Compact, densely populated and surrounded by water, Nahant (and its small dogs) are on edge. It’s the first Massachusetts municipality to ask the government to kill problem animals.
NAHANT, Mass. — When coyotes approach children playing in the park, as they do with unnerving frequency in this tiny coastal town north of Boston, Kellie Frary springs into action, trying to drive the animals off while another adult quickly gathers Ms. Frary’s day care group.
“I don’t want to have to make that phone call, to tell a parent, ‘The coyote picked your kid,’” said Ms. Frary, a lifelong resident of Nahant, where 3,000 people inhabit one square mile.
No humans have been harmed by Nahant’s coyotes, estimated to number about a dozen. But after the disappearances of more than two dozen pets in roughly two years — and reports of three brazen, fatal attacks this year on leashed dogs accompanied by their owners — the town is ever more on edge. Its isolated geography — Nahant is essentially an island connected to the mainland by a narrow, 1.5-mile causeway — contributes to the sense of menace felt by some residents.
Compact, densely populated and surrounded by water, it is a hard place for coyotes to leave, and a hard place for them to remain mostly invisible to humans, as they often do in cities and more sprawling suburbs, wildlife experts said.
Earlier this month, Nahant’s three-member Board of Selectmen voted to enlist federal sharpshooters to track and kill some of the coyotes,making...
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