Coyote Ugh-ly

Coyote at Holy Cross cemetery, Colma

Coyotes are neither threatened nor endangered, but there is an ethic against killing them despite their increasing encroachment on human habitats. And thus far evidence of coyotes attacking pets or children is anecdotal and has not prompted widespread corrective measures.

Nevertheless, here's another report that is potentially disturbing.

On a weekend visit to her mother’s grave at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, Erin Haley found herself staring out the passenger’s side window of her car, trying to make sense of the scene unfolding near one of the headstones.

There, in broad daylight, was a coyote digging into the soft soil next to one of the markers. Occasionally, the canine would stop what it was doing, startled by a squawking crow or a passing car. Then, it would return its attention to the ground, continuing to sift through the dirt.

...but it’s unlikely the coyote had morbid intentions. Peter Marlow, communications director at the Archdiocese of San Francisco, which oversees the cemetery, told SFGATE its maintenance team has noticed gophers and ground squirrels running around in the area, which in turn draw coyotes that like to chase and hunt them down.

Marlow said the maintenance team has “a process” for removing the rodents and has already refilled the hole in the ground dug up by the coyote.

“We realize how disturbing this looks, but we want to reassure people that the State code governing depth of burials helps protect their loved ones, as do the concrete burial vaults that are used to protect the caskets,” he said in an email.

Wildlife experts say that coyotes' likely targets are burrowing rodents, not human remains that are probably too much work to dig up. However, as we have seen so far this century, the science is rarely settled.