Web form helps monitor coyote population

Mass Innovations, From The Beacon, January 2012

A simple online form is helping Belmont get a better read on the town’s coyote population – information that Animal Control Officer John Maguranis says can help coyotes and humans coexist.

Residents who encounter coyotes are encouraged to go to the town website (www.town.belmont.ma.us) and click on the link for “Animal Control Officer,” then open a form titled “Report a Coyote Sighting.”

The form, the template of which was developed by the Arlington-based company PeopleGIS, asks for information about the coyote’s location, as well as the date and the time of the sighting. In some cases, people provide street addresses, but the form also includes a town map that enables users to indicate estimated locations. Space also is provided for written comments.

Since the survey form was posted on the Belmont website in May, dozens of coyote sightings have been documented. The sightings are mapped on the animal control officer’s webpage, with coyote icons marking each one.

Because individual coyotes may be reported more than once, Maguranis said the number of icons may be higher than the actual population. But he said that the pattern of sightings gives the town a better sense of where – and when – coyotes are likely to be encountered.

If, for example, data indicate that most sightings are in the late afternoon, “6 o’clock is probably not a good time to let your cat out,” Maguranis said.

There have been fewer than five documented coyote attacks on humans in Massachusetts over the past five decades, according to the Department of Wildlife. MassWildlife also cites a number of benefits associated with coyotes, including keeping the rodent population under control. The extermination of coyotes is allowed only in specific circumstances.

Belmont’s coyote-tracking website caught the attention of Michele Grzenda, the conservation administrator in Weston. In October, Grzenda launched a similar project in Weston to track deer sightings. By early December, she said, more than 200 sightings had been reported.

Maguranis, who also serves as Belmont’s veterans agent, said he first worked with the town’s GIS system as part of a project to map veterans’ graves. That project led him to ask Belmont’s GIS coordinator, Todd Consentino, whether it would be practical to map coyote sightings.

“Within a day, we had it up and running,” Consentino said.

Because Belmont had already purchased a license to use the PeopleGIS template, there was no cost to the town for creating the survey form. Belmont, Consentino said, paid roughly $8,000 for the one-time license and maintenance fee.

Consentino described the coyote-tracking form as an example of “shareware” – applications that can be used by any city or town that has purchased a license from PeopleGIS. He noted, for example, that Weston could deploy Belmont’s coyote-tracking form, and Belmont could make use of Weston’s deer-tracking form, without incurring additional costs.

For more information, contact Todd Consentino at (617) 993-2750.