Man seems very good at killing everything he finds. It's very sad. If we don't change our ways, it will eventually kill us. A very poignant article in the latest Time magazine about global warming. We need to change our ways....and fast! And we can do it, 1 backyard at a time.

Catherine, what happened that the coyote ended up dying? I haven't heard the story......

Hi Terry,
I guess they had captured him and were tagging him to release him in upstate New York, when he quit breathing and they couldn't revive him. They don't know if it was stress from the capture or what. :(

I got really upset when I heard the report on the radio: the Coyote had been held somewhere on Long Island for about a week after his capture -- although initial reports the day he was caught said they were taking it "upstate" to release it.

So... WHY was it being held? Why for so long? Ofcourse the poor thing must have been stressed! They should have just driven it upstate and dropped it off in the woods. Can't leave nature alone, can they? Were they doing tests, hoping to find out just why Hal had come into town???? An ugly ending to a poignant story.

Central Park looks like a huge forested area. I've never seen it in person, but don't you all imagine there is a lot of wildlife there? Why were they so surprised by the coyote enough they felt they had to capture it. Probably lived there for years and got plenty to eat from all the garbage us humans manage to litter with. Just one more case of our interference causing a needless death. I was so mad I could spit.

Probably there were too many terrified thugs, muggers and druggies calling in demanding that their park be made safe again.

Lions and tigers and bears, oh my....

Whoops! that link was a close up of the ramble area I mentioned above. Below is the link for the whole park (I hope! :)

Sandy

Here is a link that might be useful: ALL of Central Park. :)

The truth needs to be out about how Hal really died. An unidentified Cornell graduate student who is doing a study of suburban coyotes, is responsible for Hal's agonizing and terrifying death. His agenda obviously has nothing to do with their well-being. He is propagating the myths and lies that have been fed to the public by Fish and Game Agencies and the USDA. They are like the fox gaurding the henhouse. Hal was given to a wildlife rehabilatator who has vast experience with coyotes. She told me per a phone conversation that this coyote ate alot, drank alot and started to regain his strength. He was ready to be released to a remote area but she received orders to hand Hal over to the Cornell student. Having no experience on handling coyotes he used the catchpole which is tabu for this species, duck taped his mouth shut and hog tied him just to do a simple procedure of ear tagging. All that was necessary was a cloth over his eyes. I was told he was very docile and easy to handle. The necropsy proved that this animal was strangled!! The spokesperson from the DEC lied about how Hal really died. This does not surprise me at all. Coyotes derserve our respect and not our persecution. What the USDA does to them is unspeakable. Poisoning, trapping, shooting and setting their dens on fire with the pups inside and then plugging them up so no escape is possible.
This student should never be allowed to go near another coyote. His so-called study should be terminated and he should be disaplined to the nth degree. I strongly suggest you write a letter to the following to express your outrage.
Jeffrey S.Lehman President of the University
Kent L. Hubbel Dean of Students
email jw14@cornell.edu
FAX 607-255-9452
Phone 607-255-9452
Cornell University
East Hill Plaza
353 Tree Rd.
Ithaca NY 14850-2820

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb

We had the best dog ever, a coyote/shepard mix who spent his 14 years here with us. I know that, if the Central Park coyote wasn't actually strangled, it died of sheer terror because those beautiful critters are so smart it had to have been sure it was going to be killed. It hurts so much to hear of the cruelty done to nature's wonderful creations. I will write my letters to Cornell, the very least I can do, tho I would like to give that student even a small taste of the fear that the very unfortunate coyote felt. Min

Dear Min
Please be assure that Hal did indeed die from stangulation as told to me first hand by the rehabber. She received death threats for telling the truth. I'm sure he knew his fate and this breaks my heart. This continues to haunt me and I know it will for a long time. Please do yourself a favor and read God's Dog, by Hope Ryden. She did extensive field work on coyotes and I promise you it will be impossible to put down. She talks too about the USDA and the Fish and Game Agencies who are so intent on erradicating them. They continue to spew their hatred and ignorance and redneck biology. I am so envious that you had a coy-dog. I'd like to hear all about him. Thank you so much for writing to Cornell. It will be a small step to stop the persecution of coyotes. Thank you with all my heart. coyotelover

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardenweb

It seems to me like it would be more likely that this coyote was a pet that was abandoned or got loose from it's owner in the park. I don't have a clue about the real geography of NY city, but from what I picture in my mind I don't see a coyote just wondering across a bridge, through NY to the park. They said it was docile and easily handled, maybe it was a pet. I have seen where wild coyotes when captured can be submissive though too.

