Photo by Jesse Hausknecht-Brown ‘25. A stolen coyote decoy placed in the North Delles.
By Madelyn Dalley ’27
Staff Writer
Mount Holyoke College students have likely noticed the addition of several new plastic canines to campus this semester. Coyote decoys were installed to “keep the Canada goose population to a minimum on [Mount Holyoke’s] campus,” according to the Sept. 27 edition of the “MHC This Week” newsletter. The coyotes were selected due to their “safe, nonlethal” nature and lack of interference with Jorge the goose, one of Mount Holyoke’s beloved unofficial mascots — an “MHC This Week” from July anticipated that Jorge would remain “undaunted.” While these decoys may help repel the goose population, they have attracted another population: thieves.
The Sept. 27 newsletter notified students of a recent update regarding the decoy coyotes. Three of the original decoys have vanished from their original locations on campus due to theft. These decoys have been seen around campus far from their original areas. They have been spotted in residence halls, common rooms and dorms, and even found posed in vulgar positions.
Karla Youngblood FP ’99, associate vice president of facilities management, stated that the stealing of decoys was not exactly surprising. “Any time you deploy decoys on a college campus, you have to expect some interference,” Youngblood said.
In response to these incidents, the College announced that five more decoy coyotes have been purchased to disperse around campus. In addition, Apple AirTags have been purchased to attach to all new and existing decoys. The newsletter states that this will help staff “keep track of their whereabouts.”
“Part of the decoy effectiveness is purposefully moving them to different lawn areas,” Youngblood said. “The AirTags will help us keep track of their location and also to locate them after any unsanctioned relocation.”
In addition, the AirTags will assist staff in catching any further theft of the decoys. Prospective and current thieves be warned: the newsletter stated that “tampering with the coyotes, or the AirTags, will have consequences with the local authorities and through the College’s community standards process.”
The effectiveness of this new strategy has yet to be determined, but Youngblood is hopeful.“The effectiveness of the decoys surpassed our expectations, and we now consider them a crucial part of our strategy,” Youngblood said. The Mount Holyoke News will continue to follow any updates concerning the coyote crooks.