Wildlife in the News 2007

Animal Trapper Joins Hunt for Middletown Coyotes


ABC News Reports on Middletown, NJ Coyotes
When Animals Strike - Coyote Attacks Middletown,NJ Boy

BY NICK CLUNN
MIDDLETOWN, N.J.
Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 06/7/07

MIDDLETOWN — A professional animal trapper has joined an extensive government effort to rid the township of a pack of coyotes blamed for injuring two young children and worrying parents since the first attack two months ago.

Frank Spiecker, president of Harbor Wildlife Control, Inc., set 13 snare traps near the location of the attacks late last week after he was hired by the township to join state and federal efforts to trap and shoot the coyotes.

"Residents are really anxious to get most of them, if not all of them, removed,'' said Spiecker, who has 19 years' experience trapping animals, including coyotes.

The township hired Spiecker because officials were eager to set as many traps as possible, said Township Administrator Robert M. Czech.

More on this story...


NJ Residents Urged to Bear-proof Their Surroundings This Fall.... Full Story
October 7, 2007

The NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife reminds residents living in areas of bear activity to "bear-proof" their homes and surrounding areas throughout the fall season. With cold weather setting in, black bears are becoming more active looking for food in preparation of the winter denning season. This increase in activity can bring bears closer to homes and into backyards and heightens the possibility for human/bear conflicts.


Police Kill Coyote in N.J.

By WAYNE PARRY
MIDDLETOWN, N.J.
May 23, 2007 (AP)

Police shot and killed a coyote Wednesday less than a mile from where a 5-year-old boy was attacked this week but cautioned that at least four others were roaming nearby.

It was not known whether the animal that was killed was the same one that bit Brayden Gazette as he and his sister were playing near their home on Monday.

More on this story...


Second child attacked by coyote in Middletown
May 22, 2007, 11:40 AM EDT

MIDDLETOWN, N.J. -- For the second time in as many months, a coyote has attacked a child here.

Police and state wildlife officials set traps Tuesday morning, and were looking for the animal.

Five-year-old Brayden Gazette and his 8-year-old sister, Sydney, were walking in the street near their home at about 8:30 p.m. Monday when the animal bolted from some nearby woods and bit Brayden on his head.

"He came out so fast I didn't even hear him," Sydney Gazette told radio station WCBS in New York.

Her screams frightened the animal away.

"I would never let anything happen to my little brother," she said Tuesday.

Brayden Gazette suffered injuries to his face and back of his head requiring several stitches, and was released from Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, police Lt. John McGuire said.

Soon after the attack, a coyote was spotted in the same housing development. Police fired a shot and the animal appeared to twitch, but a search found neither a carcass nor a blood trail.

The attack came more than a month after police said a coyote grabbed a toddler who was playing with a young relative in the back yard.

Efforts to catch the coyote in the first attack turned up nothing.

Both attacks were near Naval Weapons Station Earle. Navy personnel are participating in the search.

Residents in that area have reported numerous coyote sightings in recent weeks, and several pets in the area have been killed recently, police said.

The township is some 40 miles southwest of New York City.


Attack on boy fuels fear of coyotes
Wednesday, May 23, 2007 - By JUSTO BAUTISTA and SONI SANGHA
Bergen County Record

In Tenafly, officials at the 120-acre Knickerbocker Country Club hired a "wildlife professional" to trap coyotes that have been intimidating golfers and stealing golf balls, apparently mistaking them for eggs.

In Tenafly, five coyotes call the Tenafly Nature Center, the borough's preserved woodlands, their home.

"I haven't noticed an increase in coyotes, but the number of sightings has increased this year," said Jennifer Kleinbaum, the center's executive director. "Coyotes are a good thing for the environment, if they can support themselves it means the environment is in good enough balance for them to find enough food and for them to be born and to continue living and dying in a natural way."

Limbardo said he doubts the coyotes spotted at the Knickerbocker Country Club are from the nature center. Forty-two of the club's 160 acres are wood-lands.

Trapper Frank Spiecker, owner of Harbor Wildlife Control in Old Bridge, was hired to trap the club's coyotes.

More On This Story .......


