Possum Pouch - No Safe Place for Coyotes

[boarderboy]

Take that, Wyle E!

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/30/460330/state-stares-down-coyotes-by-committee.html

Seriously, a few months back, I read something - in Smithsonian I think (?) - about their eastward, northward, southward, and westward - OK, they're everywhere, they're everywhere - spread

It seems the sub-species (?) that have populated the upper Northeast and the Maritimes interbred with wolves sometime back. They, therefore, have gained some of the more bold (and rarely dangerous) characteristics oflLupus. (As discussed last fall on BOL, hiker fatality in Canada.)

We have them in our barely suburban back yard, though they are very skittish and shy. So it's a topic of interest to me and an issue our Legislature can surely do little about...

BB

[bobdea]

Take that, Wyle E!

http://www.newsobserver.com/2010/04/30/460330/state-stares-down-coyotes-by-committee.html

Seriously, a few months back, I read something - in Smithsonian I think (?) - about their eastward, northward, southward, and westward - OK, they're everywhere, they're everywhere - spread

It seems the sub-species (?) that have populated the upper Northeast and the Maritimes interbred with wolves sometime back. They, therefore, have gained some of the more bold (and rarely dangerous) characteristics oflLupus. (As discussed last fall on BOL, hiker fatality in Canada.)

We have them in our barely suburban back yard, though they are very skittish and shy. So it's a topic of interest to me and an issue our Legislature can surely do little about...

BB

there has been one fatality to wolves in the new world, that one has not been confirmed that it was a healthy animal or if it was or was not habituated to humans. wolves are less lethal than american doctors from the looks of it.

coyote attacks and fatalities are much more common. still, you're 5000 times more likely to be killed by a dog than a coyote

[Alaskan Rover]

I love coyotes!! I think they're one of the coolest second-tier predators out there. I've been lucky enough to witness them hunting up close. The way they hunt small field mice and voles is amusing. They'll sit or stand stock still for many minutes and then jump straight up in the air and pounce down vertically. Rabbits and other fast-moving critters, they'll of course chase in standard mode.

White settlers brought their hatred of wolves and coyotes over from Europe to this country and that is a shame. The natives who lived in this country for 8000 or more years didn't feel a need to wipe out the fellow predators. They too, hunted them...mostly for ceremonial purposes amongst certain nations...a wolf fur was a sign of respect, as was a bear fur. But for the most part, they respected wolves and coyotes...some tribes even considered them spiritual brothers. I still cannot figure out why the white man (including my OWN ancestors) had such a warped veiw on wildlife. Was it because white man's religion decreed that all earth was his dominion? I don't think the native culture shared that belief. Within 250 years of colonizing the east coast and working westward...white culture had managed to decimate the wolf, bear and buffalo species of North America, species that had co-existed with native culture for thousands of years. SHAME on our white ancestors.

But they NEVER managed to decimate the wily coyote...although they certainly tried their hardest.

[Dr D]

there has been one fatality to wolves in the new world, that one has not been confirmed that it was a healthy animal or if it was or was not habituated to humans. wolves are less lethal than american doctors from the looks of it.

coyote attacks and fatalities are much more common. still, you're 5000 times more likely to be killed by a dog than a coyote

I assume you refer to the wolf killing of a woman recently in alaska. The local natives took to the air en masse and killed over 50 wolves and brought the carcasses to the local biologist for confirmation that none were rabid. The local media blasted the rabies assumption immediately. They were confirmed to be free of rabies and not habituated to humans although that is an elusive term. Wolves in general will not feed on anything that mom didnt teach them to kill. The one exception to that rule , as described by a russian wolf biologist, is that they do learn to take new prey but very slowly. The idea is that they will watch a new prey for as long as three years before attempting to attack it. The key to preventing humans from becoming an item on the menu is outdoor behavior that a wolf would find threatening. Basically if we act like the big predators we are they will leave us alone. IF we begin to think and act like prey we are in danger of becoming a viable prey option for them.

