We recently had a confrontation with local wildlife when a pack of coyotes showed up in our front yard, totally casual, totally unafraid.  Now I’m a bit of a wildlife lover, myself, and normally I would love to sit and watch a pack of such beautiful animals go about their thing in my front yard.  But that night, two of my chickens were out of the coop and I was on full defense, trying to keep them safe until morning when they would come out of their hiding place.

Fortunately for all of us, I was thinking more about the chickens than the wildlife or it could have eventually spelled trouble for all of us.  I released the dogs who dispatched the pack, picking one individual to chase for over a mile before returning home, winded and excited.  Once they had returned safely, my attention turned to learning a bit more about coyotes and how one is supposed to deal with them.

Apparently, looking at them through your window with a sense of wonder at such a beautiful part of nature is the wrong way.  Chasing them, threatening them and, yes, shooting them, is the appropriate way.

As wolves have been driven out of much of their native range, the coyote has been steadily increasing its range, filling in the wolve’s old ranges with an animal that is much more willing to adapt to human environments.  When research on urban coyote populations in Chicago was started, researchers expected to find a few isolated animals or small packs scattered about the outskirts.  Instead, they were surprised to find coyotes everywhere they looked and now estimate their numbers to be in the thousands.

The first coyotes appeared in Maine in the 1940s, after the last known wolf was killed.  Through it’s eastward and northward migration, however, the coyote has gained in size, leading many to speculate that it is hybridizing with dogs and wolves.  So-called coydogs have even less fear of humans than their wily cousins, and wolf genes can contribute to impressive sizes not normally associated with coyotes.

The biggest problems, however, seem to be in California where attacks on humans have doubled in recent years.  Coyotes are becoming active in broad daylight, and have been known to take dogs off retractable leashes right in front of their owners.  Most attacks on humans are on children under the age of five, with the only confirmed death by a coyote attack being a three year old girl in Glendale, CA.

To help deal with the problem, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife recently reclassified the coyote as a non-game mammal so it may be hunted year-round with a license, but it has its protectors even (and especially) there where attacks are most common.

And that is the center of the problem with the gradual urbanization of the coyote.  Residents with a respect for wildlife think they are “co-existing peacefully” with local animals when they call for education campaigns, relocation of problem coyotes, and the disposal of only those proven guilty of an attack.  But the only way to co-exist peacefully with the intelligent coyote is to shoot him, trap him, harass him, and make sure he recognizes humans as a threat.

In areas where predator control activities are practiced, coyotes are particularly wary of humans and of changes in their environment. Similarly, they are also wary of humans in places where sport hunters pursue or shoot at coyotes. Their excellent sense of smell and their tendency to avoid new objects makes it very difficult to capture or even to study them, as they often recognize and evade traps, snares, and cameras.  University of California

Only then do we live alongside one another without threat to humans.

Image source: Wikipedia.
coyotes predator control animal rights

Dana Hanley is a homeschooling mother of five, living out her dreams on a small acreage in the country.  You can learn more of her family’s adventure at Roscommon Acres.