Coyote Controversy

[TreeHuggerForever]

It seems that lately there have been a lot more stories about coyote attacks on both livestock and people's pets. I know that this is mainly because of human encroachment on wildlife habitats. Still, it is devestating to both farmer's and pet owners (as a pet owner myself I think I would be driven to extremes if my animals were killed by a coyote)
Yet I am reading a book called "Daily Coyote" by Shreeve Stockton, a woman who raised an orphan coyote from puppyhood to adult. She portrays coyotes as sweet, misunderstood creatures, and seems to be against coyote culling, which her boyfriend does for a living to protect livestock.
I don't really agree with killing any predators for doing what they are instictively born to do. If it's okay for humans to kill animals for food, fur and pleasure, then what gives them the right to kill animals that kill for food?
But the point is, farmers are losing valuable livestock and people are losing precious pets. What is the solution? Is there one?

[hillsidedigger]

Areas with wolves tend to have few coyotes.

Seriously, even a country as small and overcrowded as israel is said to still have about 150 wild wolves.

[Cobalt]

I suppose using a humane technology to deter the coyotes or just better fencing would be the best solution. Investing in fences which have a few buried feet of fence might do the trick so that coyotes can't dig under. Maybe I don't know what I'm talking about, but in my quick research on the topic, coyotes getting under fences/through holes seems to be the main problem. Layered fences could also help by preventing a single point of failure in the fence.

[GreenSAHM]

My mother in San Diego sometimes has troubles with coyotes. She lives on a canyon, and sometimes they simply get overpopulated in there, and no easy way for them to move on to any other territory. She sometimes sees up to 4 or 5 of them outside her back yard fence.

In the past she has had pets killed by coyotes. She also had a dog be lucky enough to survive an attack when the coyote was scared off. Older dog who just didn't hear the coyote coming, we think.

There really isn't a satisfactory solution for it. She doesn't want them killed, but at the same time she can tell when hunting isn't so good for them and they get more desperate.

[MattSFN]

There isn't a more unjustly maligned creature in American than the coyote. Sadly, because they so adept at adapting to their surroundings, I fear we will continue to see more and more interactions between humans and coyotes.

IMO I'd like to see more education done in across the board to help the public understand the critical role coyotes play (they are, along with birds, the most prolific predator of rodents in US - which helps to control agricultural loss and spread of disease), so that we can better learn to coexist.

[mysticcowboy]

I grew up in coyote country and again live there. Just driving into town I usually see a coyote a week on average. I hear them most nights.

I'm a cat owner and have several friends who have lost cats to coyotes. I have a lot of empathy for their loss, but little sympathy for their situation. If you let you cat out in coyote country it's your fault if it gets killed. My cats get to go out in a completely fenced pen that is coyote and raccoon proof. The cats are safe. Local birds are safe.

Remember, cats are also predators that kill an amazing number of birds and rodents. There's plenty of research on the enormous numbers of birds that cats kill each year. Rodents are a natural coyote food, so cats are not only food for the coyotes but direct competitors. Let your cat out and you let it enter the food chain.

For small dogs, a good fence can be effective. Letting an animal that isn't at least as big as a coyote to run free is negligent. For your dog's safety a tight fence that can't be dug under or jumped over is essential.

Get my point? If pet owners lose their pets to coyotes they have themselves to blame.

For animals like sheep or cows, it's cost prohibitive to keep them in coyote safe enclosures. Fencing is too expensive and the grazing area required is large to enclose. In this case I have sympathy with ranchers who lose stock to coyotes. Guard/herding dogs and, surprisingly, llamas are quite effective in protecting livestock. Yet, I know several ranchers who would rather grab their guns than take simple preventative steps. But it is neither difficult nor expensive to keep a couple of herding dogs with stock. It's a matter of responsibility to keep stock safe.

Very rarely a coyote will become aggressive towards people, though population pressure may start to aggravate matters. That situation becomes complex because people often misinterpret coyote actions. Actual attacks on people are rare to the point of non-existence. But a startled animal will bluster to defend itself. I was birding with a friend. We were both moving quietly, trying to get close enough to a bird to photograph it. My friend, in the front, startled a coyote. It growled, snapped and raised its ruff. I stepped towards it, waving my monopod and said, "shoo." It shooed. My friend thought he had been attacked and it took quite an effort convincing him not to report an "attack" to park officials. The coyote had acted just like any startled dog would have. In actual confrontation it ran rather than attacked. But it was a lack of knowledge that might have gotten the animal shot, had my friend reported the incident.

