On a chilly January evening, a coyote managed to run past security guards into the Nashville Music City Center. Employees were able to confine the coyote to a restroom.
This coyote may not have been very wily, but he sure was lucky. Most coyotes in a situation like this would be euthanized, but fortunately the police officer who arrived on the scene, Brenna Hosey, cares deeply about animals. "I noticed how terrified he was and that bothered me," she said.
Using catch poles, Hosey and some animal control officers led the coyote to her patrol car and put him in the back seat. Hosey drove the coyote to a wooded area and released him.
Coyotes naturally avoid people, so how did one end up inside a noisy convention center? "He's a wild animal whose habitat is the woods, but Nashville is slowly moving out and some of those woods are being taken away," Hosey explained.
It's not just development in Nashville that has caused coyotes to lose their habitat. For the same reason, coyotes are now a common sight in cities like Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco. While many cities have coyote management plans with steps for peaceful coexistence with these animals, one L.A. town recently approved cruelly trapping and killing them, although facts show this does little to reduce coyote populations.
One way to help prevent this problem would be for cities like Nashvile to slow down development so coyotes can continue to peacefully exist in their own natural habitat. Please sign and share this petition urging Nashville city officials to curb development to protect its wildlife.
Photo credit: Metropolitan Nashville Police Department/Facebook
