[kittygilchrist]

I was told by email and posted a few days ago word from Dave Burgess, VCDD asst dir of Property mgmt, that trappers had already been hired to take coyotes.

After yesterdays sighting in Gilchrist east, one of those who saw the coyote also emailed property mgt and received this quite disturbing response from the director of property mgt:

------------------

Paulette Campanella, Village of Duval
I sent an e-mail [to VCDD] as suggested and this is the reply I received. Very troubling to say the least. They can threaten our domestic pets but not the wildlife!!!
************************************************** *********************
Ms. Campanella,
I just got off the phone with the Ocala Regional office of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 352-732-1225. They ask that any sightings of coyotes be reported to them. They state there is nothing they can do about the coyotes. The Village Community Development Districts can only deal with the coyotes when they are threatening endangered wildlife in the Preserve areas.
If you have any questions please call.
Sam Wartinbee
Director, District Property Management
1071 Canal St.
The Villages Fl. 32162
352-753-4022
Sam.wartinbee@districtgov.org

--------

Partial post on original sighting in Gilchrist east social media..
Original post by Glenda Wolfe from Gilchrist East (15 replies):
Neighbors, three of us were talking in Altman's kitchen just now (1:45 PM) on Euclid when a coyote ran between our houses (I'm on Amherst Way) heading for Ft. Walton golf course. I thought, at...

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by kittygilchrist

I was told by email and posted a few days ago word from Dave Burgess, VCDD asst dir of Property mgmt, that trappers had already been hired to take coyotes.

After yesterdays sighting in Gilchrist east, one of those who saw the coyote also emailed property mgt and received this quite different and disturbing response from the director of property mgt:

------------------

Paulette Campanella, Village of Duval
I sent an e-mail [to VCDD] as suggested and this is the reply I received. Very troubling to say the least. They can threaten our domestic pets but not the wildlife!!!
************************************************** *********************
Ms. Campanella,
I just got off the phone with the Ocala Regional office of Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission 352-732-1225. They ask that any sightings of coyotes be reported to them. They state there is nothing they can do about the coyotes. The Village Community Development Districts can only deal with the coyotes when they are threatening endangered wildlife in the Preserve areas.
If you have any questions please call.
Sam Wartinbee
Director, District Property Management
1071 Canal St.
The Villages Fl. 32162
352-753-4022
Sam.wartinbee@districtgov.org

--------

Partial post on original sighting in Gilchrist east social media..
Original post by Glenda Wolfe from Gilchrist East (15 replies):
Neighbors, three of us were talking in Altman's kitchen just now (1:45 PM) on Euclid when a coyote ran between our houses (I'm on Amherst Way) heading for Ft. Walton golf course. I thought, at...

Whom do the trappers work for? How are they different from the alligators who eat pets in the pets' territory? The problem is that these coyotes are coming onto Villages' residential areas and taking pets. If a pet wanders onto the Preserve that is tough luck for the pet and their owners' but this is different. What would happen if an alligator took a pet from someone's front yard? My guess is it would soon be sold as meat by the trapper who caught and killed it?

[manaboutown]

Originally Posted by Taltarzac725

Whom do the trappers work for? How are they different from the alligators who eat pets in the pets' territory? The problem is that these coyotes are coming onto Villages' residential areas and taking pets. If a pet wanders onto the Preserve that is tough luck for the pet and their owners' but this is different. What would happen if an alligator took a pet from someone's front yard? My guess is it would soon be sold as meat by the trapper who caught and killed it?

And---alligators are indigenous to Florida whereas coyotes are not (from what I have read).

[Chi-Town]

I went through this in the town where I used to live in Illinois. Trappers were used initially, but shortly after came the message to live with them.


"Coyotes are native to Northern Illinois and are very common to the area. While coyotes may seem threatening and problematic, they rarely pose a problem to suburban dwellers. Coyotes are typically too intelligent and shy to be easily caught � and so pose a serious problem. It often takes over 200 man hours to catch a coyote, and the cost of doing so typically far outstrips the benefits. *If you see a coyote in your area please remain calm and understand that they are a natural part of the wildlife in northern Illinois."

