Coyotes

[karlinann]

Hey folks, we have Coyotes here in our subdivision. Yes, I know it's true because I saw one last week on my way home from work. I came home early and I saw the tail end of the coyote going in the bushes in the median. Our subdivision newsletter contains an article on coyotes that have been spotted in the area and warnings about taking in your pets food dish and not trying to approach the coyotes, etc. Duh! They are WILD animals. Surely people understand that they should not be treated as pets. I would be afraid if I walked up on one, because they are hungry, I'm sure, and I would not want to be bitten. They are probably shy of people, but you never know. I've been dog bitten and it hurts.

[determined]

the difference between being bitten by a dog and a coyote would be that you could probably find the owner of the dog and at least find out if it had it's rabies shots, thus avoiding the pain of having to go through rabies shots yourself.

[Snoodle]

Coyotes do not like confrontation with people but will attack if they feel threatened. They are scavengers by nature but will attack small animals. We have a HUGE pack that live in the woods across the field behind us. Once the weather cools down you can hear them running at night. They "yap". They use our yard as a thoroughfare to the rest of the neighborhood. Jeff has come face to face with them a few times. He said they would snarl at him and he would growl back (weird but true) and they would take off. They did attack a small rat terrier across the street but it survived. It has a gravelly bark now but it's alive. One killed a rabbit at our back fence line two or three days ago.

One night a couple of years ago, the people who live across the field heard them carrying on behind his house. There is a small valley there. He turned on the spot light and said there were 30+ that he could see. During the day, you usually see them traveling alone but at night they run in packs.

I guess the main thing is to avoid them. Keep your pets inside at night and secure your garbage cans. Don't leave anything out they can scavenge.

Karli, "our" coyotes are fat so they must not have a shortage of food.

[maxie]

A pack of 30 is terrible. I hope animal control tried to eliminate them. I don't know if they still do but there was at one time a group of hunters around here that hunted them. They had dogs with radio collars and all types of equipment. It was a big sport to the hunters and the farmers encouraged it...bet the farmers were in the hunt. I have seem coyotes along the road eating road kill but I would think a pack would be considered dangerous. They are not an attractive animal in any sense of the word.

[Snoodle]

maxie, animal control does nothing about them. The advice we were given was "shoot them". Easier said than done. Yes a pack of 30 is terrible. And those were just the ones that could be seen with the spot light. I'm sure there were more. Years ago, (late 70's early 80's) my father-in-law used to hunt coyotes. He had several dogs to help track them. Back then the pelts were worth a few bucks. Now you can't get anything for them so the hunting has died off. As a result, larger packs. If the county, state or whoever would offer a bounty on them I believe the hunters would start up again and thin the herd, so to speak. We were also told that coyotes have been imported into the area. I don't know if that is true or not. I just know they are very prolific here.

[maxie]

Why would you import a coyote? Especially when they are so prevalent around here and have been for so many years. I didn't know they were hunted for their pelts. I just always thought it was for the sport. They are so mangy looking I can't imagine using their 'fur'.

[determined]

Snoodle, the problem with offering a bounty on them is you get all the animal rights groups bringing up lawsuits ect. Makes me so mad when they start the "all God's creatures" stuff and don't take into consideration the cost to farmers or anyone else by them being so over populated. Down where I grew up the State decided that since Eagles nested they needed to make it a nature preserve/state park . Forced people to sell their homes and farms, spent money to set up an overlook and picnic area. Guess what, Farmers no longer putting in crops, animals leaving to find food. Eagles disappeared. They also were told that where they were putting the picnic area was "rattlesnake nesting area and that when they hatched, if you didn't know the places to stay away from you were going to end up bitten. So the state after first hatching and seeing the numbers of babies slithering around decided that it was to dangerous to allow the public in. They have torn down the overlook and shut down the picnic area and the place is in ruins.

[BarbCA]

There has long been a pack across the road from us. I haven't seen or heard them for several years now. Maybe they moved away. I don't think we would miss them as Lily would have a fit if she heard them.

