NOREEN: Wipe out coyotes? Good luck with that

Yep, we have a lot of varmints in Colorado Springs.

But the good thing is we also have plenty of varmintalists to protect us from all those dangerous critters -- if the City Council would just let them do it.

Inexplicably, City Hall decided Monday to continue exposing us all to the lethal coyote scourge that holds Rustic Hills and other neighborhoods in its deadly grip. That's right: Given the chance to allow roaming anti-canine vigilantes to wander through our streets from sundown to 4 a.m. shooting at coyotes with rifles in the dark, the council played it safe.

That means we all must endure coyotes in our midst -- as has been the case as long as humans have inhabited North America.

"They are in a pack around my house," said Rustic Hills resident Roy Thompson, "I almost feel like I am being stalked by these animals. They've killed all the foxes. It's going to be people next."

Well, coyotes occasionally bite people, but serious injuries or deaths are very rare. A Colorado Springs resident is much more likely to be killed by a fellow citizen, as witnessed by the 15 homicides recorded so far this year. It's not hard to imagine humans getting shot by free-wheeling coyote hunters.

Coyotes are more likely to devour a cat or a dog, but it is not City Hall's duty to make the world safe for poodles.

The coyote make-my-day-law was suggested by another Rustic Hills resident, former City Councilwoman Margaret Radford, the term-limited council member who left office in April.

Deputy Police Chief Ron Gibson diplomatically raised questions about training levels for licensees and how to handle neighborhood complaints about guns going off near the beds of sleeping children. By Monday, it was evident several council members didn't care for Radford's idea. Vice Mayor Larry Small weighed in with the voice of reason.

"We live in an urban-wildland interface," Small said, "and we're going to have to learn to live with it."

Councilman Jerry Heimlicher went a tad further, saying the coyote proposal "looked like a solution looking for a problem."

Thompson believes a determined effort could eliminate all the coyotes, but a quick review of the history of the West contradicts that view. Every state, including Colorado, offered coyote bounties for decades and to this day, coyotes are classified as varmints that can be shot anytime without a license outside the city limits.

Truth is, coyotes are one of the toughest, smartest, most adaptable creatures on Earth. With billions of dollars and the full backing of the Pentagon, coyotes couldn't be wiped out.

Any coyote-hunting program "can't be perceived as eradication," said Shaun Deeney, a Colorado Springs-based supervisor for the Colorado Division of Wildlife. "You can't go out and kill them all." Darn.

It looks like those varmintalists won't get their way this time.

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