Give coyotes a very wide berth
Attack on boy, rise in sightings fuel fear
JUSTO BAUTISTA and SONI SANGHA, STAFF WRITERS Published: May 23, 2007

Residents are being warned to steer clear of coyotes after a spike in sightings in North Jersey and an attack on a 5½-year-old boy in Monmouth County. "You never approach them," Larry Herrighty, chief of wildlife management in the Department of Environmental Protection, said Tuesday. "Stay away."

In Norwood, coyote sightings are so alarming that residents attended a meeting Tuesday night at the Norwood Public School to learn how to deal with the bushy-tailed creatures.

"This is a new problem for us," Mayor Jim Barsa said. "We're hearing more concerns about the coyotes ... and the safety of children in the area."

In Tenafly, officials at the 120-acre Knickerbocker Country Club hired a "wildlife professional" to trap coyotes that have been intimidating golfers and stealing golf balls, apparently mistaking them for eggs.

"It's just an uncomfortable situation, especially for the lady golfers," said Tony Limbardo, the country club president.

Coyotes are now common in the state � there are more than 3,000 living in New Jersey � and have been sighted in 390 of the state's 566 municipalities, Herrighty said.

During the January-February coyote hunting season, hunters killed about 100 coyotes, Herrighty said.

Herrighty called coyote attacks on humans rare, even the though the attack on Brayden Gazette of Middletown was the second attack on a child there in the last month.

Gazette was walking in the street with his 8-year-old sister, Sydney, about 8:30 p.m. Monday when a coyote bolted from nearby woods and bit him on his head. The children ran home. The animal ran off.

The boy was treated at Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank, where he received 46 stitches in the back of the head and two rabies shots.

State wildlife officials set traps, and played recordings of small animals, such as rabbits, hoping to lure the coyote out of the woods, Herrighty said.

Herrighty said police shot at a coyote they spotted but apparently missed. Middletown officials said the coyote looked like a medium-size German shepherd dog, blond to reddish blond with a bushy tail, 4 to 5 feet long and weighing about 45 pounds.

Late Tuesday, police, wildlife officials, even Navy personnel from nearby Naval Weapons Station Earle were participating in the hunt for the coyote.

Norwood has a 116-acre preserve and coyotes have "always been back there," Councilman Barry Scott said.

Tony McBride, a state wildlife biologist dispatched to Middletown, was the main speaker at the Norwood public hearing.

"I've seen them loping across Broadway all the time," said Scott. "What I'm afraid of is what happened in Middletown."

"Coyotes are everywhere," said Jim DeStephano of West Milford, a professional trapper, whose clients are mostly homeowners and owners of corporate office parks.

DeStephano said coyotes have even been spotted living off the shoulder of Route 46 in Fort Lee. Last February, DeStephano said he trapped three coyotes in Wayne.

Hot spots for coyote sightings in Bergen County are Tenafly's woodlands around Route 9W, around lakes in Franklin Lakes and in Ramsey's industrial parks, said trapper Kirk LaPierre.

In Tenafly, five coyotes call the Tenafly Nature Center, the borough's preserved woodlands, their home.

"I haven't noticed an increase in coyotes, but the number of sightings has increased this year," said Jennifer Kleinbaum, the center's executive director. "Coyotes are a good thing for the environment, if they can support themselves it means the environment is in good enough balance for them to find enough food and for them to be born and to continue living and dying in a natural way."

Limbardo said he doubts the coyotes spotted at the Knickerbocker Country Club are from the nature center. Forty-two of the club's 160 acres are wood-lands.

Trapper Frank Spiecker, owner of Harbor Wildlife Control in Old Bridge, was hired to trap the club's coyotes.

"It's a scary thing," Spiecker said as he checked traps on the course's greens. "If he [the coyotes] wanted to run you down, he can. There's nothing to stop him � not a golf club, that's for sure."

It is illegal in New Jersey to trap and release a coyote. A captured coyote will be killed.


Coyote Attacks Toddler in Middletown, NJ
Posted by The Star-Ledger April 09, 2007 3:18PM

A coyote attacked a 20-month-old boy outside a Middletown home Friday night in what authorities are calling the first coyote attack on a human in New Jersey history.

Wildlife authorities have set traps in the township since the toddler was bitten on the head and neck while playing in a back yard on Kings Highway East, township officials said today.

