CURSE OF THE COYOTE

PET PROBLEMS & TRAINING SOLUTIONS

THE CURSE OF THE COYOTE: A BLESSING IN DISGUISE
By Deborah Wolfe, Author of “Good Dog!” has a column once a month in the pet section of the Maple Ridge Times

Ask a local resident who lives on a hobby farm, or next to a shared green space, or a river, or a golf course, and they'll tell you coyote stories of missing chickens, stolen cats, raided garbage plus menacing dusk and dawn visits. Your neighbours are at war with the coyote and the coyote is winning. It's a question of supply and demand; so long as we supply the food they love, the coyote will flourish, and no amount of coyote killing will make one bit of difference.

Coyotes are believed to be the first canine on earth. Unlike most wild predators, the coyote population is increasing as the human population grows. Farmers and ranchers in Canada and especially in the U.S. have spent more money and effort trying to eradicate the coyote than any other species, yet the coyote now spreads from Panama to Alaska, through all of the U.S., having expanded its range, numbers and subspecies to 19. As long as the food supply remains, the coyote pack replenishes its numbers and thrives.

At night and just before dawn (at about 4 am) you can hear coyotes calling, howling and yipping as they travel at speeds as fast as 65 km/hr through the river trails all over Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows. Neighbourhood outdoor dogs will bark an alert to warn of coyotes' impending arrival, adding dog barks and howls for a cacophony of noise.

Contrary to popular opinion, coyotes, wolves and wild dogs rarely fight with each other. What's more, coyotes are even less aggressive with their own species than hummingbirds. They do not want to fight with us either. They use their markings of hair and scat and their cries and song to mark out territory and communicate as they pass through neutral hunting grounds. Every natural wooded or field area with no active predator present is considered neutral ground. They hunt as they travel, looking for scavenged fruit, garbage, pet food and animals cat-sized or smaller. Pet food on the porch, a house cat or two lounging in the backyard or a bird feeder overflowing and thus drawing rodents close to the house are magnets for the ever-present coyote.

If you think there are no coyotes in your area, you'd better think again. Look carefully and you'll see tufts of hair they leave behind on farm fences, paw prints in the mud, and cigar-shaped poops (scat) that are covered in white and grey fuzzy hairs from the rabbits, squirrels and rats coyotes eat. Coyote paw prints look as if a dog had one leg and hopped in a straight line - they often step in their own prints to reduce the marks they leave. Each coyote paw will leave a claw mark for each toe, and the front paws leave larger prints than the back. Exploring a safe and busy river area in the daytime can be a great activity with kids if you take along a paw-print guide.

We need coyotes for rodent control (there are more rats than people in the Lower Mainland), so it's lucky for us that our attempts to kill the coyote have failed. But it is definitely time for us to fight the coyote the natural way - by controlling ourselves.In parts of California, the coyote population has been reduced dramatically, in some cases by 75%-80%. How? By ticketing people for garbage, compost, messy fruit and the feeding of coyotes. If you don't want to share your egg-laying chickens or precious old cat with a raiding predator, then follow the steps below to reduce coyote visits and make you and your family safe.

-Never leave pet food outside.
-Never leave fruit or fruit trees laden with fruit.
-Secure compost and garbage properly.
-Trim and clear shrubbery that will attract and conceal prey and predators.
-Feed chickens and bird feeders a little each day to avoid overspill and a nighttime rodent restaurant.
-Never let your dogs chase coyotes as they can spread canine distemper, rabies, mange, heartworm and other diseases. Dogs can also be tricked to chase coyotes into traffic.
-Never leave kids under 10 more then a few feet from you where you know coyotes travel. In six cases, coyotes fed by people became aggressive toward kids in the Lower Mainland. Hold onto kids hands if you see or hear coyotes and make an alligator line if you have many kids. Yell and scream and sing rowdy songs as you walk. Do not run. Carry a super soaker, tin cans with coins inside to make loud noises or throw stones to scare coyotes off.
-Keep cats and dogs (cocker-spaniel sized and smaller) indoors or supervised by you, and/or a large protective dog.
-If you insist on outdoor privileges for your cats, teach them to use the cat door, have an extra cat door in a place coyotes cant reach like an upstairs patio and feed your cats once a day before 4 pm so they come in well before dark and you can lock the cat doors.
-Flashlights, buzzers, tape-recorded human screams, scattered moth balls and ammonia-soaked rags are all said to deter coyotes. I find that nothing phony works. A good 8-foot fence that extends a few inches below the ground with a gravel base, so that digging wont create gaps for sneaking under, will keep coyotes out of most yards. If you have chickens or fruit trees youll probably need to run some electric fence.
- You can also walk a big dog on leash around the perimeter of your yard, having him mark it with urine two to three times per week.

If you have coyote questions or wish to report a coyote problem please call the coyote info line at the Stanley Park Ecology Society: 604-681-9453. The internet is loaded with interesting coyote sites, many of them ideal for kids with activities and play kits. My favourite site includes coyote howls you can hear and paw prints you can see. Check out www.coyotim.tripod.com