City of Wheaton "Coyote Incident Report form" and current recommendations

Wheaton has announced a new Coyote Incident Report form. This is the press release. It also makes recommendation of the use of trash barrels; some of our residents use plastic trash bags placed on the curb. Such use should be avoided, to discourage coyotes. The city recommends the feeding of pets indoors, and the storage of pet food indoors.

I would hope that our residents support the city in it's endeavor to control the coyote population, and simultaneously protect their pets, by not allowing them off a leash at any time, and by keeping their pets close while walking.

PRESS RELEASE

Friday, February 04, 2011

Discourage Coyotes from Your Neighborhood; Report Incidents Using New Form

WHEATON, Ill. – From February through April, you may see more coyotes in the community, as this is their typical mating period. While pets do not comprise a large portion of a coyote’s diet, it is especially important to keep your pets on a leash during this time of year, when people may be more likely to encounter a coyote. Coyotes are opportunistic and will go for easy prey, such as an unattended pet.

The City recently adopted a Coyote Policy,  which outlines how the City will respond to the presence of coyotes in the community based on the types of issues that are occurring. In order for the City to receive accurate information, the City encourages you to report coyote incidents using its new Coyote Incident Report Form. The form replaces the previous Coyote Sighting Report Form and asks questions specific to the incident.

Please note that if a coyote is acting in a threatening manner toward a human, you should call 9-1-1, and an officer will respond.

Besides reporting incidents, it is important for you to understand how to discourage coyotes from taking up residence in your neighborhood. Coyotes can become a nuisance when they have easy access to food in residential areas, such as pet food or garbage. To discourage their presence:

• DO feed pets indoors or promptly remove dishes when pets complete their meal outside. Store bags of pet food indoors.
• DO clear brush and dense weeds from around property. This deprives rodents of shelter and reduces protective cover for coyotes.
• DO use trash barrels equipped with tight clamping devices on the lids, which will prevent spills should they be tipped over by large animals.
• DO try to educate your friends and neighbors about the problems associated with feeding coyotes. If you belong to a homeowner’s association or neighborhood watch, bring up the subject during one of the meetings.
• DO NOT feed or provide water for coyotes or other wildlife. This practice abnormally attracts coyotes and promotes increased numbers of rodents, birds, snakes and other creatures that can provide major portions of the coyote’s natural diet.

Many wildlife experts believe that coyote "hazing" can help deter coyotes. This is the term used for actions such as making loud noises or threatening gestures toward coyotes in an attempt to change the behaviors of habituated coyotes and reestablish a healthy fear of humans. Hazing is not intended to physically harm coyotes. If you encounter a coyote, make yourself look as large as possible, and use the hazing techniques mentioned above.

For more information, see the Coyote Information section of the City's website.  

### End of Press Release

Here are a few links to the City of Wheaton's website pertaining to Coyote Information:

Link to Wheaton's Coyote Policy

Link to Wheaton's Coyote Incident Report Form

Link to "Coyotes in Wheaton" on the City's website

Trapper called in to trap coyotes - Wheaton Press Release and Website

That's the title of an article today in the print edition of the Glen Ellyn News. I quote it because of our immediate proximity to the western edge of that community, and because of the coyote sightings reported by our residents. Our local Wheaton paper also recently published an article on the coyote sightings.

To quote the GE News:

"The Glen Ellyn Police Department has received 36 reports of coyotes this month"....... It was reported that "a resident saw two coyotes attempting to prey on a small dog that was trapped within the confines of an electric fence".

The article went on "Anyone who spots a coyote should call the police." [See important comment (1) below - BLMH residents SHOULD NOT call the GE Police Department!]
Glen Ellyn Police Chief Phillip Norton was quoted "And don't feed them.......It sounds silly to some of us, but there are some that like to look at the wild animals in the backyard and will leave food for them."

(1) Note to BLMH residents. We are residents of Wheaton so DO NOT call the Glen Ellyn Police Department! The Wheaton Police have this statement on their website:

"Anyone can call 9-1-1 if they observe any wild animal behaving in a threatening manner. Police officers will respond Or, contact the Willowbrook Wildlife Center’s 24-hour automated phone line for advice at 630-942-6200".