Liam Sadler of Crestview Fla. was treated and released from an area hospital after the coyote tried to drag him away from the yard while he was playing with other children at about 8:15 p.m., according to Township Administrator Robert Czech.

The state Division of Fish and Wildlife was called in Saturday when police, acting on a description of the animal given by witnesses, concluded it was a coyote, possibly one suffering from mange or some other illness.

"It is extremely rare," said Larry Herrighty, chief of the division's Bureau of Wildlife Management. "This coyote was reported to be mangy, which may explain the behavior. It could be that the coyote was very hungry because it's unable to forage normally, so it attacked the child."

The state set several snare-style traps in the area, which is heavily wooded. Authorities said they are hoping to catch the animal, which may be responsible for several other attacks on pets in the area. On about March 28, said Czech, two small dogs were attacked and killed in the township.

Other pets have been reported missing, he said, explaining the problems seem to be restricted to the heavily wooded area around the Earle Naval Weapons Station.

Coyote Trapping Services

Raccoon Attacks Girl, 2, at Backyard Pizza Party in Jefferson
BY MATT MANOCHIO - DAILY RECORD : Tuesday, April 24, 2007


A raccoon like the one pictured here attacked a toddler during a pizza party in Jefferson on Tuesday. Authorities are trying to catch the animal to test it for rabies.

JEFFERSON, NJ -- A 2-year-old Oak Ridge girl was attacked by a raccoon that raided a pizza party around 1 p.m. Tuesday, police said.

"The raccoon has not been captured yet," Sgt. Bill Anderson said. "It's still at large."

The girl, whose identity wasn't released, was scratched on one of her arms during a gathering on the home's deck on 10 Johnson Place, he said.

Anderson said the township's animal control department has set traps for the raccoon in case it returns to the area.

"At this point we're not sure if it was sick," Anderson said. "We think it was just looking for food."

Frank Spiecker, a professional animal trapper with Laurence Harbor-based Harbor Wildlife Control, Inc., said that female raccoons with babies to feed can be seen during the daytime, especially when the weather is warm.

"Aside from that it's not really normal to see them outside during the day," he said. "Since it is spring you will see them more regularly during the day than any other time of the year."

As for the girl's health, Spiecker said a rabies shot is a must.

"If they were my children it would be an automatic," he said. "Even if they catch the raccoon, they can not positively identify it as being that raccoon. I would take the precaution and get the shot."

Rabies, according for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a disease that attacks the central nervous system. It's usually fatal if not treated, but is preventable if vaccination occurs before the onset of symptoms.


Dead turkey found in back yard, no foul play
Wednesday, March 14, 2007
By KIAWANA RICH - ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A wild turkey turned up dead in a Staten Island woman's back yard, but rather than a turkey shoot, it seems death was due to natural causes.

Renee Rampulla of the Dongan Hills section, said an Alter Avenue neighbor alerted her to the turkey carcass Monday night. After the city's 311 help line didn't, she said, she called Harbor Wildlife Control of Old Bridge, N.J., yesterday and owner Frank Spiecker collected the remains last night.

Dead Turkey - Staten Island, NY
Dead Turkey-SI,NY

Spiecker said it appeared the roughly 18-pound turkey met with a quiet end: "It doesn't look like anything happened to it and there were no holes on it."

The possibility that someone might do violence to one of the turkeys that plague residents of Dongan Hills, Ocean Breeze and South Beach isn't exactly far-fetched.

In February, Franklin Piccone of Dongan Hills allegedly loosed a bottle-rocket barrage at a rafter of turkeys. He spent a night in jail and was charged with attempted cruelty to wildlife.

Ms. Rampulla's near neighbors, Dawn Longo and her husband, Ricky, said yesterday they've had enough of the dirty birds. "You can't pull out of your driveway because they are there. Even if you honk the horn, they won't move," said Mrs. Longo. "The turkeys are everywhere. http://blog.silive.com/advanceupdate/2007/03/turkey_trouble.html

 

Serving the Following Counties:
| Middlesex County | Monmouth County | Somerset County | Union County | Warren County |
| Sussex County | Morris County | Essex County | Hudson County | Hunterdon County |
Mercer County and Richmond County (Staten Island), NY