Many people don't even believe that global warming exist. There are forces that will not stop until every pristine, wild, and free place and creature has been killed or destroyed. Lord of the Rings give you an idea of what kind of people are destroying the earth. The "fossil" fuel powered car should have went extinct or alteast used only for commercial purposes by the mid sixties, probably earlier.

Wondering what the links are above (Gardenweb), I clicked on one then the other..both with the same message:

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access / on this server.

With all of urban sprawl that is going on everywhere it is possible that Hal was forced to seek refuge by crossing the bridge into the park. Who knows. But whether he was someone's pet or not he was viewed as a wild coyote and treated as such. They say every year another species goes extinct because of idiots on this planet that are hurrying us to devastation. It is heartwrenching. The wrong people are in power and most people are apathetic and don't really care or are too busy to try and do something to make changes. This is very sad too. Optional link is:http://forums.gardenweb.com Name of link is Gardenweb

Here is a link that might be useful: Gardenweb

I thought I put this here yesterday. Neither link works. Has the same message as above. Is it another post here on gardenweb?

crucialconflict wrote that perhaps the coyote was an escaped pet, because it was so easily handled. As a person who handles wild coyotes on a regular basis, I can assure you that a normal wild coyote is indeed docile and easily handled in captivity. Hal was a model patient, though he was quite wild. Most people don't realize that coyotes are this easy to handle, and then they over-handle and over-restrain them, such as the method that was used during Hals tagging procedure. The tag could have easily been placed on Hals ear while he was in the possession of the experienced rehabilitators - but the Cornell grad student refused to allow this, and preferred to use his "catchpole and muzzle and hogtie" method. Anyone who knows how to handle coyotes knows to never use a catchpole to pull a coyote out of a carrier, and never to hogtie a wide-awake coyote. The struggle alone would be deadly to the animal. By the way, the reason that the Rehabilitators kept the coyote was that he was so full of drugs from the darting, plus was thin from running for days from everyone chasing him. They were also ordered not to release the coyote without the DEC being involved in the whole procedure. They were waiting for the DEC's approval. They were just trying to follow directions, but in hindsight , they should have done what they felt was the right thing at the time and just let the animal go when they felt the time was right. They had a perfect place to do it as well.

Thanks for that info foxladye. I didn't know these things. It makes me even sadder for that poor coyote.

Unfortunately, it looks as though this story may be repeated for the next five years....follow link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cornell study

Yes, a five year study and $428,000 of our money to "prove" that coyotes are dangerous. One has to wonder how many coyotes that are catchpoled, restrained, muzzled, hogtied, weighed, measured and then released (if they survive the tagging procedure) will ever go near humans again. It kind of negates the purpose of the study... One also has to wonder how many coyotes have died or will die during this study simply because of the aggressive nature of the handling and tagging.

This is my favourite line:

"The researchers also will develop and test ways to try to induce coyotes to fear humans without harming them."

Maybe they should stop the fearmongering amongst themselves first.

One species per year? If only!

"The background level of extinction known from the fossil record is about one species per million species per year, or between 10 and 100 species per year (counting all organisms such as insects, bacteria, and fungi, not just the large vertebrates we are most familiar with). In contrast, estimates based on the rate at which the area of tropical forests is being reduced, and their large numbers of specialized species, are that we may now be losing 27,000 species per year to extinction from those habitats alone."

Here is a link that might be useful: The Current Mass Extinction

Oh my. that's so sad. I don't know anything about NY and CEntral park either but from what I've seen it 'looks' large enough to sustain a coyote. After all, coyotes to my knowledge eat mostly rodents such as mice, voles, rats, rabbits and so on... couldn't NY of all places spare a few rats and leave the coyote alone? I live in a city and we have coyotes too because we have moved into their natural territory but we leave them alone and they leave us alone. I would be terribly upset if someone decided they had to be captured or destroyed because of something that WE did to them.

Barb