Coyote problem persists on Aquidneck Island

July 22, 2016 6:25 pm

By Bianca Buono

bbuono@abc6.com

@BBuonoABC6

The coyote problem on Aquidneck Island isn’t going away. In fact, it’s stepped up a notch. They’re getting brazen now and aren’t afraid of getting close to people. A group is working to re-instill a natural fear of humans in the animals.

The Narragansett Bay Coyote Study has been tracking multiple coyotes and they’ve found that one in particular has been getting dangerously close to humans. It’s name is Cliff because it was first spotted on Cliff Drive in Newport, only a block away from the famous Cliff Walk. It has since been spotted all over the island, including at J-A-M Construction on Aquidneck Avenue and casually sitting on neighborhood lawns.

They’ve been tracking it, along with other coyotes, and say based on its recent behavior, it’s becoming too comfortable around humans and busy streets. Most recently, it brushed up against a runner in broad daylight.

"It’s almost as it this animal feels like it’s part of the community,” said Numi Mitchell, who leads the coyote study.

Now, she is forced to try and scare it away. She and a partner used a tactic referred to as ACT, or Aversive Coyote Tactics. They try to reset the habitual fear coyotes should have for humans by shooting it with nonlethal rubber bullets and yelling at it.

Mitchell says the reason why the animal has become so comfortable is clear: people are feeding it, which is against the law.

The coyote is one of several who reside in a Middletown neighborhood. Mitchell says if people continue to feed it, the others may start to approach humans as well.

Mitchell says if the problem persists, the animal will be shot. For more information, you can head to www.coyotesmarts.org.