A Glen Ellyn statistic:

• 20 coyotes spotted in January 2009
• 47 coyotes spotted in January 2010

The article also stated that traps will be set to catch coyotes. Obviously, our residents should not allow their pets to be unattended or to roam. This is in violation of the Rules and Regulations of BLMH. However, considering the issues with coyotes in the area, and traps, it would seem that a responsible pet owner will take steps to protect the animals under their care. Both the coyotes and the traps will be indiscriminate in what they catch. This is a quote from the official city of Wheaton website:  "Coyotes typically mate in February or early spring. During mating season, coyotes – especially males – may be more visible. It is especially important to keep pets on a leash during this time."

Wheaton has added the following special sections to the city website:

Click to find out about Coyotes in Wheaton
Click for more About coyotes and what to do if you encounter one
Click to find out How to deter coyotes
(2) Added February 12:
Click for Video - Coyotes In Suburbia - Protecting Your Pets

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Press Release

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

WHEATON, Ill. – The Police Department has received reports of coyotes being sighted in the area of Weaver Court and the surrounding neighborhood. No problems were experienced in these recent sightings.

Coyotes are a common wild animal in this area of Illinois. Usually they reside in wooded areas, however, they enter residential neighborhoods occasionally.

In most cases, wild animals such as coyotes are attracted to food sources such as bird feeders, compost piles and uncovered trash containers.

Coyotes can survive on whatever food is available, from rodents to rubbish, from insects to fruit to carrion. They can be a threat to family pets. Although no attacks have been reported within the City of Wheaton, in isolated but tragic cases elsewhere, coyotes have attacked small children.

Essentially unimpeded by control measures, abundant food has encouraged coyotes to become accustomed to the sight and sounds of humans. Consequently, coyote populations and range have expanded in recent years in the Western suburbs.

While coyotes are valuable in decreasing the rodent population, their presence in populated areas can be minimized.

• DO feed pets indoors or promptly remove dishes when pets complete their meal outside. Store bags of pet food indoors.
• DO clear brush and dense weeds from around property. This deprives rodents of shelter and reduces protective cover for coyotes.
• DO use trash barrels equipped with tight clamping devices on the lids, which will prevent spills should they be tipped over by large animals.
• DO try to educate your friends and neighbors about the problems associated with feeding coyotes. If you belong to a homeowner’s association or neighborhood watch, bring up the subject during one of the meetings.
• DO NOT feed or provide water for coyotes or other wildlife. This practice abnormally attracts coyotes and promotes increased numbers of rodents, birds, snakes and other creatures that can provide major portions of the coyote’s natural diet.

TO PROTECT PETS

• Keep small pets (cats, rabbits, small dogs) indoors. Don’t allow them to run free at any time. They are easy, favored prey. Some coyotes hunt cats in residential areas.
• Dogs should be brought inside after dark and never allowed to run loose.
• DO NOT leave domestic pet food outside. Wildlife will soon depend upon it.

Anyone may phone 9-1-1 should they observe any wild animal behaving in a threatening manner. Officers will respond.
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Related articles about our neighboring community can be read at: mysuburbanlife Glen Ellyn edition

The Wheaton Sun website is: Suburban Chicago News - Wheaton Sun Edition

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For "official" information about coyotes at BLMH, for policies and procedures and specific recommendations at BLMH, contact the "Communications Director" c/o the Board of Managers. 

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Additions, Errors, Omissions:
(1) Added note to remind BLMH residents that we are not residents of Glen Ellyn and we should not call the Glen Ellyn Police Department. We should follow the instructions and recommendations of the Wheaton Police Department!
(2) Added link to video, which will run in Microsoft Media Player, etc. 

Squirrels

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This was sent by "Bill" an interested reader. Enjoy!

