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HAMILTON COUNTY

Carmel coyote sightings continue to cause concern

By Diana Penner
diana.penner@indystar.com

Coyotes are being spotted in Carmel, just as they are throughout the Indianapolis metropolitan area.

And it might be happening more in ­recent days because of breeding season and the long-term snow cover that keeps the wild canines from getting at prey such as mice.

That’s what police and wildlife ­experts are saying, but residents still are skittish and some have asked city officials to take action.

Carmel police have no reports of pets or people being attacked by coyotes, but police don’t disagree that people are ­noticing the animals.

The issue came up at a recent Brookshire Homeowners Association meeting attended by two Carmel City Council members, and it will be a discussion topic during a City Council meeting at 6 p.m. Monday. At the association meeting, residents said they were regularly seeing coyotes in the area, including on the golf course in the neighborhood and along Cool Creek.

Several had photos of the animals on their cellphones, said council member Luci Snyder.

There’s little disagreement that coyotes are in the neighborhood. Several weeks before the association meeting, Mayor Jim Brainard had to shoo one out of his backyard before he could take his spaniel outside. But passions run in ­opposite directions when it comes to a solution.

“These coyotes are taking over the area,” said Vince Mercuri, a resident who lives near the fourth hole of the golf course and regularly sees the animals, even near the fence in the backyard. “What is the city going to do to protect our children, our pets?”

Mercuri has two Maltese — brother and sister Rosie and Tidbit — and doesn’t want them, or anyone else’s pets, to fall victim to a coyote attack. A Pomeranian was killed by a coyote in December 2012 in Greenwood, and some suspect coyotes are responsible for some missing cats and small dogs.

“I just don’t want us to be a part of a story where we lose our two Maltese,” said Mercuri, who has lived in his home for 30 years.

Another factor likely contributing to a possible increased visibility of coyotes is that the animals simply stand out more against snow, rather than blending in against foliage.

Carmel Police Department spokesman Lt. Joe Bickel said residents should call for police if a coyote presents a threat to people or pets. But, he said, the animals are part of the community, and people are bound to see them.

“Unless there is a ­public safety concern,” Bickel said, “just a normal sighting of a coyote is no reason to call the police.”

In a news release after the Brookshire meeting, which the mayor did not attend, Brainard said the city could hire trappers to capture problem coyotes, but the city has not yet taken that step.

“We continue to hear reports of dogs and cats being threatened or missing, and we know that like other suburban areas this winter, we have a problem with coyotes,” Brainard said in the statement. “We plan to respond to those concerns through both education and by securing professional trappers who can help us trap and humanely relocate the animals if possible.”

State law requires that live-trapped wild animals — including coyotes, ­foxes and raccoons — be released within the ­county in which they were captured with the per­mission of the property owner.

Trapped coyotes rarely are released, said Eric Lowe, owner of Hoosier Wildlife Control in Indianapolis. Lowe, a trapper for 40 years, said in practice, few people will agree to have a coyote released on their property.

“There are people that do want them, I guess,” he said. “But I don’t know of any.”

Generally, Lowe said, coyotes are euthanized on the spot — with a gun.

“For the most part, that animal is going to get a bullet in the brain,” he said. “In the brain is no pain.”

Within Carmel city limits, discharge of firearms is banned. Bickel said if a coyote is trapped in the city, the best idea would be to call for a police officer who could legally shoot the animal.

Lowe said it’s theoretically possible to use a large version of a “live trap” to catch coyotes, but he said the animals are too wily to be tricked by them.

“They’re too smart for that,” Lowe said. “You’d probably catch a dog.”

And if they were snagged, the entire container would have to be transported away. Pest animals snagged in ­smaller live traps are euthanized in carbon ­dioxide chambers, but Lowe said he doesn’t have one large enough for a coyote-sized trap.

The trapping part of the process also is not easy, he said. Coyotes range a larger territory than raccoons, opossums or other wild animals considered pests in residential areas. So even if a coyote has been sighted in a specific backyard, setting a trap in that location is no guarantee.

Phil Bloom, with the ­Indiana Department of Natural Resources, said coyotes can legally be trapped with snares, leg traps that do not have sawtooth or spiked teeth and “body-gripping traps.” There’s also a coyote hunting-trapping season, Oct. 15 to March 15, although property owners can “take” animals on their own land all year.

Bickel, with the Carmel police, said common sense and good pet-owner standards can help avoid much of the problem.

“If people are being ­responsible pet owners, keeping their pets leashed or in a confined area, they don’t have to worry about a pet being taken by a coyote,” he said. He ­advised that dogs be kept on leashes or in fenced backyards, and that cats be kept inside unless they cannot get out of a fenced area.

In addition, he said, taking up pet food and ­water bowls and placing garbage outside in containers, rather than bags, will help. Even bird ­feeders — bird seed can lure rodents, which in turn attract coyotes — can be taken indoors at night, he suggested.

Call Star reporter Diana Penner at (317) 444-6249. Follow her on Twitter: @dianapenner.

For information on dealing with nuisance wildlife, go to the Indiana Department of Natural Resources site www.in.gov/dnr/fishwild/2351.htm,