Show The Herald Journal Logan Utah Sunday April 14 1996 — Page 35 Coyotes roam in Big Apple EDITOR'S NOTE — Somathing Mia tha urban cowboy Ilia urban ooyota haa migrated to tha Big Apple Bordar guards aranT naadod Tha crty'a axprasaways so far have lakan a tod Ona official auggealad ‘Coyote Crcaang1 signs By Marlene Aig Associated Press Writer NEW YORK — Gotham's newest immigrant comes with a reputation for cunning The Indians called him a trickster who could steal fire and create humans from feathers mud and straw The coyote like the millions of other creatures who call New York home will surely have to use every trick it knows to survive in the city It was on the six-lan- e Major Dee-ga- n Expressway in the Bronx that the first coyote was found last year “I thought they were supposed to be wily" said city Parks Commissioner Henry Stem referring to the' cartoon character Wile E Coyote “They're not so swift about crossing the Major Deegan" It was on the six-laMajor Deegan Expressway in the Bronx that the city's first coyote was found last year — struck and killed by a passing vehicle Since then officials have been trying to figure out how to make the city's newest immigrant settle in It hasn't been easy A coyote was found shot in Van Cortlandt Park another male hit by a car was found dead in Pelham Bay Park A second coyote was killed on the Major Deegan in May After the third fatality Bronx Parks Commissioner William Castro suggested the city put up motorist alert signs warning of “Coyote ne car-coyo- te -- Crossing” near where authorities believe the canines are entering the city from neighboring Westchester County Fencing is being erected One of the coyotes struck on the parkway was given the nickname Major and urban park rangers had him stuffed this fall He was put on display first at a festival in Brooklyn and then moved to the headquarters of the city's Parks and Recreation Department in the newly dubbed Coyote Chamber Eventually it will be displayed at the Van Cortlandt Park Urban Ecology Center “to serve as an ecological example and tell the talc of the coyote in New York” said Bradley Tusk parks spokesman i The most famous Bronx coyote was a male dubbed W'ilev that made its home in Woodlawn Cemetery and was fed table scraps by a concerned couple who thought he was a stray dog The coyote or Canis latrans is known for its nighttime serenade of eerie howls Once they lived only in western North America but now arc fairly common throughout most of the mainland United States “Coyotes are very widespread in New York state" said Michael McKeon spokesman for the state Department of Environmental Conservation “We think they’re everywhere but Long Island” They 're not good swimmers They’re hunted for their pelts in upstate New York McKeon said Licensed trappers recorded 1315 coyotes taken in 1993-9- 4 As for why they're suddenly coming to (he Big Apple McKeon said coyotes arc just spreading out They often go looking for food and if there are many pups that survive w inter the search expands “Pups are bom and are pushed out of the nest" he said “There's no Mom coyote bemoaning an empty nest here Coyotes are migratory and they go in every direction like the spokes of a wheel" Moving toward the city is a “natural progression” he said “They're moving up moving over and moving down as part of nature's progress" As long as there's green space coyotes can survive explained Gordon Batcheller of the DEC “The green belt along the Hudson River can potentially support a coyote” he said "Some unoccupied buildings could attract coyotes They are very adaptable as long as there's some green Spooky's newest trick was a lesson in perseverance for her winds and was gone for eight days “My brother's dog taught her to climb over the fence” said Heide Hatcher of Shasta Calif him “We had pretty much wrote off for dead" Dill said And once Spooky was over the wall Hatcher's schooling began That's because finding a lost pet But they papered the area with posters being sure to include the school “We talked to the schools and let them know because a lot of wringing Reunions require a battle plan implemented as soon as you realize Fido is a fugitive said Bob time the kids will play with dogs” Dill said In fact that’s where Buck showed up — only about two requires more than just hand Timone director of Haven Humane Society in Redding “The sooner the better" is the first principle in searching for a missing pet Timone said Spooky was eventually reunited with her owner who did all the right things Timone said It goes like this: Search the neighborhood use posters and advertise file a lost pet report and visit the local animal shelter and animal control facility Start in the neighborhood first Timone urged But the longer a pet is out and about the longer time he or she has to be enticed farther from home In the neighborhood is where Astrid Zohar like Hatcher started when her black Pomeranian 0om Pom ran off “I put up signs in the stores I sked in every store I asked everyone on the street — I asked everybody" she said Posters arc a popular and effective means to get the word out Mike Dill used them twice to miles from home Timone said high winter winds are just one of the many reasons a pet can run The winds knock ilown fences and the noise of strong winds can frighten dogs But there really isn’t a season for strays “We take an estimated 3000 lost reports a year” he said a figure that includes dogs and cats and me occasional exotic animal Primarily the lost reports are for dogs and it’s more common for lost dogs to be reunited with their owners he said Cals have their own unique problems when it comes to being lost and found “The percentage returned to owners is of cats paltry” he said estimating the rate as low as 2 or 3 percent The reasons are twofold “It's more