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No wolves means surging coyote population

Darryl Fears in the Washington
Post
reports:

“On a cold, miserable morning in May, Stan Gehrt trod
across an open field as wind and rain blew in his face. He was leading a team
of wildlife biologists on a mission to find an animal with a gift for not being
seen.

“The team didn’t have to travel far from its
headquarters for the search. A female coyote had made a den within sight of
Chicago’s skyline. They were only “about five kilometers” from America’s
busiest airport, O’Hare International, Gehrt said as he advanced toward the
den, wind howling through his cellphone microphone during an interview.

“Like every state east of the Mississippi, Illinois is
worried about its growing population of city-slicker coyotes. The animals
surged from their original habitat in the West after what many now consider a
colossal mistake — government-sanctioned predator removal programs that
virtually wiped out red and gray wolves.

Read it all here