Michigan city hires professional to have coyotes caught, released to wild
City of St. Joseph officials are hoping to have coyotes roaming near downtown trapped and released into the wild. In lieu of two coyotes being sighted in the area as recent as last week.
Jim Sheffield of Awesome Critter Gitters is being paid $25 per day by the city managers. The agreement is that he will release the coyotes onto private land once they are captured.
Sheffield says his company typically euthanizes captured coyotes.
Coyotes are considered a serious nuisance in areas across Michigan, although they are not generally considered a direct threat to humans in urban areas. They do prey on smaller animals, including pets on or off their leash.
Catching Coyotes In Saint Joseph
Awesome Critter Gitters has been hired to catch the Saint Joseph coyote.
Grimes says that's an extremely hard thing to do. Val Grimes, with Berrien County Animal Control, says that's becoming more common. She tells us that people would be well advised to keep an eye and a leash on their smaller pets
The city of Saint Joseph has hired a firm out of Niles to catch a coyote that's been spotted roaming around Lake Bluff Park. Police Chief Mark Clapp tells us that there's been two reports of the animal out there in the early morning hours, which is unusual for that part of town.
Wild Coyotes in St. Joseph, Michigan
ST. JOSEPH - The coyotes that have wandered close to downtown St. Joseph should be glad that they have arrived in a compassionate community.
The city police department has requested that the animal trapping company Awesome Critter Gitters take the animals alive and release them back into the wild.
St. Joseph police Chief Mark Clapp said two coyote sightings were reported last week around dawn along the bluff.
Clapp said coyotes in St. Joseph are "not a new phenomenon," and he has seen them for years during night patrols. But spotting them during daylight hours, close to where people walk, is "not normal," and that has prompted the city to hire the trappers.
We Recently Found ourselves in a local downtown park with a coyote problem. Coyotes will take your pets right off the leash.
Jim Scheffield has decades of trapping experience. He is also the owner of Awesome Critter Gitters based in Niles.
The city has asked Scheffield to capture the coyotes alive, and they would like him to use a cage to do so.
But that may not be so easy. Scheffield explains that coyotes are often too smart to fall for a cage trap. “The coyotes have walked up to them, walked around them,” said Scheffield. “They don’t like to be crowded, so it’s really hard to get them inside that cage.”
Scheffield would like to use a non-lethal version of a snare trap called a collarum. The collarum throws a loop over the head of the animal and then draws the cable around the neck of the animal.
Unlike other snares though, the collarum has a safety feature that prevents animals from tightening the cable too much and harming themselves. The relaxing locking mechanism holds the cable in place as if the trapped animal was on a leash.
Scheffield would also like to place his traps in more strategic areas, but he has run into problems with getting permission from land owners to do so.
Currently Scheffield estimates one coyote is frequently hunting along the park’s edge. But he warns, winter is coming and that can make for hungry coyotes. “There’s going to be more. There’s never one coyote. There’s always more behind it,” said Scheffield.
Scheffield offered some tips for if you find yourself crossing paths with a coyote and have a small pet in danger.
First, pick your pet up. Coyotes are deceivingly fast and will snatch a small dog or cat quickly if given the chance.
Second, do not make eye contact with the animal yet and don’t try to run away. If the coyote senses your fear, it may become brave enough to try and take your pet out of your arms.
Third, quickly find something big and heavy to swing at the coyote, only then should you turn to face it.
Finally, once armed, charge the coyote aggressively. Screaming and yelling are encouraged, and don’t stop advancing until the coyote is gone.
Scheffield advised that if faced with more than one coyote, most of the same steps should be followed. However, he suggests also finding an escape route that will allow you to climb out of the coyote’s reach.
Facing several coyotes at once can be an intimidating prospect warned Scheffield. The first step to staying safe is keeping calm.
Michigan Bats Can Have Rabbies, Call A Professional Bat Trapper
Awesome Critter Gitters owner Jim Sheffield says bats are nothing to take lightly. This year alone the St. Joseph County Humane Society reported three bats that tested positive for rabies. One of these cases was reported this week in a Mishawaka home in the Central Park area.
Bats are very dangerous. Probably the common danger is of course them touching you, but the second most common danger I feel is people wanting to release bats. Most people tell us they've had bats inside their home before. The first thing they do is open the doors, turn on the lights and either go outside or hide in a room with the door shut. Soon they reenter the home, no longer see the bat, and assume it flew out. We suggest keeping the doors shut and determining if the bat touched anyone in the home or if a pet touched the bat. Then the bat should be caught and released if there was no contact with human or pet. This way you know for sure the bat was put out of the house and not just hiding, to be mistaken for another bat a day or two later.
Yes, you can still become exposed to the rabies virus even if a bat only touches you so stay clear and call the professional bat service before attempting to remove bats yourself.
If the bat has touched someone or a pet in your home, the pet should be contained and then taken to the local county health department for a rabies test.
Your chances of being bit by a bat are pretty much if you are messing with it, you find an animal down on the ground or find a place that they are roosting and disturb them then the bat is going to bite you.
Now even though Halloween is right around the corner and your kids are safe from ghouls and goblins, you may will want to keep them far away from bats.
