A family of coyotes has taken up residence at the Groton, Conn. property over the summer, digging holes in the green, sleeping in sand pits and startling early-morning golfers. Spraying the greens with Tabasco sauce, yelling at the coyotes and applying pest-control substances to the area where they’re digging holes has not helped to this point. Golf Course Superintendent Eric Morrison is now looking into hiring a company to trap them, before they cause more damage to the course.
The coyotes are just part of the landscape at Shennecossett Golf Course in Groton, Conn. now.
A family of coyotes has taken up residence in and around the golf course this summer, digging holes in the green, sleeping in the sand pits and becoming an unsettling presence around early-morning golfers, who now come across the animals on a daily basis, reported theday.com.
“We’ve never seen this many coyotes wandering around the property as I’ve seen this year,” said Tim Sisk, a clerk working at the course’s front desk.
The animals are not deterred by much—flying golf balls, pepper sauce sprayed on the green and attempts by course staff to scare them away by yelling have all gone unnoticed, theday.com reported.
“They’re not afraid of humans,” said Eric Morrison, CGCS, Shennecossett’s Golf Course Superintendent. “They’ll be out here walking around while people are golfing, while they are mowing.”
And they always seem to be around, Morrison added. “They must have a den somewhere,” he said. “Now you can pretty much see them any day or evening.”
The coyotes have so far left golfers alone, preferring to walk around the golf course, keeping their distance from humans, reported theday.com.
“They’re not running away, and they’re not running toward us,” said Dee Pearson, a longtime member at the course and a regular golfer there.
“So far they haven’t bothered us,” added Beverly Napper. “You just wouldn’t want to come on top of them and scare them.”
There could be rabbits and other small animals for the coyotes to hunt at the course, state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) wildlife biologist Chris Vann told theday.com.
“Certainly coyotes may find the golf course productive,” Vann said. “There may be an abundance of prey.”
The department receives about 200 complaints about coyotes a year, usually when a coyote kills another animal or appears ill, reported theday.com.
Though they rarely approach humans, the biggest threat they pose is to small pets—the DEEP received a report of a pet dog killed by a coyote in Groton in August, Vann said.
“They’re certainly an animal to take caution with,” he added.
The most common advice that DEEP officials give is to avoid leaving any food out that might attract animals, to keep small pets on a leash when they’re outside, and to carry an airhorn or pepper spray if they walk in the woods, theday.com reported.
“You want to act aggressive,” Vann said. “Chase it off, pick up a stick.”
Or perhaps a nine iron.
The breeding season for coyotes in Connecticut lasts from January to March, and pups are born in spring in dens that their parents dig or adapt from an abandoned burrow built by other animals, reported theday.com.
The animals, which were not reported in Connecticut until the mid-1950s, have become common throughout the state and comfortable with close interactions with humans.
A persistent coyote created a stir by walking around New London, Conn.’s residential neighborhoods last spring, prompting a public meeting during which many residents called on the city to get rid of the animal, theday.com reported. Coyotes killed at least two small dogs in the city over a few months.
Morrison said he is considering hiring a company to trap the coyotes, especially since they started digging large holes in the green every night.
Vann said he couldn’t determine a reason the coyotes would be digging, guessing that the pups could be practicing building burrows or just playing, reported theday.com.
Morrison has tried spraying the green with Tabasco sauce, yelling at the coyotes and applying pest-control substances to the area where they’re digging holes. “No dice,” he said.
For now, he added, all he can do is fill in the holes with dirt each morning.
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