Editor,
Journalists apparently hate a slow story as much as science abhors a vacuum, but your recent article on Carmel’s carnivores takes yellow journalism to a new low. Shame on you, your reporter and the owner of Current in Carmel. The Current version: doggies snatched by “wild carnivores;” coyotes that can scale eight foot fences with prey in their mouth; marauding packs of feral beasts terrorizing neighborhoods; bloodthirsty coyotes at the front door; would-be biologists with tales of coyotes hunting in our front yards. Please.
Facts, as usual, do not inhibit fanatics, and the most troubling aspect of the coyote situation is that, so far, the conversation has been dominated by hysterics who have found a voice in shamefully sensational, irresponsible journalism. Sweet reasonableness suggests that we listen to the people who know what they’re talking about – the Carmel police, DNR experts, credentialed wildlife biologists and observant neighbors upon whom very little is lost – not to hysterics, fabulists, people who gather their information from YouTube and city council members who talk out of both sides of their mouth.
I also understand that a headline “Carmel residents agree to co-exist peacefully with their coyote neighbors” isn’t very titillating. It’s just a slow story scarcely worth printing.
Peter Witteveld, 46033
