Coyotes a howling success at college

By Tom Dalton
Staff writer

August 28, 2008 06:09 am

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SALEM — There is no truth to the rumor that Salem State College is dumping the Viking as the school mascot and replacing it with the coyote.

But it's hard to tell from a visit to the college's central campus.

There are coyotes everywhere. They are guarding the door to the Enterprise Center, standing on a grassy slope behind the Bertolon School of Business and howling at the moon along a path leading to a residence hall.

Of course, they are fake coyotes made of plastic, put there to scare away the Canada geese who have been fouling the college green. But they look real.

"From far away, it looks pretty scary, especially at night," said senior Rebecca Frempong as she walked past the coyotes yesterday.

Since the coyotes appeared about two weeks ago, there have been reports of nervous staff members scurrying to their cars and of dog walkers struggling to control their frightened pets.

"When some of our staff came back from their vacations, they actually (sat) in their cars and thought they needed to call public safety to report a wild animal," said Mathew Chetnik, the associate director for residence life.

The coyotes have done such a good job that, for two weeks, nobody has seen a goose, sea gull or bird of any kind.

"They work 100 percent," said Cathy Julien, the operations manager at the Enterprise Center. "There has not been one goose."

That's a good thing on this college campus, where goose droppings got so numerous that they were curtailing Frisbee games and making students think twice about sunning on the grass. At times, there were as many as 50 to 100 Canada geese on the long lawn of central campus, officials said.

The coyote look-alikes — actually three coyotes and one fox — are not the first solution the college has tried. It's just the best.

"Last year, I went to a local barbershop and got human hair," said Tony DiNuzzo, the assistant director of residential life in charge of facilities. "(But) once it rained, you had to re-bait, if you will."

That wasn't the only trick up DiNuzzo's sleeve — so to speak.

"One time, I tried deer urine," he said. "You can get that at the local landscaping company."

DiNuzzo said he doesn't deserve credit for the coyotes. That goes to Nick Butler of Butler Tree Landscape Design of Peabody. But the college had a role to play.

"The only thing we needed to do is move them around," DiNuzzo said.

Despite the coyotes' wild success, their days appear numbered. In fact, they will be gone by the time students arrive for classes next week. There appears to be some concern that the college students will make the coyotes as scarce as the coyotes made the geese.

"There is a fear the coyotes will end up in a dorm room," said college spokeswoman Margo Steiner.

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