Wily Coyotes

Workers will remove decoy coyotes placed on Wolf Lake islands after they failed to scare off geese that had been feasting on fresh plantings. The dummy coyotes, however, did fool a lot of passing motorists who called city officials to report what they thought were dogs in dire straits.

"We've been getting calls from neighbors and people driving by, 'There's a dog trapped on the island!' " Hammond Port Authority Director Milan Kruszynski said.

"We'd ask, 'Is the dog moving?' Then they'd go back and check. 'No, maybe they're stuck in the mud.'

" 'Wouldn't you think the dog would try and struggle?' 'I dunno.' "

Kruszynski said the faux coyotes were, in fact, two-dimensional cutouts stuck in the mud by an Army Corps of Engineers contractor as an eco-friendly way to get rid of ducks and geese that would otherwise gobble up seeds and fresh shoots from wetlands plants.
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