Carl
the coyote roamed San Francisco's Golden Gate Park,
becoming beloved by local residents. Over the course of
6 years, Carl became familiar with the city and grew to
see its many parks as home. After all, there
aren't many places in the crowded Bay Area where coyotes
like him can live. He was friendly and
comfortable being out-and-about in public. But authorities grew wary of
Carl. And then, one summer, they shot him
dead.
The
only thing Carl did "wrong" was adapt to his
environment. Humans created a city, and
surrounded it with suburbs, and left coyotes
like him with nowhere to go. His crime was
learning to adjust and get comfortable. After
Carl became a new parent, having fathered a litter of
his own pups, officials used that to their
advantage. One evening, after the botanical
gardens near his den had closed and visitors had
dispersed, they played a recording that mimicked the
sounds of coyote pups crying out in anguish. Carl came
to investigate, in case one of the pups was his own.
Instead, he met a bullet.
Agents shot and killed him on sight.
According
to a spokesperson for the San Francisco Animal Care and
Control, "It was heartbreaking for everyone involved. No
one wanted this to happen." Unfortunately, under
California state law, agents are not allowed to relocate
coyotes. So even though Carl and his family
might have enjoyed a peaceful existence in a more wild,
rural area, far away from people, they couldn't get that
chance. California authorities must change this
law, in order to spare other animals this same cruel
fate. Sign the petition to
demand that California lawmakers allow animal control
officials to employ non-lethal methods to deal with
urban wildlife, including by relocating them to safer
homes!
