated them...they would swoop down as soon as you made the slightest rustle of a packed lunch and were really quite scary!

[calliope-jones.livejournal.com]

That is fantastic. I feel for the coyotes, we've taken away their territory, and they have no where else to go. I used to run into them up in the hills of CT, and they are beautiful.

[tracy-rowan.livejournal.com]

I remember that little guy. Kind of brazen. Hope he's doing well.

[tzikeh.livejournal.com]

It's a shame that Manhattan is an island, and there's only really Central Park that's big enough to hide in, because coyotes could clean up the rat problems right quick. Of course, New Yorkers would probably feed them hot dogs and pretzels, and put water dishes outside the cafes for them, and then they'd get all complacent, and the rats would thrive.

I DEMAND A WHITE COLLAR COYOTE STORY.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

ISTR we have had a coyote or so in the city for all that - usually in the Bronx though.

Any hypothetical coyotes would have to compete with the local birds of prey, but yes, between the two species you could make a real dent in the quantities of rats about.

[sabra-n.livejournal.com]

Didn't a coyote wander into Manhattan last year? I think animal control moved it elsewhere, though.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

There are actually a ton of little parks in Manhattan I bet they could camp out in -- it looks like the coyotes in Chicago don't need a lot of space, just the right space. :D

[kallaneboi.livejournal.com]

I love coyotes, they're gorgeous animals. I like that they're not all "KILL THE COYOTES!" but are studying them instead.

And I totally sympathize with that last one. Poor thing :P

[argh-tastic.livejournal.com]

We used to have coyotes in the open space behind our backyard-fence (a nice little square of trees and brush, though it was surrounded by houses and street and SeaWorld). They yipped around; I imagined they were cute. Sad that they either ran off elsewhere or Are No Longer.

...

Also, unrelated, but I've been making an effort to read most everything you've written and YOU HAVE WRITTEN TOO MUCH. I wish I'd found you like five years ago, at least, so I'd have a better chance of catching up. Finals week was probably not the best time to start this endeavor.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

I think I once worked it out to about six hundred thousand, give or take.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

LOL. SORRY ABOUT THAT :D At least I keep it all collected in one place? More or less...

[argh-tastic.livejournal.com]

More or less, yeah. lol

<3 :D

[musicianatheart.livejournal.com]

dude, I have been reading samfic for just about six years now, and I still haven't quite read everything. it boggles the mind, it really does.

[firynze.livejournal.com]

...the Quiznos coyote looks DISTURBINGLY like my boyfriend's childhood dog. Who was, in fact, mostly coyote. Heh.

[lots42.livejournal.com]

If Sobe had any intelligence they'd be trying to get the rights to that picture right quick.

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

"Even coyotes know SoBe's good for you!"

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

We had some amount of trouble with coyotes around here until the floods in May. The Parks and Wildlife authorities have estimated some 40% of the deer population drowned or starved as a result of the flooding, and I'm assuming that the coyotes had similar losses, since they've not been as much in evidence since. We have a very healthy ecology here, so the wildlife tends to thrive, sometimes too much.
The kids are afraid of coyotes after dusk because they saw an episode of "When Animals Attack" that focused on toddlers getting snatched by coyotes. I allow the fear because I don't trust the little buggers and it keeps the kids from trying to go pet them. Most people around here will shoot them on sight, but I don't hold with that. I always tell the kids you never kill anything unless you're going to eat it or it's going to eat you.

[chewipaka.livejournal.com]

The only time I hold with shooting coyotes is in the area of Maine I have family in: the coyote population has practically eliminated the deer population, to the extent where it's illegal to hunt deer some years because there just aren't enough of them. So the hunters go out and shoot coyotes to allow the deer population some breathing room and a chance to regrow enough to support the massive numbers of coyotes running loose.

I suggested that they reintroduce wolves, but I was just given a look.

I mean, hey, the wolf population used to keep the coyote population in check. You might just have to feed the wolves a bit so that the deer population has time to recover (feed the wolves coyotes!).

MANKIND, INTERFERING WITH NATURE.

[happi-feet.livejournal.com]

That's the way it is here. The deer and coyotes are generally very plentiful, but people are encouraged to keep the coyote population down because they're trying to bring back the southern elk. There's an occasional panther, but they are rare.

[elsajeni.livejournal.com]

Hee. "WHAT, IT'S HOT."

My husband met a family of coyotes up in the mountains once -- they crossed the road in front of his truck, and the pups stopped to investigate the truck while the adults stood on the edge of the road, tapping their paws and checking their little coyote watches and whatnot. He said they were adorable.

[thisdaydreamer.livejournal.com]

I have heard about coyotes around here but I've never seen them. There is a fox in the neighborhood, though. They tried to evict him after he went after a cat, but I've seen him since then. I promised him I'd keep quiet.

I like cats indoors, anyway. They're safer there.

[mint-green.livejournal.com]

I showed that picture of the Quiznos coyote to my mother, and she said: That coyote was just chilling. Literally.

[fitfool.livejournal.com]

I love the idea of maybe running into a coyote in a Chicago park but why are they ok with having coyotes running around but then round up stray dogs and cats?

[copperbadge.livejournal.com]

Do they do that? My experience with animal control is that they won't come out for a loose animal unless it's visibly rabid/injured or threatening a human.