Coyote Management Plan Proposed for San Francisco
The Animal Control & Welfare Commission is investigating the idea of developing a Coyote Management Plan for the city of San Francisco. Sally Stephens, a director on the Commission, has proposed a combination of education and management that includes online mapping of coyote sightings and a plan to coordinate the city’s response to the presence of coyotes. There have been repeated recent sightings of coyotes in The Presidio, Golden Gate Park, Bernal Heights, Glen Canyon Park, Diamond Heights, Twin Peaks, McLaren Park, and Lake Merced.
The incident that sparked serious discussion about coyotes in the city happened in 2007 when officers from the California Department of Fish and Game shot two coyotes in Golden Gate Park after the animals defended their den from an off-leash dog. An incident in the Presidio resulted in officers shooting another coyote.
Stephens’ proposal aims to standardize the official response to the presence of coyotes and to educate citizens about how to handle coyote encounters. Many other cities have developed Coyote Management Plans that include educational outreach in their communities, standards for reporting sightings, and training in proper management techniques. Stephens has worked with Project Coyote, a nonprofit that helps communities co-exist with coyotes. The group intends to testify before the Commission and give advise on plans that have worked elsewhere.
Dog TV Launches a Canine Cable Network
The new cable channel Dog TV premiered last February in San Diego, playing to a test market of about 1 million cable subscribers. Dog TV’s Israeli production company the Jasmine Group hopes to expand the channel across the United States by the end of the year. What will you and your dog see when you tune in to Dog TV? You’ll notice right away that the colors seem off because they are tuned for dogs’ eyes, which only pick up shades of blue and yellow. Because the station is meant to be soothing and to ease a dog’s anxiety, you won’t hear much barking. There are long shots of dogs playing in fields to the strains of veterinarian-approved music that is soothing and mellow. The goal is not to create something for dogs to focus on directly but rather to provide a comforting backdrop of sounds and images with nothing to irritate or stress canine family members. Currently the channel costs $4.99 a month.
Dog Art Fetches Record Prices
“Dogs in Show & Field: The Fine Art Sale” is an art auction held annually to coincide with the Westminster Dog Show. Bonahms, a long-standing English auction house, moved the canine-themed art sale to New York thirteen years ago, and both the auction and the preview brunch, called Barkfest, are now stalwarts of the Westminster scene. Bidders vie for art in person, online, and over the phone from all over the world.
“This was the best sale we have had in years and I am delighted with the results,” said Bonhams’ director Alan Fausel. “The dog art market is certainly turning a corner.” This year price records were broken when a painting by William Henry Hamilton Trood (1860-1899) sold for $212,500. The painting “Hounds in a Kennel” depicts a group of dogs fixedly staring at a small bird just outside their reach.
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