A friend of mine is working currently on a rig very close to where this all happened and the biologist is also a friend of his. I heard about this incident long before the newspapers did.

relative risk from coyotes and dogs is no doubt proportional to the relative numbers of each species in contact with humans.

[Dr D]

I love coyotes!!

But they NEVER managed to decimate the wily coyote...although they certainly tried their hardest.

I read somewhere that you have to have a 75% kill every year if you want to reduce coyote populations. They breed like rabbits and like rabbits they breed more when the population is under pressure. The article stated that anything less than 75% kill would actually increase their numbers. My years of hunting them seem to bear that out. you can't get rid of them better to enjoy them.

[bobdea]

what comes to mind is the tactics used for black bears and basically harassing them so they are scared ****less of people.

with coyotes it would be helpful too. a goat farmer that I've had conversations with advocates shooting them, with .22s, 10 gauge with rock salt and other non/semi lethals, kinda cruel but he claims he's had less problems, also this is what he's done with bears in his bee hives and compost piles, also says he's had less issues there.

as far as trapping and poisioning goes, this has been tried before and you end up killing more of the neighbor's dogs and occasionally a little kid than the target species.

[Allee]

We co-exist with them without too many problems in Calgary. They're definitely bold. We have a native population in Fish Creek and Weaselhead(and I'm sure in many of the other urban parks here). If you sit on the ridge of Fish Creek at dusk with binoculars, you can watch them pack hunting across the park floor (very cool), and you can hear calling them for miles.

I've come across them lying in the long grass on the ridgetops on summer nights, and they don't bat an eyelid until you get within four feet of them, then they'll slink off. People who live on the park perimeters can't leave garbage in their back lanes, or leave their pets out at night, but many people are still stupid enough to put out "food for the deer", and encourage the coyotes right up to their fences or into their yards. But they still seem to be very wary of humans, and they HATE dogs.

In the 8 years I've lived here there's never been an incident of a human being attacked. Some parents are paranoid about children, but it doesn't seem to be an issue. They're a part of the landscape here - nobody really thinks too much of it. Guess they keep the bunny and gopher populations down, so all power to them.

Canada is pretty protective of its wildlife, and refuses to sanitize the world just so someone can build another McMansion tract where the farm used to be. And fair enough too. We're all familiar with the upside of wilderness - be aware that it has a downside, and work around it, don't call to exterminate it.

Now, if the residents of North Carolina woke up and had a bear in one of their busiest urban parks, or a mountain lion under their deck on a summer morning, then they might have something to complain about ...

[boarderboy]

We co-exist with them without too many problems in Calgary.

Now, if the residents of North Carolina woke up and had a bear in one of their busiest urban parks, or a mountain lion under their deck on a summer morning, then they might have something to complain about ...

here's a piece about two recent "attacks" on young kids in suburban New Jersey.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/03/nyregion/03coyotes.html?_r=1&hp

I'd be fascinated with the opportunity to watch them pack hunt (a trait, I think, not shared by coyotes that have not interbred with wolves??) Supposedly those who've migrated to the southeast and mid-Atlantic lack that characteristic.

In our own Possum Pouch neighborhood (smack dab in one of the Country's fastest-growing metro areas), Canis latrans has prospered to the point that we hear nearby "pack" howling and yipping whenever a train or sirened vehicle passes.

Lots of resident cats have "gone missing" recently, but our bunny and squirrel populations still seem to be at an all-time high. My own "worry" is rabies. Summer outbreaks among foxes and skunks (locally "Polecats") are common here - three fox bites in our county last year.

I've asked my "very small for his age" teen son to stay out of the woods at dusk and after dark, and the NYT article will be required reading for him today.

My wife called the Wildlife Resources Commission about our new "neighbors". They said "leave em alone. If they get to the point that they're knocking over your garbage cans or howling under your windows at night, we'll 'humanely' relocate em.' Sounds good to me, but I'm aware that some of our (human) neighbors are long-time residents who've hunted in our town/farmland interface for decades. Methinks they're already taking matters into their own hands...

Here's to wildlife and wild life.

World would be very boring without both.

BB