uncommon for cats (to be returned) because there's no licenses for cats” Timone said Also “owners often don’t miss them for two weeks' believing that they have just missed the cut in his or her comings and goings No matter w hat the time frame always file a lost report with the animal agencies lliat's ultimately what brought Spooky home A Redding woman found Spooky chasing cars and look her home then called the shelter — which hadn't yet received the lost report Hatcher said t By the time she called back — -two or three days later — Hatcher had visited and called the shelter several times "That’s why I say it’s persever- ance (that brought Spooky home) If I hadn't called and gone in there every day” they may not have found her home Hatcher said Advertising also works When Zohar 's Pom Pom got lotise canvassing the neighborhood and posters hadn't located her But soon after her lost dog advertisement ran Pom Pom was home “I think it was the next day a gentleman called and he said he didn't have the dog but his son's girlfriend found a dog” Zohar said “In my heart I thought it was Pom Pom" she said Most people offer a reward and Timone said (hat will get people’s attention But he doesn't recommend telling how much rew ard there w ill be “It's to prevent people from trying to create scams — (for example) if they hold on to the animal maybe they'll get more monev" Timone said Dog breeds come from original For AP Special Features Man first met dog 14000 yean ago and thanks to crossbreeding interbreeding and outcrossing there are now some 200 dog breeds in the world — all bred from the original wolf-do- g Most breeds began as hunters and over the centuries hunting dogs have ranged from giant dachshunds Philip wolfhounds to Bourjaily wrote in Sports Afield Even the poodle's haircut derived from its days as a retriever when the ball of fur around the chest kept it d warm while the hindquarters allowed freedom of movement in the water Men and dog first met according to one theory when cavemen brought wolf pups home Unable to live with aggressive adult wolves early wolf owners drove them away as they matured keeping more tractable individuals As a result succeeding wolf-do- g generations grew tamer Adult animals began to exhibit the submissive behavior usually outgrown by adult wolves — whining playing barking seeking affection and groveling all advantageous traits when socializing with people also retained the floppy These early wolf-doears and cranial dimensions of juvenile wolves while becoming smaller overall Our dogs basically are wolves stuck in permanent adolescence a phenomenon known as paedomorphism Hunting scenes abound in Egyptian tombs Paintings show at least six distinct dog breeds dachshund types cours including short-legge- d close-trimme- gs 1 hpr it J The coyotes found in the city hav e all been 2 or 3 years old Castro said They vary from black brow n to beige and weigh as much as bO pounds which makes the Eastern coyote about 20 pounds heavier than those that roam the Western plains Coyotes have been sighted in the suburbs of New York City for years particularly in northern Westchester Putnam and Rockland counties While coyotes tend to be shy around people human attacks arc not unknown Which is why Castro — the city's coyote expert — wants people who sec coyotes not to think of them as stray dogs Ideally Castro would like to catch some and lag them with radio collars so scientists can observe them in the urban environment But he says "Our policy right now is to leave them alone" recover his lost pooches mix Buck a Dalmatian-La- b got out of the yard during high owner ! space” When dogs and cats fly the coop By Scripps Howard News j wolf-do- g ing hounds even one dog resembling a modem skeleton found at pointer A 3000-ycar-ol- d Windmill Hill in England looks very much like a pointer that probably worked as a stock and hunting dog The dogs that would become hunting breeds animals originating in trace back to mastiff-lik- e the mountains from Tibet to Spain Mountain shepherds kept mastiffs to protect their flocks Neolithic trade and migration spread dogs of the mastiff group throughout the ancient w orld Later Roman legions took Molossians — giant mastiffs from Greece and Albania used for hunting wild oxen — with them allowing them to interbreed with local dogs Wandering Gypsies Dalmation brought with them the pointer-lik- e Some gun dogs as we know them today were in existence in 157(1 including pointers spaniels water spaniels and bloodhounds Among modem sporting dogs only the retrievers - Labs goldens and curly coats — had not yet been developed In North America the primeval forests with waterfowl and passenger pigeons multitudes of squirrels and flocks of turkeys determined in large part which hunting dogs would be popular The eastern hardwood forests rendered hounds like salukis and afghans useless but there was a huge need lor retrievers 'Die gun dog breeds that originated here clearly reveal a nation of waicrfowlers — ihc Chesapeake Bay retriever the American water spaniel and ihc Nova Scotia duck tolling retriever flat-coa- ts sight-hunti- 'iiWii So vou know W could viHir friend is lose a friend an ahuser rv ou ignore ''7 it or bring it up? Ignoring it is easy Bringing it up is awkward But maebr bringing it up is the only way to really he a friend lelling him you know telling him it's wrong telling him it’s a punishable crime could he doing him a big fawsr Maybe he needs someone to talk to Mavhe lie needs someone to say lerv life mav he in vour hands 1 J ‘No VCe it's not OK" But more important than his feelings can give you some information fur Domett k that may help his wife's Call us at well-bein- lier g ABUSE Family Violence Prevention FonJ Violence i S O r a 190 2 tSHDiS 2 2( X X ) Bhicksrit t vnd col 1 Cgu fntm if |