Geauga Park District Coyote Policy in the Works
Geauga Park District officials have been asked to develop a plan to deal with aggressive coyotes that could attack visitors walking their dogs…
Geauga Park District officials have been asked to develop a plan to deal with aggressive coyotes that could attack visitors walking their dogs in parks.
The issue arose during last Tuesday’s park board meeting when Commissioner Mike Petruziello suggested aggressive coyotes be killed if they attack people, especially children, strolling through a park.
Although fellow commissioners Nick Fischbach and Jim Patterson did not concur with Petruziello’s recomm-endation, park district Executive Director Tom Curtin said he would ask his staff to develop a policy that could be implemented with commissioners’ consent as soon as possible.
Waiting to formally approve a policy at the April park board meeting would be fruitless because coyotes are breeding now, Curtin added.
The concern over a possible coyote attack was spurred by an incident that occurred in April 2012 when a woman and her dog had a close encounter with a coyote while walking on a trail in Frohring Meadows Park in Bainbridge Township.
Coyotes usually are not aggressive, except when they feel passersby or dogs might threaten their offspring, Curtin said.
“Park visitors walking their dogs need to keep them on a leash at all times, not just now,” said Curtin.
There have been a few human-coyote interactions in several other parks. This prompted park district officials last year to place signs warning visitors of possible coyote activity.
Regardless, people in Frohring Meadows and other county parks need to be cautious when walking in wooded or open areas for the next few weeks, Curtin said.
The park commissioners also approved four of five research grants sought by wildlife and plant researchers in Northeast Ohio.
The award of the grants was tabled at February’s park board meeting after Petruziello and Fischbach had a disagreement about the grants and Patterson was unavailable to break a split vote.
Last Tuesday, however, Patterson said he supported research grants.
“This is part of the universe in which we sit as park board members — conserving, protecting and educating these treasurers, if you will,” he said. “It just seems to me that part of the universe we operate in is to do things like this.”
Several residents also spoke in favor of the research grants at the start of the March 12 board meeting.
Petruziello did not sway from his contention that research grants should be offered to area school districts to help further students’ biological and environmental studies.
“This is taxpayer money that should be available to local people,” he argued.
Curtin, however, said county school districts usually don’t have research knowledge or the capability of the five grant applicant groups, some of which are doing research in connection with Ohio universities and colleges.
In addition, no area school districts have expressed interest in conducting research, some of which is suggested by park district naturalists, Curtin and park staff members said.
Fischbach requested a vote on each grant rather than a vote on all five.
The only grant not approved: a $2,987.53 grant request from Meghan D. Kelley of the John Carroll University Biology Department to study natural predation on nests of painted turtles.
Spotted turtles are protected in the park district’s The Rookery by killing or capturing raccoons that prey on their eggs.
Fischbach and Petruziello voted against the grant.
Four other research projects — each for $3,000 — were approved in split 2-1 votes, with Petruziello voting against giving grants to:
Larry Rosche of Brady Lake, Judy Semroc of Uniontown, Jonathan White of Burton and Kim Hall of Shaker Heights.
They plan to take an inventory of the flora and fauna of the prairie meadow at Frohring Meadows Park in Bainbridge.
Jennifer Clark of the Hiram College Biology Department. She plans to conduct an amphibian survey for inventorying and monitoring in wetlands, streams and woodlands in the parks.
Tara B. Buk of Lakewood, to study gene flow patterns in the population of Five Line Skinks, a type of lizard found in the park district.
The purpose of the project is to determine if this rare lizard can survive on its own as part of a larger network of subpopulations or if it is likely to become extinct.
Steven Corso of Chardon to study pawpaw trees in park district forests and to collect data to identify species associated with pawpaw trees.
