Coppell Chronicle Vol. 5, No. 42
Advocates Promote Coexisting With Coyotes • Like a Phoenix, Chick-fil-A Rises from Rubble • Candidates Registering for Spring Primaries • Middle School North Has Awesome Principal
The Coppell Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Awards and Community Gala won’t happen until Jan. 29, but Dec. 10 is the deadline to submit nominations in the following categories:
Large Business of the Year will go to a company with more than 50 employees.
Small Business of the Year will go to a company with 50 or fewer employees. (Ahem.)
Emerging Business of the Year will go to a company that has been in business for at least 18 months but fewer than six years. (AHEM.)
Nonprofit of the Year will go to a 501(c)3 showing support in the Coppell area.
You don’t have to be a Chamber of Commerce member to submit a nomination (or to buy a ticket to the gala).
Advocates Promote Coexisting With Coyotes
Although spotting a coyote in Coppell can be a scary experience, conservationists say the animals are equally afraid of us, if not more so.
Coppell resident Karolina Bebak is a volunteer advocate with Project Coyote, an organization that aims to protect wild carnivores by promoting compassionate coexistence. She recently reached out with some tips on what to do if you encounter a coyote.
“If approached, don’t run. Wave arms, make noise, and walk toward the coyote until it retreats,” Bebak wrote. “Be ‘big, bad and loud.’ If you feel a bit silly, you’re doing it right.”
Bebak’s home is not far from MacArthur Park, an area she labeled as a “hotspot” of activity for coyotes. That’s also an area with lots of kids and pets, due to the nearby schools, the park’s playground and ballfields, and its dog park that’s being reconstructed. All that adds up to “potential for conflict that can be avoided if people have access to info,” Bebak said.
Bebak said coyotes may be seen and heard more often in autumn months, when juveniles are dispersing from their family groups, and during the winter, which is the animals’ mating season.
On Dec. 6, the Biodiversity Education Center at the Coppell Nature Park hosted an event called the “DFW Wildlife Conservation Showcase.” I stopped by to see if any of the experts on hand could confirm what Bebak told me.
Showcase attendees were greeted at the door by Joshua Charles, education coordinator at the Biodiversity Education Center. He said there’s a pack of three coyotes living in the Coppell Nature Park. Charles has worked there for two years, and he’s spotted them just a few times.
“If they see a human, they turn the other way and run,” Charles said.
I once saw a coyote on the edge of Hunterwood Park, and it fled into the wooded area when it saw me. But Tom Baumgarten, a director of the Friends of Coppell Nature Park, has much more experience in this area. He told me he’s seen coyotes and bobcats in the Nature Park, and he’s spotted coyotes on the trails in the Andrew Brown parks. Additionally, Baumgarten encountered a bobcat in his own backyard last week.
“I’ve never had one step toward me,” Baumgarten said. “They either hold their ground or retreat.”
Nathan May, an educator with the Trinity River Audubon Center, said there’s no way to get rid of coyotes in suburban environments such as Coppell, and he backed up the tips that Project Coyote provided.
“If you’re not feeding them, and you’re making sure they stay afraid of humans, then we can coexist really easily,” May said.
If you come across a coyote that needs help, feel free to contact Karin Saucedo, Project Coyote’s state coordinator for Texas: ksaucedo@projectcoyote.org.
Like a Phoenix, Chick-fil-A Rises from Rubble
The closest Chick-fil-A to most Coppell homes reopened last week — later than expected but also, in a way, sooner than expected.