Cliff the Coyote Captured, Released in Wild

NEWPORT, RI -- Cliff the coyote was captured this morning and relocated in the Rhode Island wild, according to Dr. Scott Marshall, the state veterinarian.

No one knows how the animal will manage in a strange territory, he said. Cliff's special collar was removed this morning, and it will not be possible to track him anymore, he said.

"It will be difficult for him," he predicted. Most likely, Cliff will confront another coyote defending his territory. He may be injured fighting. Or he may even be killed.

Cliff came within a day of being hunted down and destroyed because he'd been deemed a threat to public safety. But a public outcry persuaded Middletown police to rescind a standing order to shoot him.

"No one wants a wild animal to be shot," Marshall said. This outcome is not "a sure death," but "this is far from a happy ending." He called the entire situation "unfortunate" and said the state did consider moving Cliff to a zoo but ultimately felt it was not right to keep a wild animal in a cage.

"We had very few options," he said, " none ideal."

"A zoo was far from an ideal outcome," for an animal used to roaming a 40-mile territory, he said. It would have been "very stressful" for Cliff. Hazing him again was not an option.

"Hazing him didn't work," he said.

He called Cliff's situation "unfortunate" and a result of thoughtless or deliberate human actions, particularly leaving food out, failing to secure garbage cans and dumpsters, and feeding other wildlife.

"This was totally precipitated by people," he said.

Marshall said Numi Mitchell, the biologist with the Narragansett Bay Coyote Study, found the sharpshooter who delivered the tranquilizer this morning. Cliff had eluded a hunter from the state Department of Environmental Management last week.

Mitchell had used a hunter to tranquilize Cliff earlier when she fitted him with a special navigational collar. The collar tracked his movements and allowed her to use him in her research.

Several weeks ago, she concluded Cliff had become habituated to people, posed a public safety threat and would have to be killed.

Almost 40,000 people signed a petition to save him.

Marshall said her data did provide "valuable information." Specifically, it showed how coyotes will change their behavior when they're fed. Typically, these animals are not considered "nuisances" because they roam large areas hunting rabbits, woodchucks and other small animals. Normally, they're not in one place for very long, and they stay away from humans,

But coyotes will start to "resource guard" and stay in a small area to defend a food source.

That's when they become nuisances, he said.

Marshall said people should enjoy wildlife "from afar" and not feed them.

Photo courtesy: Tracy Donovan O'Malley