Geneva may not use paintballs on coyotes after all
You won't find the word “paintball” any more in Geneva's new plan for dealing with coyotes.
Language suggesting police or trained volunteers could shoot paintballs and copper balls to chase away the furry canids was removed from the final version of the coyote management plan the city council adopted Monday.
It was removed because people were confused about it, thinking it meant individuals could shoot coyotes with paintballs and copper pellets, city administrator Mary McKittrick told the council.
The draft plan the committee of the whole recommended March 9 said that using police officers or volunteers to haze coyotes with paintballs could be one way of dealing with especially aggressive coyotes. Those coyotes were defined in the plan as those that had attacked attended pets or attacked humans.
Now the plan merely states that if those things happen, the city may “implement high-intensity hazing techniques by trained personnel.” The new version adds two types of hazing to the list of things found effective elsewhere to chasing off coyotes: throwing rocks or golf balls at them, and “aggressive hazing.”
“This type of hazing, which would be carried out by trained personnel, may be considered in order to address more egregious coyote-related incidents and/or coyote attacks that occur. The most appropriate and effective methods of aggressive hazing, as well as who would employ the aggressive hazing, would be determined on a case to case basis,” the plan states.
The city has hired representatives of the Humane Society of the United States to teach residents about coyotes, including how to haze them. To sign up for the March 30 program, visit the coyote page on the city's website, geneva.il.us.
Also, a spokesman for the Humane Society said last week that it was the city's choice to limit the training to 50 people, not the society's, as McKittrick had said March 9.