Thursday, 4:30 PM
Companies will be authorized to shoot coyotes
(George Rizer/Globe Staff)
This coyote caused a stir in May when it made a foray into Boston's West Roxbury neighborhood.
By Martin Finucane, Globe Staff
With complaints about confrontations with coyotes on the rise, the state's fish and wildlife agency is authorizing wildlife control companies to shoot the animals when they become threats.
The new regulation issued this week "gives another tool to communities and landowners" dealing with coyotes, said Tom O'Shea, assistant director of wildlife for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
O'Shea said that licensed "problem animal control agents," who specialize in dealing with animals who damage property or threaten public safety, will be authorized, if they attend a one-day state training session, to shoot coyotes.
O'Shea said the specialists will probably spend a lot of time educating residents on the difference between simply sighting a coyote and encountering a problem animal -- an animal that menaces people or attacks pets on their leashes, for example.
Scott Giacoppo, deputy director of advocacy and wildlife for the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, said his organization was "very disappointed" by the new regulation issued by the Fisheries and Wildlife Board, which sets policy for the state agency.
He said local police and animal control officers were already authorized to kill coyotes that had become a real threat.
"Our main concern is that people are going to start acting on what they believe to be a threat," summoning a pest control company when they simply see a coyote "hanging out in their yard," he said.
He questioned putting the decision on whether to shoot coyotes in the hands of companies that would charge for the service. "That's a decision I would rather place in the hands of a city official, not someone who stands to gain financially," he said.
Coyotes are a valuable wildlife species and the vast majority of them are shy and elusive, but some individual animals cause problems, O'Shea said. The number of complaints has been growing, he said.
The board this week also added five weeks to the coyote hunting season, O'Shea said, responding to a growing interest from hunters. That move was also opposed by the MSPCA.
