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(Editor’s note: This article includes a correction that misidentified Norm Barony in Thursday’s print edition of the Mirror.)
TYRONE – Two captive coyote pups that had Snyder Township residents voicing concerns at a Monday supervisor’s meeting are now dead, but the controversy surrounding these canines survives, as those close to the pups allege things said at the meeting were not truthful.
About a dozen concerned Vail residents attended Monday’s meeting to voice worries that one of their neighbors was housing infant coyotes at a residence along Pine Street.
“We as a community are very concerned because we have small children,” resident Norm Barony said, explaining neighbors feared the coyotes might harm children or household pets. “We can’t have these predators in our neighborhood.”
Several other neighbors, including John Speck and Barony’s wife, Marianne, said they saw the coyotes roaming loose. Speck alleged he heard one killed a chicken.
These were the claims Emily Reese, the coyotes’ owner, said were false before condemning the other residents as “angry lying neighbors.”
“These were pups,” Reese said. “They were penned; they never killed any chickens; they never left the yard. It was all a lie.”
Reese said she got the pups as a rescue to ensure they were not euthanized. She said she was unaware that their presence was such a disturbance in the neighborhood.
“They only ever talked to me once about the coyotes,” she said. “We were trying to rescue the puppies and do the right thing for them.”
At the meeting Speck said he called the Game Commission, and the animals were removed from the property. However, a few weeks later they were returned. This peeved residents who questioned why.
On Wednesday, wildlife conservation officer William Brehun said the animals were initially removed because Reese did not have a permit to house them.
“I confiscated the coyotes and took them to a place where they are legally allowed to be,” he said.
But Reese was seeking the permit, Brehun said, explaining that approach was fine as long as it was done by the book.
One stipulation in obtaining the permit requires supervisors to sign off on it via a letter – an act supervisors said Monday would not be possible because no exotic animal ordinance exists within the township.
However, residents claimed Reese said she attained such a letter, allowing her to receive the permit. Reese confirmed this, explaining two of the three supervisors signed off on it.
Despite supervisors denying this approval at their meeting, Brehun said the Game Commission received a letter OK’ing the permit. That’s why the coyotes were returned, he said.
“I can furnish a copy of the letter from the township that I got from her,” Brehun said.
Supervisor Robert Nelson, during a Wednesday phone conversation, said supervisors “had signed something.”
Because no exotic animal ordinance exists, Nelson said his understanding was the township was not able to make a determination disallowing or allowing the pet coyotes.
Supervisors’ Chairman Charles Diehl said the only way a letter could have been sent was by mistake. He said a decision like that would have to be made at a public meeting – it was not.
“It was brought up, and I had said that if it was brought to a meeting, I’d vote no, definitely,” he said. “If something happened and someone was injured, the township would be liable.”
Brehun said he is skeptical about claims residents made about the animals roaming free and killing chickens.
He said the permit mandates that coyotes be housed 100 percent of the time, and he personally inspected the Pine Street enclosure.
“It was fenced on all four sides,” he said. “There was no way for these coyotes to escape. They were really tiny.”
Brehun estimated he received six or seven complaints from neighbors. He said each time he explained the laws and regulation, which he believes were followed.
At the Monday meeting, supervisors asked their solicitor David Pertile to send a letter to the Game Commission, informing it of the lack of a township ordinance, in hopes that the permit would be revoked.
Pertile said he sent a letter laying out the facts.
“It’s not our rule to allow or disallow this type of thing,” he said. “That’s the Game Commission’s responsibility.”
Now, it seems the results of that letter will matter less because both pups died. Brehun said both were dead by Tuesday, and he suspects foul play.
“Monday morning one was dead, and the second was very sick,” he said. “It died Tuesday. They went from extremely healthy to extremely sick. Honestly … it may have been poison.”
Reese said a toxicology report is being pursued, and Brehun said he spoke with a state dog law officer who said a fine of up to $1,000 could be issued if foul play can be proved.
As far as residents’ complaints are concerned, Brehun provided an example of their credibility.
“I just got a call on my dispatch that someone could hear the coyotes whimpering and carrying on right now,” he said, adding that this is impossible because they are dead.
Reese was obviously shaken by the coyotes’ deaths and angry with her neighbors’ claims. She said she wanted to clear the notion that coyotes are senseless killers but hinted that people might be.
“Coyotes kill for survival, for food,” she said. “We as humans kill for fun. We kill for a trophy on the wall.”
Mirror Staff Writer Sean Sauro is at 946-7535.