A SAD WAY TO END

This post concerns a local Toronto story that may or not have spread beyond the city.

Toronto has a very active coyote population. I have seen several of them over the years. There is a large clan out by the airport and, naturally, in large urban green spaces like High Park and Earl Bales Park. But they are spread out all over the city.

Cabbagetown is a densely populated urban neighbourhood where recently a lone coyote has been making the rounds. There are some parks there but nothing like High Park or even the big ravine parks around my house. If a coyote came, and then decided to linger, there must be a reason. They are opportunistic omnivores .. yeh, someone was feeding it, intentionally or not.

So people were concerned that this wild animal was hanging around. I can't blame them, I would not be comfortable with letting Terra out in the yard at night .. oh wait, I don't let her out in the yard at night. My main fear is skunks but the point is: There be varmits out there.

I'd also be concerned for the coyote, Cabbage town has a lot of traffic.

So people were freaking. Wild animal in the streets. What should they do .. Humane Society, Animal Control, SPCA .. .no, let's call the cops.

That's right, the cops. Because the police are specifically trained to deal with wildife in an urban environment ... oh wait, they so are not

Two nights ago City TV was down there interviewing one of these cops when the reporter (the reporter mind you, not the cop) noticed said coyote about 14 feet away from here. It's all on tape. The coyote was there, not concerned with them or the traffic, just very casual and not stressed. Cops moved forward and coyote moved away from them .. please not this, he moved away from the humans, not towards them.

The tape then cuts to one of the most extraordinary scenes I've ever witnessed: In the middle of city streets, with cars all around, a cop is in a Weaver stance, knees bent, his 9 mm semi automatic pistol in his hands, taking a shot at the coyote

He shot at the coyote, in full darkness, with a 9 mm pistol ...

He missed. Gosh, you think.

There was a car not more than six feet away from him and Dirty Harry decides it's a perfect idea to take a pot shot at a wild animal

So the coyote bolts into a nearby park. Off camera, the cop calls for backup .. not Animal Control, but more cops. They chase the coyote into a park. And still off camera they shoot it. And kill it

The reasoning is that they needed to put down this "aggressive" animal. I saw this thing on tape. With people all around, camera lights, cops walking towards it, it seemed quite calm and just moved slowly away. Not what I call aggression

Why didn't the cops call for Animal Control? There was not time, this beast was so "aggressive" they couldn't call in actual trained professionals .. oh but wait, they did call in other cops.

As far as I know, this animal had not killed another animal, it had never confronted a human, but it had to be gunned down like Dillinger leaving a movie theatre.

It's sad on many levels.

Sad that people more than likely created a situation that screamed to this coyote "All You Can Eat Buffet" Sad that their reaction was to call the cops as if this was not a wild animal but a criminal. Sad that the cops didn't seem to have the self awareness to understand that this particular case was beyond their skill set.

And sad that the cops, when presented with an unfamiliar situation, shot first.

I wish I had not seen this story on TV. I saw the animal. I saw how it was behaving. I saw a law enforcement officer who is supposed to protect us, take a gun stance and shoot into the darkness

I've seen our urban coyotes with my own eyes, they always seem well adapted to their environ. They are beautiful, they always seemed to have this attitude like "Hey don't mind me, you go your way and I'll go my way"

I'm mad about this whole thing

But mostly I'm just sad