Canine coexistence

MARSHFIELD -- The fences will be high at the Marshfield Bark Park. They will have to be. The proposed dog-walking facility is Marshfield's $100,000 solution to the problem puzzling pet owners and others throughout Massachusetts: How to survive the packs of coyotes that have moved into town.

Marshfield residents are hoping that the 6-foot-tall chain-link fences, too high for a hungry coyote to hurdle, will make the Bark Park a place where their pooches can roam in peace. Inside the double-gated compound will be walking trails, large, shady trees, bins filled with tennis balls, and plenty of fire hydrants.

Marshfield's planned park is one of several responses to the coyote problem that illustrate how the conflict between man and the canine predator has escalated in Massachusetts. In Newton, a candidate in next year's mayoral race recently promised voters that if he is elected, he will order all coyotes in the city hunted down and killed. Town officials in Hull declared a state of emergency earlier this year after a coyote was spotted near an elementary school.

"It's the worst it's ever been," said Norma Haskins, Marshfield's animal control officer for 31 years. "It used to be safe for pets to just roam around, but it isn't safe anymore. The coyotes just aren't afraid of us."

Haskins came up with the idea for the Bark Park in October, after a pack of coyotes attacked two dogs, each weighing more than 60 pounds, 20 to 30 pounds more than the average adult coyote.

The dogs had been frolicking in the woods near the home of their owner, Thomas Martin. The coyotes nearly eviscerated Lucky, a Labrador mix with chocolate brown eyes. The sharp-toothed coyotes ripped the hide from one leg of Martin's other dog, Lady, before the two dogs managed to escape.

"I used to let them roam free, but now they stay with me," Martin said. "I have to keep my eye on them."

Since the attack, Lucky mostly stays indoors; Martin keeps her furry torso wrapped in thick bandages. But news of the mauling spread throughout Marshfield, prompting pet lovers to carve out a canine haven in this seaside town.

"We're just trying to build a park with a wall, so everyone can live nicely and gently together," said Brad White, cochairman of the Marshfield Dog Park Committee.

State wildlife biologists say it is unlikely that the coyote conflicts will ease anytime soon. Coyote breeding season, a time when the animals are more aggressive, starts next month.

Across Massachusetts, clashes with the species known as Eastern coyotes are already on the rise: The state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife reported an increase in coyote sightings by residents, from 33 in fiscal 2002 to 146 in fiscal 2004. Biologists caution that those numbers can fluctuate wildly from year to year and do not give accurate estimates of the population. Still, state officials say, complaints are mounting about the elusive predators brazenly roaming suburban streets looking for garbage, small pets, and road-kill.

Some state wildlife biologists blame Massachusetts residents for the coyote crisis.

In 1996, by a 2-to-1 ratio, voters approved a state ballot measure that eliminated the most effective ways to catch coyotes: steel-jaw leg-hold traps, padded jaw traps, and body-gripping traps. The only traps allowed now are cage or box-type traps, and coyotes are usually far too wily to walk into these, said Chrissie Henner of the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.

Massachusetts is one of nine states, including California and New Jersey, that have such restrictions, and residents are paying the price, according to Rob Sexton of the US Sportsmen's Alliance, a national nonprofit association that supports hunting, fishing, and trapping programs.

Since the ban passed eight years ago, wildlife officials have been unable to control or even count the coyote population. Once virtually extirpated in Massachusetts, coyotes moved back into central and western regions of the state in the 1950s and have inhabited the eastern sections and Cape Cod since the 1970s.

These days, almost every neighborhood in Massachusetts has a coyote family, said Henner, who has delivered more than 70 lectures on coyotes around the state over the past three years. Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard, and some other coastal islands are the only coyote-free parts of Massachusetts.

"If anyone has a magic potion to solve this issue, then I'd like to see it," Henner said.

In Marshfield, residents are trying to coexist peacefully with coyotes, White said. The town has no plans to hunt them down or declare a state of emergency.

The dog park initiative has attracted pet owners of many backgrounds -- lawyers, bankers, and contractors -- who hope to raise $100,000 over the next few months. They want the Bark Park to open by spring and draw pets from across the South Shore.

Haskins, the animal control officer, has already committed $2,000 from money left to the department by a late resident, Patty Trotta.

Trotta bestowed her small estate to Marshfield's Animal Control Department to thank the town for erecting a steel chain-link fence to protect her poodles from coyotes prowling the nearby woods.

It only makes sense, Haskins said, to use this money to safeguard the rest of Marshfield. And good fences, it is hoped, will make good neighbors, even with coyotes.

"Then we won't have to worry about our pets disappearing into the woods anymore," Haskins said.

Jenn Abelson can be reached at abelson@globe.com.