Don't dismiss value of a coyote's life

As suburbia overdevelops and spills into the lush green forest, where Bambi's quiet, peaceful sanctuary once was, solid concrete slabs spread generously with cookie-cutter homes. I wish all I could say was, "Good luck out there, Bambi," but that's just not the case anymore.

Likewise, in recent years coyotes have been spotted lurking in the suburbs, displaced from their former natural environment and wreaking havoc on domestic animals, according to the residents of Cook, Dupage, Lake, Kane, McHenry and Will counties. Yet I am finding it hard to support towns for euthanizing animals being forced to adjust to their surroundings. A coyote has as much a right to life as Lassie or any human being for that matter.

I would like to propose two solutions to this so-called coyote epidemic. First, coyotes have been known to attack small household dogs and cats. Simply keeping a dog on a leash and walking it would prevent numerous attacks since most have occurred in people's backyards. Also, there is the obvious option of not letting your cats roam free.

My second proposal is a humane alternative to trapping and euthanizing the coyotes: Capture and spay or neuter them to keep population level in check, reducing attacks.

Just because humanity has the desire to dominate over all creatures does not allow them to determine what is worthy of life and what should perish. When a person is killing for any reason but for food, he is exhibiting his conceit for natural law. Killing coyotes is the easy and fast solution. It is not fair for residents to attach so much emotion to their household pets when these coyotes are just as intelligent and worthy of life.

Becki Hajduch

Mount Prospect