Ignorance by some and romanticizing the critters by others, blind us to simple measures. Coyotes are efficient predators that will kill and eat just about anything small enough to kill. Protecting domestic animals and livestock is not difficult. Knowledge and responsibility make it pretty easy to get along with our canine neighbors.

[thollandpe]

How does the number of pets killed by coyotes compare to the number killed by cars?

[thollandpe]

Wow. Splendidly written and well-thought-out response from Mystic Cowboy. That's worth bookmarking.

[outsidethebox]

Balance is the key.

[LadyCeej]

Like anything else that we don't understand, coyotes will continue to be a 'nuisance' until the public is educated. I think the best way to deal with the overpopulation of coyotes is how we deal with any other over-populated species; allow special licenses for populace control. Then, we can focus on the benefits of the species rather than the chaos they seem to be causing.
Public education is the key (start a non-profit!!!! =), and hopefully no one will have to take any more losses until then.



♡Everything!

[jprivott]

Before a decision can be made about coyotes, one must first define if you are referring to the animal in their native environment, or in the introduced. Coyotes made their home east of the Miss. because of the 'sport' of fox hunting in the 18th-19th centuries. As fox populations declined, settlers were aware of the coyote and its physical and relative behavorial similarities. The creature was brought back east, and released, establishing the breeding population.

The ecosystem here in the east is not adapted to the presence of the coyote, and they pose a threat to humans (as recently shown), domestic pets, and native wildlife (they eat turkey eggs, etc.). They are an ALIEN species, and have no 'right' to be here, just like the Snakehead or the Starling or the feral Pig. Kill 'em all.

Conversely, they have had a presence west of the Miss for thousands of years, and that ecosystem holds a niche for them. In that case, it is we who are the invasive species, and expect nature to bend to our will. Don't kill them unless they are rabid, or pose a legitimate threat of some kind like no fear of humans, etc.

for reference, I am a native american/native ecology historian, and have made numerous presentations on the impact of humans and non-native species on the north american continent. http://sites.google.com/site/southeastnative/

[drivin98]

This is a rare occurrence but I thought I'd let you all know about it. Coyotes can kill people.
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/st ... -died.html

[outsidethebox]

Areas with wolves tend to have few coyotes.

Seriously, even a country as small and overcrowded as israel is said to still have about 150 wild wolves.

Without wolves in overpopulated coyote areas we have become the wolf our need to take the place of the wolf. The balance with wild wolves is great if you can have it.

We need County Trapper's trained with a respect for a natural balanced ecosystem concerning animals to repond to over population of species.

At the age of 10 I asked to be trained by the County Trapper who was a friend of the family and a true outdoors man. The first animal I learned to trap was the coyote. We had ranches and I could see the signs of kill from the coyotes in the area. I caught a few coyotes the fun was gone when I had to kill them and dig a hole and bury them that was work! I tired of it and only trapped when the mortality to our livestock was evident. I had no fear of coyotes and if someone had told me they could kill a human from my point of view I wouldn't have believed it. But they can and will.

To protect yourself from a coyote or wild dog attack and you are unarmed if you can and have the time pick up two rocks about the size of your fist. It might be a good idea to practice this before an actual attack. When the animal lunges at you hang on to the two rocks and slam them together as hard as you can on the attacking animals head around the ears. It will disable the animal and can be fatal. Keep the rocks in your hand and when you are attacked again by a different dog or coyote do the same thing. Be aggressive this works. Don't be a victim.

Balance is the key in predator control they can get out of hand and you should thin them out at that time. There is a law about killing vultures because they clean up carcasses which is a good thing. But when they get so thick they attack all the cows in an area having calves and kill and eat a calf before it is half out of the birth canal, something is wrong? There is probably too many vultures in that area and they need to be reduced. Other areas where there is not a problem should be left alone.

The law to protect animals should keep balance in mind. It doesn't always and reducing an out of control predator can be very illegal. So check it out first and don't be stupid. I imagine the same would apply when coyotes have eaten your cats, dogs, and livestock. Some areas people follow the letter of the law in others they follow the letter of the land. So in the common sense areas they don't have such a large problem with out of control predators. Balance is the key to any ecosystem.

[Knightrider]

I wish we had some coyotes in the Poconos -- we're overrun with deer -- and also have huge flocks of wild turkey. A few dead pets a small price to pay to control overgrazing wildlife. Even a few less car-deer crashes would be a blessing would be worth the loss of a few pets. How can our community import coyotes? Anybody?

[SgtMaj]

How can our community import coyotes? Anybody?

If they aren't native, don't introduce them. Find out what deer predators are native in your area and work to preserve and increase populations of those animals (my guess would be wolves, but that's just a guess).