Sanctuary or stay? Experts, activists differ on care of coyote at Northbrook nature center

The 4-year old male coyote residing in a 266-square foot enclosure as part of the Cook County Forest Preserve's Ambassador Animal program at the River Trail Nature Center in Northbrook is scheduled to be moved to a space nearly 10 times as large, but that plan doesn't seem adequate to animal-rights activists who, instead, want him moved to a Colorado wildlife sanctuary.

Named Rocky by those concerned by his plight, the neutered male coyote was mistaken for a German shepherd puppy in 2018 when he was found in Tennessee. Rocky was so young his eyes weren't even open yet; he spent several weeks in an animal shelter for cats and dogs, according to a January Facebook post by the forest preserve district. Not realizing he was a wild animal, staff members at the Tennessee shelter socialized him so he could be adopted.

After it was learned that he was, in fact, a coyote, an animal rehabilitator in Tennessee worked with Rocky for several weeks, the post says, to prepare him for release. However, an evaluation by the rehabilitator and a veterinarian at the time reported he had been imprinted by humans and couldn't be released into the wild, as he not only didn't fear humans, but he depended on them for survival.

Rocky was then moved to the River Trail Nature Center and has lived there ever since.

There are similar enclosures near the coyote's where injured birds of prey that could not survive in wild reside.

A 41-page review of the Ambassador Animal program was presented the Cook County Board of Commissioners this summer. The purpose of the Ambassador Animal Program is to teach people about wildlife native to Cook County and promote coexistence between humans and wildlife. The USDA inspects the Animal Ambassador program, and other permit holders, regularly, the report says.

But when Northbrook resident Nicole Milan visited the nature center late last year, she noticed the coyote's behavior, including pacing, and raised concerns over his welfare. Based on information from biologists and veterinarians familiar with coyotes, she has since attempted to have him relocated to The Wild Animal Sanctuary in Keenesburg, Colorado. Her efforts and those of others, however, have met with resistance from the forest preserve, which runs the River Trail Nature Center.

Since Milan brought attention to the issue last year, forest preserve officials decided to build a new 2,500-square foot open-air enclosure, said Carl Vogel, director of communications. Construction for the new enclosure is scheduled to take place this year, but work has not started.

"They are building a larger, inadequate, inferior enclosure," Milan said. "It still faces the parking lot, (with) crowd noise. It isn't big enough at all.

"The whole (Ambassador Animal) program there, it's an old-fashioned, dated, antiquated way to view animals. We're going to keep fighting to have Rocky released to an animal sanctuary and stop this practice."

Milan provided information via email, presented in a question-and-answer format, from The Wild Animal Sanctuary, regarding the 12 coyotes currently residing there on three habitats of 3.1, 1.5 and 0.25 acres. For comparison, that's roughly 135,000, 65,000, and 11,000 square feet, respectively. Six coyotes live on the largest habitat; three each live on the smaller ones.

But Dr. Jamie Abete of Niles Animal Hospital and Bird Medical Center, the coyote's current veterinarian, said in an email that it would be harmful to move the coyote.

"He is ill-equipped to interact with other coyotes and would likely be a social outcast, which would jeopardize both his safety and welfare," she wrote. "It would be detrimental for this coyote's health to be placed with other coyotes and be taken away from his caretakers."

Forest preserve officials had two independent experts observe the coyote, and their findings were included in the appendix of the review presented this summer: Dr. Alisa Kubala, a veterinarian and a Ph.D. candidate in conservation medicine who works with the Veterinary Emergency Group in Chicago, and Dr. Edgar Garrett, a veterinarian, clinician, and a professor at the University of Illinois Veterinary Hospital in Urbana.

Kubala noted that the size of the enclosure must be improved, and that "animals should be displayed in exhibits replicating the wild habitat and in numbers sufficient to meet their social and behavioral needs."

She also stated that coyotes are typically social animals, living in packs of varying size - though some are solitary, typically when transitory.

"Display of single specimens should be avoided unless biologically correct for the species involved," she said.

In addition, the report noted that a large canid, such as a coyote, should be displayed in an enclosure that is at least 5,000 square feet and be provided with multiple places to hide within the enclosure to escape or cope with any unexpected loud noises.

During her observation, Kubala said she saw wild genotype behaviors including natural neophobia, expressed as fear of/aggression toward new people, that the coyote snarled and growled as she approached, as well as a strong prey drive when he saw children running by his enclosure (a fence separates the public from the enclosure) and food aggression toward his keeper.

"The tendency of his keeper was to 'play down' the natural wild behaviors of the coyote," she said.

While the size of the current enclosure is adequate, there would be advantages to increasing its size, the U of I's Dr. Garrett said.

"Additional size would allow the coyote more room to move about and for additional structures to provide visual barriers for a sense of privacy for the coyote," he said.

Garrett said he had no concerns about the coyote's mental status.

"The coyote's mental well-being is a high priority among the staff. Two feeding periods each day are coupled with interactions with the keepers," Garrett said. "During my observations, the coyote responded to keepers in a positive manner and seemed to thoroughly enjoy interacting with the keepers."

Vogel said the coyote is safe and healthy and not stressed, adding that Rocky will not be moved to the Colorado sanctuary, stressing that the forest preserve district soon will construct the larger enclosure.

"It has been here its whole life, except for the first few months," Vogel said. "Keeping the coyote at River Trail is a decision we've made."

Irene Sewell of Glenview, who is a member of the Chicago Alliance for Animals, has also sought to have the coyote relocated to the Colorado Sanctuary. She said the coyote has been treated like a dog, rather than a wild animal, because he was thought to be a dog at the beginning.

"It's just a sad state of affairs because humans did him wrong in the beginning, and now continue to do so, when it can be easily fixed," Sewell said. "They would be heroes if they surrendered him."