Coyote killed in park after biting 2 - Page 2

Here's the basic foodchain at Yellowstone National Park.

Before wolf reintroduction, coyote population density on the northern range was about 0.45 per km2, organized as packs with well-established borders (Crabtree and Sheldon 1999).  Wolves began to kill coyotes soon after they were released in YNP.  During 1996–1998, wolf aggression toward coyotes resulted in a 50% decline in coyote density (up to a 90% decline in core areas occupied by wolf packs) and reduced coyote pack size on the northern range (Crabtree and Sheldon 1999). In the Lamar Valley of the northern range, the coyote population declined from 80 to 36 animals from 1995 to 1998, and average pack size dropped from 6 to 3.8 animals (Crabtree and Sheldon 1999). With lower coyote density, litter size increased, but the increased production of pups has been insufficient to offset the effects of wolves.

Although data are preliminary, pronghorn fawn survival seems positively correlated with wolf density and inversely correlated with coyote density, as most fawn mortality is caused by coyote predation (John Byers,University of Idaho,Moscow, ID, personal communication, October 2003).

In about 84% of 145 wolf–coyote interactions observed at wolf kills, wolves prevailed over coyotes. Wolf kills clearly provide food for coyotes (virtually all winter kills are visited by coyotes), but coyotes that scavenge wolf kills risk death from wolves.

Yellowstone After Wolves

I live in San Diego County, Calif. and my back yard is on state owned property that is wild with grass, weeds, shrubs, and hills with rocks and boulder outcroppings.  We have them SCREAMING right outside some nights and the neighborhood dogs go nuts barking, but they stay close to their house and in the yards! My dogs perk their ears, but I know if I let them out there,especially my young male, it would be on and fighting a pack is not good odds. Due to proximity of canine wildlife I make sure immunizations are current and routinly worm; just in case. It was around 2:30 P.M. about a week ago and there were 8 of them strolling near the shrubs 60 yards away from me They had no problem with me being out there, they had to have known that I was there before they made themselves visable.  Before I go outback with my dog or dogs, I make sure there is nothing out there. All I have with me is a hickory shepherds crook and a sharp Schrade knife.  Just like the old days. If it is dark, I keep the gates closed and locked.  When I started walking towards them, they did NOT run, they just slowly disappeared into the brush in their good time; stopping every few seconds to casually look around.  One of them jumped up on a boulder and boldly stared at me. They acted as though I wasn't even there. I'm not stupid enough to follow them into the brush as there are also bigger predators whose hunting range has been expanded due to the wildfires i.e mountain lions. Thank God there are not any wolves to throw in the mix.  Fires, human encroachment, what do we expect them to do; go extinct?

I live in Vermont, a very rural state. I live surrounded by hundred's of acres of wilderness habitat and there are routinely coyotes which can be heard howling especially duting a full moon.

Last fall one would come 20'-30' ft from our house at night and stand in the driveway and howl. At first I thought it was a dog barking but it quickly develops into a coyote vocalization you recognize as clearly coyote - yipping. Makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up! I saw one at the edge of our clearing in broad daylight. Only when the female was in heat did I see this. The breeding drive is INTENSE!  I did not go for walks in our woods during this time nor leave her out in her kennel at night but they still came around.

One night I had left the garage door open and one came into the garage, alongside 2 vehicles and dragged a new bag of dog food out onto the driveway and tore it open....you could see the clear tracks in the morning. Being it drizzled rain the bag was ruined. That kind of moxy amazed me. Normally you hear them at night but that's it. Only once have I seen one in daylight and that was at quite a distance.

I trained with a search & rescue team in eastern Mass. several times and deep in suburban Boston...just minutes from the inner city limits, you would have packs of fairly tame coyotes...these scared the heck out of me....wild animals which have lost their fear of humans can easily become a hazard.

Alex

My brother had a coyote problem around his property for awhile until he inherited a very dog aggressive Akita. Shortly after there were no more coyotes to be seen or heard. I'd never seen anything like it but his Akita would come home in the morning with blood all over it from the Coyote kills.

"I trained with a search & rescue team in eastern Mass. several times and deep in suburban Boston...just minutes from the inner city limits, you would have packs of fairly tame coyotes...these scared the heck out of me....wild animals which have lost their fear of humans can easily become a hazard."

When I started doing this about 9 years ago, I don't recall dicussions of coyotes and mtn lions as potential threat in the Eastern US.  Yes, we had discussions on black bears and bobcats which have never left us but not the other two.   I know they caught a mtn lion in an adjacent county last year and have heard that there are quite a few more out there brought in to help control the deer. 

I am talking Charlotte NC area, not the Western and South Western US.  This is a larger area that is mostly suburban.  It is a shame we did this whole suburban creep thing because most of our land development occurres after the car and cheap gas were introduced.

I've seen other reports, but this is a more recent one in Canada...

COYOTE PURGE BEGINS AFTER ATTACKS ON CANMORE KIDS

Last Updated: Friday, December 14, 2007 | 6:09 PM MT CBC News

Wildlife officers are hunting down coyotes in the Canmore area after three children were attacked in one week.

A 10-year-old boy was bitten by a coyote at a crowded community skating party on Wednesday night in Canmore, which is about 100 kilometres west of Calgary. People managed to chase it away but the animal returned later and grabbed a two-year-old boy by his jacket.

The attacks on three children in Canmore are extremely unusual, said wildlife officers. Adults tossed snowballs at the coyote which finally ran away, said Darcy Whiteside, spokesman for Alberta Sustainable Resource Development.

The boys were taken to hospital but were not seriously injured.

Wildlife officers said a booming rabbit population might be drawing more of the predators into town than normal. They said a coyote attack in a crowd is highly unusual.

"They'll stay away from noises. They'll stay away from large crowds.

They're typically scavengers or prey on small animals such as small rabbits and * gophers and other rodents like that," said Whiteside.

A 13-year-old girl was attacked by a coyote as she played at a snow fort in her front yard on Sunday night.

"She was yelling for help," said Loretta Shortt, the girl's mother.

"The coyote just nailed her on the side."

The animal grabbed her by her coat but she was not badly hurt, said Shortt.

The three cases are the only reports of coyotes attacking people in Alberta this year.

Officers have been dispatched to kill all coyotes in the area, said Whiteside.

"It's basically the only thing that we can do because there's no real way to say whether this coyote is the cause of it or not," he said.