[kittygilchrist]

This is copied from the website of the Florida Fish and wildlife conservation commission, the same organization Mr. Wartinbee quotes in his letter as saying the state can do nothing on private property. It appears to me the property owner can hire trappers, just as Tal concluded.

"Hunting and trapping are allowable methods year round for dealing with coyotes on private lands in Florida, or a professional trapper can be hired to remove coyotes. An FWC permit is required use steel traps. The FWC does not license nuisance wildlife trappers but does maintain a list of trappers that have registered their contact information. The USDA Wildlife Services also can provide assistance with wildlife trapping; call 866-487-3297."

Source
FAQs: Coyote (Canis latrans)

In researching options regarding the coyotes as having eaten some of our pets plus a report of one having Bared its teeth at a resident, I spoke to a trapper from Wildwood, who has been hired by the CDD in the past to remove alligators. He said that he contracts with another trapper who has appropriate sized cages for coyotes. He spoke knowledgeably about that process including frankly telling me the coyotes could not be relocated and are killed.

The cost to the property owner? $75 per catch, payable only if trapper is successful.
What do you all make of VCDD's response as in the letter above? I am not happy.
I have a cat whose favorite place in the lanai is no longer safe.

With due respect to those who rue The trapping and death of the wild animal, And with empathy for the beautiful displaced coyotes, it is my opinion that action can and should be taken by VCDD, and the state is being used as an excuse for inaction.

I would like to be shown that I am wrong. In earlier posts on this subject I stated my confidence that VCDD would step up.

[loonlovers]

I suspect that like myself, others wrote to Mr Burgess and Mr. Wartinbee (sp?) about the trapping of the coyotes. Like many, I was greatly disturbed that the trapping was taking place in the Preserve which by its very name, is an area designated to protect the natural environment and its inhabitants. Perhaps a humane or animal conservation group has become involved and the publicity of destroying animals in a Preserve is verboten and would create undue bad publicity for the Villages.

I think there is a bit of hysteria taking place surrounding coyote attacks in The Villages. I believe there is only one documented instance in which a pet has been snatched by a coyote. Other reports are from "somebody that my friend heard about for somebody"!

If an animal (any animal including domestic pets) poses a threat in a neighborhood, that animal needs to be removed and/or destroyed if necessary. But, from my understanding of my note from Mr. Burgess, the animals being targeted are the animals that live in the Preserve.

Our neighborhood has coexisted with the Preserve occupants for years with no known attacks. If a coyote were to suddenly appear at the end of my driveway, I would make a noise and I would almost guarantee that coyote will high tail back under the fence to the Preserve!

Sadly we have not heard the coyotes in the past couple of weeks. We thought that the flooding in the effluent area had driven the coyotes further back into the wooded area. Now I fear that the trapping has already taken place.

It is a sad day in the neighborhood.

[gerryann]

Confusing. I read about the coyote that snatched a villagers dog......very sad. Have there been more attacks? Has an alligator eaten a pet? I haven't heard about that either. I've been out of town for a few days. .....what have I missed?

[Bogie Shooter]

Originally Posted by gerryann

Confusing. I read about the coyote that snatched a villagers dog......very sad. Have there been more attacks? Has an alligator eaten a pet? I haven't heard about that either. I've been out of town for a few days. .....what have I missed?

Not much factual.

[gomoho]

This absolutely breaks my heart - just how sterile must The Villages be?

[njbchbum]

I don't have a a pet to walk [other than my husband ] before or after dark. I understand anyone's fear of gators, coyotes, and even dogs. What I don't understand is the intense desire of pet owners/dog walkers to have coyotes trapped and killed rather than exercise personal responsibility to do their best to avoid them. What am I missing?

