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Graduate students at SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) are asking for public assistance in the collection of samples as part of a study for an emerging zoonotic parasite. Samples for this study consist of gastrointestinal tracts from coyotes harvested within DEC Regions 3-7, which can be shipped to SUNY ESF where they will be screened for the parasite Echinococcus spp.
The parasite is a tapeworm that typically infects wild canids (foxes, coyotes) but can infect domestic animals as well as humans. The goal of this study is to identify the distribution of the parasite throughout the sampling range, so that areas of high parasite levels and infection risk can be found.
More information on the project can be found at the NY Echinococcus Project webpage or by emailing Corinne Conlon.
Photo by Gregory VanSplunder.
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How about some of these graduate students get out in the field and shoot some coyotes? They are killing all manner of livestock in Eastern Saint Lawrence County and need to be eradicated.
Indeed, let’s eradicate one of the few predators remaining. Then we can focus on fox and fisher.
what fox? the coyotes have wiped most of the fox out. Coyotes are NOT native to NY or the northeast. Foxes were solitary or a pair hunting, coyotes are pack hunters and wiped out almost all the ground nesting birds such as partridge and pheasant, rabbits, ect. need way less coyotes to protect the few native species left in the region.
Humans removed wolves – and cougars… That’s why coyotes spread. Coyotes were not brought to NY by humans…. They got to NY on their own (mixing with wolves and domestic dogs) because they filled an ecological niche that was opened because humans destroyed the wolf population. Nature is not like someone’s yard. It needs predators to keep balance.
And not sure why you claim there are no foxes… I literally saw a red fox but two weeks ago – and in a comparatively urban area.
Fox are the only predators that shows up routinely on my trail cam. Occasionally, a ‘yote or a fisher, but far more often red and grey fox.
Yeah I’m not sure how the person above was saying there are no more foxes in NY. Even the densely populated part of NYC known as The Bronx and Queens boroughs – there are resident and breeding coyotes and red foxes. If they can survive around each other in parts of NYC – the North Woods is easy.
Susan,
I have been thinking about this for awhile, and I do not see why you cannot shoot coyotes on your own land.
Susan, We share the planet ! No need to be despictable! – Jeanne
When you go out to the pasture and see a favorite ewe, or a helpless lamb, or a 3 month old calf torn to bits and smeared across 30 feet of grassland, then you can weigh back in with experience.
And besides, where do you think all those coyote GI tracts are going to come from? I don’t think the coyotes will be giving them up philanthropically.
I was thinking scat on the ground. I mean that’s how they get it from bears and such.
Get a livestock guardian dog… That’s what they have been bred for – for centuries. Killing off predators destroys the natural ecosystem. The only thing that keeps coyote populations in check – are wolves and cougars really.
Manage your own predators and livestock. Don’t ask us to eradicate them for you. Predators fed on grazers long before humans existed. It is what they do. If one is going to raise livestock, protecting them is part of the deal.
I grow plants in my garden and grazers eat them. I put fences around the ones I can and hope the rest don’t get eaten. If they do, I don’t blame the grazers. I don’t like them on my property, but I don’t wish to eradicate them. If I grew plants for a living, I would invest in more and better protection from wildlife.
Domestic dogs and livestock are significant vectors of Echinococcus that will remain even if we “eradicate” wild canids. But I think that probably even the most reckless coyote hunters and trappers do not wish to eradicate them. On the other hand, livestock farmers have eradicated a number of keystone predator species already. I think that we can live with the managed populations of coyotes, foxes and bobcats that remain. If they start seriously talking about artificially reintroducing wolves or lynx (again), I would probably be protesting right alongside the farmers (but for different reasons).
Wolves from Canada have tried to naturally recolonize – but they get shot by people saying they thought it was a coyote. Then of course on the Canada side they do shoot wolves… But in Canada there are thousands of wolves in Ontario and Quebec alone so they aren’t endangered.
Just saying, if these graduate students are looking for coyote GI tracts, that maybe it would be a good idea to go where coyotes are known to be a problem and take them in THOSE areas.
Dana says: “If one is going to raise livestock, protecting them is part of the deal.”
There’s too much effort in that Dana, it’s easier to be irresponsible. Coyotes are beautiful animals and sure, they like to tear up fawns and whatever they can get their jaws on, but maybe if there wasn’t so much of us humans around and more land and more natural habitats, just maybe, these problems would check themselves. We alter things so that things get out of sync…..and then we blame every ‘thing’ else but ourselves, our habits, our needs, our comforts……..
“I don’t like them on my property, but I don’t wish to eradicate them.”
You’re different Dana, in a good way! I know others like you and I sure as heck wish there were more of ya’s out there!