A Benton County newspaper story outlines a story that is reminiscent of the Bella Vista goose-slaugher plan.
Exactly what big problems have occurred because coyotes were lying on the runway was not explained, however. How many coyotes were on the runway? Two or hundreds?
Anyway, I didn't realize how fast Siloam Springs is growing until I thought about this story and remembered the plans for clearing woods and prairies for unneeded subdivisions that I have read about in recent years.
Sounds like a problem of habitat destruction. Don't pave over their habitat and the coyotes won't hold protest lie-ins on your runway.
Sounds like a problem that the Benton County Planning Board could help with. Just say no to bad developments and encourage landowners to keep agriculture alive and wildlife habitat plentiful.
Fuel prices should be enough to tell them that we need locally grown food more than we need more people to ship it in to.
Sometimes I feel sorry for people who have moved here from California to get away from the high cost of living and the terrifying commuting and then discover they have dangerous commutes here and have to pay for vegetables and fruit shipped from California, where water shortages are developing as the snow cover in the mountains doesn't stay frozen long enough to flow down when the water is really needed.
Why make our "green country" into an inhospitable desert?
Wayward coyotes cause trouble at Cecil Smith Field
By Jeff Della Rosa Staff Writer // jeffd@nwanews.com
Posted on Sunday, August 10, 2008
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/bcdr/News/64589/
SILOAM SPRINGS — Coyotes have become increasingly attracted to the Siloam Springs Municipal Airport and its runway — so much so that the city has received a permit from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to control the animals.
“ The airport and the coyotes have been co-existing for about two years, ” said Judy Toler, administrative assistant to the city administrator. “ The sightings became more visible in the last six months. ”
The coyotes had been lying out on the runway until recently.
Possibly, the hot weather has kept them away for now.
No coyotes have been captured or killed since the city was granted the state permit in July.
The airport has had no accidents or near misses since the coyotes started coming out on the runway.
“ The coyotes have been a bit more comfortable this year, and rather than staying in the bushes like they have in prior years, they have now been coming out and actually lying on the runway, ” Toler said.
The state permit allows the city to kill the coyotes. The city previously planned to capture and relocate the animals.
However, employees of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said this was not recommended because the coyotes would either return to the same area or overpopulate the area to which they would be relocated.
Now, if needed, animal-services employees would use a tranquilizer to capture the animals, then have them euthanized and cremated.
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2 comments:
The last time the runway was extended was almost 30 years ago.
The airport has been around decades before that.
I really doubt this herd of coyotes were displaced by anything caused by the airport's existence.
Obviously, they were displaced by the subdivisions and such rising all around. The runway replaced previous generations of coyotes.
The coyotes may not be natives of Northwest Arkansas but their ancestors wandered up from Texas a long time ago and filled the niche left by the killing off of the wolves.
Aub cares about the wildlife. Not everyone does. The deer wiped out a century ago have been restocked. The wolves have not. Coyotes aren't effective predators of deer. The solution would be to bring back the wolves, who would run off the coyotes and thin the deer herd.
But the effort would be wasted. Benton and Washington counties soon will be paved over and there won't be any habitat for either one before long.
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