Nature Bulletin, No. 5 March 10, 1945
Forest Preserve District of Cook County
Clayton F. Smith, President
Roberts Mann, Superintendent of Conservation

SQUIRRELS
Take a good look at the next squirrel you see. Watch him come, head-first, down a tree; and notice that his hind legs have a sort of swivel joint at the ankle so that his sharp-clawed feet can be turned completely around. Notice the tiny button "thumbs" between which he holds the bit of food he eats. Notice that his eyes, like those of rabbits and other vegetable-eaters, are placed at the sides of his head so that he can watch for his enemies: the cats and hawks. Compare them with the forward-looking eyes of the meat-eaters such as the cat, the dog, the hawk and man himself.

The squirrel's tail is his most noticeable and perhaps his most useful possession. Few animals have a tail with so many practical uses. The squirrel is the gossip of the woods and with flicks of his tail he punctuates all that he has to say. His tail serves as a parachute in his daring leaps and to break the rare, accidental falls; also as a balancer when he runs along a narrow branch. It is both his blanket and his sunshade.

The squirrel's teeth are also highly specialized and designed for the kind of food he eats. He belongs to the very numerous "chisel-tooth" tribe known as the RODENTS, which includes the rats, beaver, porcupine and others, whose front teeth consist of two incisors in the upper jaw and two in the lower. (Incisor is from a Latin word meaning "to cut"). These teeth have a fine, sharp, chisel edge suited for gnawing through nutshells, grains, seeds and other hard vegetable material. They never stop growing. Only constant use keeps them short and sharp. A lack of hard nuts or other material upon which to gnaw, prevents this wearing down and the teeth become so long that they cannot eat. The teeth of pet squirrels can be clipped; otherwise they may actually die of starvation.

Nuts, seeds, wild fruit and berries are a large part of the diet of squirrels. In winter, much of their diet is made up of hibernating insects and their larvae found under the bark of trees; also the juicy buds of trees. But squirrels bury food in the ground, in preparation for winter; one nut or acorn or seed in each hole. During the winter they seem to locate these stores by smell, and dig them up.

Squirrels prefer a winter den in a hollow tree but occasionally find an opening and make their home just beneath the roof of a house or barn. Occasionally, where no suitable den can be found, a pair of squirrels will build a "dray" or nest of twigs and leaves, lined for winter with leaves or shredded bark. In the early spring four to six young are born, naked and blind. For ten weeks they are dependent upon their mother's milk. Not until they are weaned do their tails fluff out, and only then are they ready to venture into the world. The whole family usually moves to summer home or "dray" built of green leaves, in order to escape from the soiled and flea ridden den. By summer or early fall, the young are ready to shift for themselves and the mother may raise a second family.

There are two kinds of squirrels in the forest preserves: the fox squirrel and the gray squirrel. The little red squirrel, or chickaree, is no longer found in Cook County but can be found in the Indiana Dunes State Park. The fox squirrel is the more common of the two, being found all
over the country wherever there are trees. They have yellowish faces and yellowish underparts; their backs are covered with reddish-brown fur tipped with gray. The gray squirrels are smaller, have whitish or light gray faces and underparts darker gray backs, and are found more in the north and northwestern parts of the county. The two kinds are quite different in temperament and each has its own kind of calls and chatter. Squirrels have a very small home range and may spend their entire lives within an area no larger than five acres -- often much smaller. Some squirrels attain an age of from 6 to 10 years.

The bite of a squirrel is NOT poisonous but, like any small, deep wound that is difficult to clean and sterilize, it may become infected. In some parts of the country, rabies has been found in squirrels as it has been found in coyotes and other wild animals., but it has never been found in squirrels in this part of Illinois.

Bob Becker, outdoor sports-writer, has reported this winter that numerous gray squirrels in the north shore suburbs show signs of a bad mange epidemic. The Illinois Natural History Survey has observed the same condition on fox squirrels in other parts of the state. The Survey naturalists say this is not mange and not a disease, but an infection called "scabies". It is due to a skin parasite known as mites and is most common among old, weakened animals. It is more common in cities where dens and proper food are more scarce than in the country, and
where there are so few natural enemies that the squirrel population tends to grow too large. It also is apt to be more common after severe winters such as this one, probably because the squirrels are weakened by prolonged scarcity of food and by having to stay inactive in their
dens.