Coyote in Hallandale Beach
This week we had some excitement as we became the most recent City in Broward County to have a sighting of a coyote.
Please read and follow the following advice from the experts at the South Florida Wildlife Center about feeding wildlife so we can do our best to avoid coyote issues as a City:
"South Florida is a unique place where people from all over prosper as do the many species of animals who called it home first. As the population of humans continues to grow, we find ourselves living amongst our wild neighbors and wanting to find a way to help them since they are so curious and interested in the things we do. Wildlife however is designed to live in these natural environments and have been instilled with ways to hunt, forage, confine to their social standards and find refuge when they need to rest or find a safe place to hide. When people intervene with these natural instincts is when wildlife finds itself in danger. Wild animals who are accustomed to being fed will not develop essential survival skills and are poorly equipped to find basic necessities like food, water, and shelter. The food that humans often feed to wild animals, like bread, is actually nutritionally poor and can cause severe health issues for animals including physical deformities. Nature, however, contains a perfect assortment of nutrient-rich foods for wild animals. Without the presence of handouts, animals will not starve but rather thrive on a natural diet like they are meant to. Feeding wildlife and desensitizing animals to be fearless of humans and approach people for food, are sometimes mistaken as rabid or aggressive, then killed for that behavior. Wild animals who are accustomed to being fed cluster unnaturally and become vulnerable to highly contagious and often deadly diseases. Diseases like distemper, rabies, botulism, salmonella, trichomoniasis, and pox can quickly wipe out hundreds of animals. Diseases caused by unsanitary bird feeders kill thousands of birds, squirrels, reptiles, and other animals every year. The best thing you can do to ensure the health and wellbeing of wild animals is to avoid feeding them and to observe and appreciate them from a safe distance. If you enjoy watching wildlife, there are many local parks where you can observe hundreds of species of wildlife in their natural habitats. If you are looking for another way to get closer to wildlife, please consider volunteering with the South Florida Wildlife Center in Fort Lauderdale. Please share this information with your family, friends, and neighbors. Thank you for helping to keep our local wildlife safe and wild!" - Carolina Segarra from the South Florida Wildlife Center