[NightStorm]

I apparently am the odd one out on this conversation. Perhaps it is because we have no neighbours or farms nearby, but I enjoy listening to the pack yip-yip here at night. Maybe it's because it adds to the ambience of having the Bates Motel TV set across the street, or just that it actually makes me feel like we are far away from the city (which we are), but I like having them around. Heck, we even feed them leftovers, and they have never messed with us. Any leftover meat that would otherwise be thrown in the garbage goes out into the back yard... it always gets found.
I've seen them a number of times now, and they don't look mangy or starved, so maybe that is why I don't have any problems with them. Or maybe it's because they make for good stories from the security people guarding the TV set at night. Or maybe it's because they make cleaning out the fridge so easy. I don't know for sure. All I know is that they were here before we were, and I think they should have the right to stay... the house was built in Coyote territory, after all. I view it in the same way as the people who insist on building a subdivision right on the side of a mountain in the woods, then complain that the bears are coming into their back yard.
Or the people who build a house next to an airport, then complain about the noise the planes make.

[Mayebarnes]

Nightstorm.

I will agree with you on several points.... ,,, if you are going to build and live in the woods... you don't have the right to decide the animals must go. they were there first... just set up your home with proper fences....take precautions and be prepared to share the country with them... ( except the snakes.)

I feel the same way about the people who build in the middle of a forest and then want us all to come to their rescue at great risk to men and equipment , when the forest fires arrive and the WILL arrive.. sooner or later.

.. or the big hotel on the Atlantic shore.....gonna be a Hurricane one day .. and then it will be "citizens to the rescue and recovery". NOT. ....but we always help...

and I agree with the ladies .. they are wild animals. and dangerous. and I would shoot a rattle snake , and do not think people should hesitate to shoot the coyotes who come in too close ... however if you start to "feed" them ..they will be back for lunch... I found I could not feed my feral cats , who looked starved.. because I also got racoons, skunks, possums. etc.. so nothing gets fed now.. at least not near the house..

[Snoodle]

If the packs were to stay of moderate size it would be ok. But there are too many of them. It's out of balance. Just like the deer here in Illinois. When the population gets too high they will allow more more deer tags to be purchased. It's a matter of keeping the wildlife in manageable numbers. This neighborhood was here long before the coyotes took over the woods behind us. Until about 8 or 10 years ago, there weren't any is this area. Or at least not enough to be noticed.

I'm a country/farm girl and I love the "sounds of the night". Even the yapping of coyotes. But I also know the danger they pose to the people and pets around here. We never kill any of the critters that frequent our yard but I would shoot a coyote if my dogs or myself were in any danger. They are nice and fat so I know they are getting plenty to eat.

Maye....what's wrong with snakes? lol We have Gertrude the garter snake. Spike the black snake was a regular around here for years until he went into the neighbor's yard and he killed him. They keep down the mice, moles and other such vermin.

[JoGee]

I used to hear coyotes at night, but so many new housing areas have sprung up, there seems to be no room left for wildlife around.
I used to believe coyotes were strictly in the SW....silly me, then I looked up coyotes on Google, and they are all over the USA.

But wild animals of any kind, including feral cats, can be quite dangerous...especially if they feel threatened.
If you move to an area where wild animals reside, first find out what animals are there, then learn to live with them, and learn what defense you have against them. Know their habits.
(My daughter moved to the edge of a National Forest, and there have been moose and bears near her home, within a block or two.)

Coyotes are like medium sized dogs, that I've seen. They have dined on pets in the backyards. They would not hesitate to bite small children.

I think Animal Control should limit size of packs when they get too large. I was shocked that they would not come remove a Gila Monster (highly poisonous) from our yard. They gave me the # of a private company, but those guys charged an exorbitant fee for the task. That's just not right! Fortunately (I think) the critter disappeared after a few hours.
There should be a place to turn to when a dangerous animal poses a problem to you. The law actually protects the Gila Monster.....there is absolutely nothing you can do to capture or remove it, without breaking the law.

[determined]

Being from the country I don't mind the critters unless they are a threat to me or mine. The guys normally didn't hunt anything they didn't eat. Coyotes were the one exception to that rule since they don't so much mess with the big cattle but they will go after a new born calf. We also had rattlesnakes, cottenmouths, and copperheads that were killed on site as a snake will try to "nurse" a cow and since to a farmer cows are money and food can't have them bitten. These are some "facts" that the experts will deny usually because they don't live with the critters and so don't know the damage they can do.

I roamed the woods the whole time I was growing up and rarely saw the wild animals since they were more afraid of me than I was of them.

[Snoodle]

Same here Darla. I was out in the woods quite a bit too and it would be a rare sight indeed to see a wild animal. We did have our share of copperheads and cottonmouths. Mom will have to tell you about her close encounter with some of those pesky critter. However, we never killed a black snake as a general rule.

[JoGee]

I'm not familiar with black snakes. Just curious why you didn't kill them. Are they "good" or helpful critters?