What's the Best Way to Tame Rye's Coyotes?

While local officials begin to formulate a long-term plan for dealing with Rye's coyote population in the wake of two attacks, residents are mulling both temporary and sustainable solutions for dealing with the issue, whether it be controlling the deer population or arming themselves with weapons as they walk their pets or stroll through their neighborhood.

To deter the possibility of future attacks, Greenhaven residents are seeking to effectively intimidate the animals by carrying objects to defend themselves.

On any given day, the neighborhood's association president Marie McKeige said that people can be seen carrying baseball bats and golf clubs with them on their evening walks. The neighborhood sits adjacent to the Marshlands Conservancy, a 173-acre nature preserve owned by Westchester County where many coyotes and deer roam.

McKeige said that she no longer lets her Cocker Spaniel out into her yard alone anymore, and that residents have taken extra precautions to reduce the risk of tempting the coyotes into the neighborhood.

"The neighborhood, at this point, is educated," she said.

Greenhaven residents have started keeping garbage in a locked shed and putting out trash the morning of pickup instead of the night before, since rodents feast on garbage and the coyotes follow them into residential areas.

However, McKiege feels that the coyote issue has highlighted a more important question of whether wildlife preserves should be housed in suburban communities.

Along with the Marshlands, the Rye Nature Center, a 47-acre wildlife preserve, also is located in Rye. Parts of the Rye Nature Center border homes on North Street, where the second coyote attack on a 3-year-old girl occurred in late June.

"You can't have a wildlife preserve next to a residential area like this," McKeige said. "There have been adults out walking their dogs that have been startled by coyotes. When they try to scare them away, they follow them."

"The county gets a lot of pressure from naturalists," McKeige added. "There are a lot of people there that have promoted giving space to the coyotes but they've become aggressive."

McKeige also said naturalists aren't to blame because they could not foresee that coyotes would begin attacking young children, but that something needs to be done to address the problem.

Westchester County has made some efforts to address the problem. It has offered resources to Rye City, assigning County Police to monitor county-owned properties such as the Jay Heritage Center and the Marshlands.

The Rye Nature Center has said on its website that it is in full support of the actions taken by Rye Police and is reviewing its safety procedures and will continue to make visitor safety its highest priority.

Officials at the Rye Nature Center and Marshlands Conservancy did not return repeated calls seeking comment.

Other residents and wildlife experts have argued that controlling the deer population is integral to addressing the coyote issue.

Jim Dreisacker, owner of Westchester Wildlife, said that coyotes have become more aggressive toward humans because of overpopulation.

Dreisacker, who has been trapping animals in the Westchester area for 39 years, said "the right thing to do is reduce the population," namely through lethal methods.

Dreisacker explained that the deer population in Rye could be contributing to coyote aggressiveness. He believes that more bow hunting should be allowed in the area to help control the deer population.

"If there's less food for coyotes it would force them to move on to new areas," he said.

Hank Birdsall, a Purchase College student and Rye resident who is currently conducting a yearlong study on the deer population in Marshlands, is using an infrared camera to capture images of the deer. While the camera has picked up about 1,000 pictures of the deer, only eight images of coyotes have been recorded since January.

He said that trying to control the coyote population through lethal methods isn't a viable long-term solution.

"If you kill some, more are just going to come in," Birdsall said.

While he agreed with Dreisacker in saying that controlling the deer population would "make the area less attractive to coyotes," Birdsall believes that the best solution is for people to consistently frighten the coyotes into submission.

"The best thing to do is to teach people how to react to coyotes," he said.