[Sandtrap328]

Originally Posted by njbchbum

I don't have a a pet to walk [other than my husband ] before or after dark. I understand anyone's fear of gators, coyotes, and even dogs. What I don't understand is the intense desire of pet owners/dog walkers to have coyotes trapped and killed rather than exercise personal responsibility to do their best to avoid them. What am I missing?

You are not missing anything.

There was ONE dog that got snatched by a coyote and that was after midnight and the little dog was out in the yard without a leash.

Hopefully, there will be no coyote trapping - especially inside a wildlife preserve. Thanks to all who called VCDD and commented about the idiocy of trapping inside a wildlife preserve.

Personal responsibility and common sense are the best choices.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by njbchbum

I don't have a a pet to walk [other than my husband ] before or after dark. I understand anyone's fear of gators, coyotes, and even dogs. What I don't understand is the intense desire of pet owners/dog walkers to have coyotes trapped and killed rather than exercise personal responsibility to do their best to avoid them. What am I missing?

One dog snatched and two cats more than probably taken from lanais. These were all near golf courses. Dogs have been snatched by alligators but there is usually a negligent dog walker involved going too close to a pond. I do emphasize common sense in my own actions and carry a whistle and three of four golf balls on night walks. And I would be screaming at a coyote -- I hope-- if it approached me and my dog.

As many know I have been a victim advocate of sorts focusing my efforts on education about the rights and services available to them aggressively on-and-off since 1992 based on my experiences in Reno, Nevada connected with the 2-24-1976 murder of Michelle Mitchell. A sad fact still is that many crimes are never reported to police for a variety of reasons one of them being embarrassment. That's probably why you have not heard about these cat snatchings as the people might be afraid that they would be blamed in some way.

You would be surprised how many law students at the University of Minnesota Law School in 1986-1989 were victims of crimes --some even committed by other law students-- and they usually never reported these crimes because of fear of losing other people's respect. Many shared their experiences with me when word about my own experiences was circulated.

I do not think this is hysteria about the coyotes especially in the areas where they have just recently been pushed out of their territories because of house building south of CR466A. The sightings in the newest areas of the Villages show this.

I do think trapping coyotes in preserves is idiotic. It sounds like something from a Saturday Night Life skit. That's the coyotes and other animals natural habitat. It would be a very negligent dog walker to go out there unless perhaps the dog was lost in that area.

My point in this is that coyote sightings and snatchings are probably just shared between caring friends and not reported especially if the pet owner feels like he or she could have done more to protect the pet that was taken.

[gerryann]

When and where was a dog ever snatched by a gator here in The Villages? And what cats were taken by coyotes? What facts are there except for the dog taken?

[kittygilchrist]

I am a Floridian. I am not hysterical.
Totv has been the site for discussions in which alligators that did not snatch anything were trapped outside preserves, and wild hogs were trapped near a course where they were rooting up dirt.
Now we have coyotes, one of which did eat dog that was in its own yard, And two reports, one of which I could obtain verification for that cats were clearly taken by something that entered the lanai.

Yesterday I sat on the lanai with my cat and watched the most beautiful coyote I ever saw run from the golf course pond toward the house next to mine and run between it and the next house, in broad daylight.

I am sorry for the alligators and the hogs and the coyotes, but I fail to see why those that killed nothing are trapped and those that killed a dog are not. To state the obvious, we are displacing them. I would gently ask those whose conscience is offended by the trap and kill of nuisance animals, if there is not some gap in the ideal of preserving them when your home rests on the land we took from them?

This now is mine and my animals are my priority. Coyotes, alligators and hogs are no longer welcome. My dog is the canine entitled to this little patch of turf, and cat, age 21, deserves to enjoy the sun on the lanai.

I had my say, and I respect those who differ.

[bagboy]

We build homes on land that were once home to wildlife: alligators, snakes, coyotes, deer, etc. Then we are shocked that we have encounters with them. For the most part, leave them alone and the favor will be returned.