I placed this original post to illustrate the small town mentality that coyotes were released by the DEC. I did not list the person name because this is a public forum. After reading the Olean Times Herald article again, it was the Chief of Police of Portville, NY who stated the coyotes were released by the DEC. Does he know something we don't know? I don't know, but, now that it has been published in a small town newspaper, this is how rumours are spread. People will say, it was inthe paper so it must be true. Afterall, the Chief of Police stated it. I remember about 30 years ago people hearing of "coydogs" and coyotes near Syracuse, NY. Ten years later, an article was in the Olean Times Herald of some hunters killing a few coyotes in Farmersville, a village about 30 miles North of Portville and several miles South of Syracuse. A few years later from there, people started seeing a few coyotes near Olean/Portville...Based onthis, my theory is that the coyotes migrated South fromthe Andirondacksabout 30 years ago.