Stoned And Hallucinating Coyotes Attacking Cars In California?

[stromboli]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/magic-mushroom-coyotes_us_56a88a82e4b0f6b7d544463b

Motorists in Northern California have been dealing with a new kind of road hazard: Overly aggressive coyotes who may have consumed hallucinogenic mushrooms.

Pacific Sun reports that at least two coyotes have been staring down motorists on Highway 1 in Bolinas, a community in Marin County, and striding onto the road. When a driver stops to avoid hitting them, the coyotes usually sniff around the car before running off.

Experts have ruled out rabies, the paper reports, as the incidents have been going on for weeks and the disease would have killed the coyotes by now.

That leaves two other options: Either the animals are ingesting hallucinogenic mushrooms and tripping as they chase cars, or they have been fed by people in cars and are hoping for more food.

Lisa Bloch of the Marin Humane Society said she has had to warn dog owners about the fly agaric mushroom, a psychoactive mushroom that grows in the area. These coyotes may have stumbled on a stash.

Bloch also warned that motorists shouldn't feed coyotes as the animals could become accustomed to humans, then grow more aggressive. In such cases, the coyotes may have to be killed.

Assuming the coyotes aren't rabid- which produces aggressive behavior- there are some possibilities besides Psilocybin. One is Locoweed which is not invasive but an opportunistic plant that isn't easily recognized because it resembles other plants. Another is Jimson weed or Datura Stramonium, which is a known toxic plant- contains Scopolamine, which in higher doses in deadly.
locoweed is called that for a reason. Animals that consume it will get aggressive and hyperactive, so that is a possibility.

Lots of shit out in the desert can mess you up. Spent a lot of time in arid and desert regions and as per my survivalist background, I study plants in a region I frequent, just to know what is there. Locoweed and Jimson are both a potential agent. Wouldn't be surprised the coyotes are getting into some old hipsters garden and raiding his 'shrooms.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Coyotes are dicks. No more explanation needed.

[stromboli]

Coyotes are dicks. No more explanation needed.

No argument here. My only beef with coyotes is they are never in rifle range when I see them.

[SGOS]

Coyotes must have watched regular dogs chasing cars with abandon.  It's good clean fun, and many a dog will lay in wait along the roadside all day just to experience a few seconds of thrill.  Maybe the thing just finally caught on among the local coyotes. 

[josephpalazzo]

They took the cars to be roadrunners.. bleep, bleep....

[stromboli]

They took the cars to be roadrunners.. bleep, bleep....

You have to seriously impaired to mistake a car for a roadrunner.

[josephpalazzo]

You have to seriously impaired to mistake a car for a roadrunner.

When you're stoned, a car or a roadrunner, what's the difference?

[SGOS]

You have to seriously impaired to mistake a car for a roadrunner.

Well, I'm not saying the mushrooms don't play a part.

Edit:  Opps Palazzo scooped me.

[stromboli]

I'm st

Well, I'm not saying the mushrooms don't play a part.

Edit:  Opps Palazzo scooped me.

I'm still thinking there's an old hippie involved somehow. Or else a Yaqui  brujo named Don Juan moved up from Mexico.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

No argument here. My only beef with coyotes is they are never in rifle range when I see them.

Last Fall we got a team together and shot 115 of them in three days. Big fucking rats.

[josephpalazzo]

Last Fall we got a team together and shot 115 of them in three days. Big fucking rats.

See, one more reason why there should be a total ban on firearms.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

See, one more reason why there should be a total ban on firearms.

Coyotes kill beavers. Beavers create wetlands. Fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals benefit from that type of area. One coyote can turn a verdant area into a weed patch in short order. They are an invasive species, like rats, and are as far from being endangered as humans are.

Besides, it's kind of cool to see their heads explode when they get a hollow-point in the back of the skull. Brains come out of their eye sockets.

[stromboli]

Coyotes kill beavers. Beavers create wetlands. Fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals benefit from that type of area. One coyote can turn a verdant area into a weed patch in short order. They are an invasive species, like rats, and are as far from being endangered as humans are.

Besides, it's kind of cool to see their heads explode when they get a hollow-point in the back of the skull. Brains come out of their eye sockets.

Coyotes have become city dwellers as well. Although coyotes are native to the west- the American equivalent to the Jackal-they are now seen all the way from the Eastern seaboard to the West. They are a very opportunistic species and produce a litter of typically 6 offspring. There is no shortage of them, and yes, Gawdzilla Sama is right, they can change the ecosystem they are in by predation.

I have no problem hunting them because there is no shortage of them. the worst ecological damage done would be to wipe out so many that their prey-rabbits and field mice- can over run an area. But nature curbs itself. Massive population increase leads to massive die offs. The issue with rabbits and voles are invading farms and eating crops. And there are not hundreds of hunters going after them. It isn't like an annual deer hunt.

Coyotes need to be hunted to keep their numbers in check because one coyote can kill dozens of prey in a few days. There are states where coyote hunting is year round and requires no license, and they are still there and still a nuisance.

[josephpalazzo]

Coyotes kill beavers. Beavers create wetlands. Fish, reptiles, birds, and mammals benefit from that type of area. One coyote can turn a verdant area into a weed patch in short order. They are an invasive species, like rats, and are as far from being endangered as humans are.

Besides, it's kind of cool to see their heads explode when they get a hollow-point in the back of the skull. Brains come out of their eye sockets.

Ever heard that in nature, predators versus preys eventually balance themselves out? How would you know that you're killing too many coyotes (predators)? Do you have a bank of information that tells you so? I don't think so. How many species have ended up on the brink of extinction because of too much hunting/fishing? Lots.

[drunkenshoe]

Last time humans created a culture from living thing+hal. mushroom, we got maenads. I am curious where this one will go. :p