Urban Coyotes
When we moved in last May, our neighbors told us others had told them there were coyotes who lived in the neighborhood. There are railroad tracks behind our fence, and on the other side, the back of another neighborhood with all wooden privacy fences (most of our neighbors have chain-link). Our neighbor also said they used to have an indoor/outdoor cat which disappeared.
So we were always careful about having Pooka out at night. A few months ago, at 2AM we heard a very loud howling which sounded like 20 coyotes (and of course was probably only 5) and it was very creepy. Put a hatchet by the back door.
Then a neighbor across the street told us she'd seen 2-3 coyotes running out of her yard and back across the street. A few houses down there is a waterway/ditch that has no fence so I think they go through there and into the neighborhood to look for food. This made me feel a little better that they don't seem to like to jump fences. I have seen a skunk in that same area. But it also made me worry about having Pooka in the front yard too. We installed motion-activated floodlights in the backyard.
Our housemate was out in the backyard with his husky a few weeks ago and said he heard a few coyotes howling, and they must have been close because they stopped when he went outside.
AND THEN! last week, in the afternoon, I was standing at the back door watching Pooka sniff around the back fence and she started barking (kids and people with their dogs sometimes go walking back there along the tracks) and then from behind the brush a rather large coyote starts trotting by. He doesn't care that Pooka is barking at him and doesn't even really look at her, just trots along, going north. For a split-second I thought "my that is a rough looking dog who actually looks a lot like a .... coyote!" and I opened the door and yelled at Pooka NO and COME and then remembered my recall "PizzlePizzlePizzle!" it took her two barks to finally hear me (it seems like so long) and she turned and ran to me like she's supposed to. (a very very very good training tool). By that time the coyote was pretty much gone and Pooka was whining and wanting to go back outside to defend our territory.
It was very scary and I was all panicky. I calmed down because I was actually very very happy that the coyote was not interested in Pooka one bit. If he had been, I probably would've been too late, or it could have caught up to her in the long run. My husband told me coyotes aren't really inclined to jump fences. They're not like deer. Now I watch Pooka when she goes out pretty much all the time because this happened in the middle of the day.
I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge on urban coyote behavior. If coyote's are less inclined to go after other canines? (I remember there was a sad story on here a while ago of someone's corgi getting dragged off and being put down) or if it was simply because this coyote was by itself, or if they tend to only hunt at night? Can someone confirm they won't really jump fences, especially as a pack?
My husband said ranchers would buy human hair from barbers and spread it along fence lines to keep some animals away. Any tips like that? I don't know if that would work with urban coyotes.... any thoughts would be appreciated.
So we were always careful about having Pooka out at night. A few months ago, at 2AM we heard a very loud howling which sounded like 20 coyotes (and of course was probably only 5) and it was very creepy. Put a hatchet by the back door.
Then a neighbor across the street told us she'd seen 2-3 coyotes running out of her yard and back across the street. A few houses down there is a waterway/ditch that has no fence so I think they go through there and into the neighborhood to look for food. This made me feel a little better that they don't seem to like to jump fences. I have seen a skunk in that same area. But it also made me worry about having Pooka in the front yard too. We installed motion-activated floodlights in the backyard.
Our housemate was out in the backyard with his husky a few weeks ago and said he heard a few coyotes howling, and they must have been close because they stopped when he went outside.
AND THEN! last week, in the afternoon, I was standing at the back door watching Pooka sniff around the back fence and she started barking (kids and people with their dogs sometimes go walking back there along the tracks) and then from behind the brush a rather large coyote starts trotting by. He doesn't care that Pooka is barking at him and doesn't even really look at her, just trots along, going north. For a split-second I thought "my that is a rough looking dog who actually looks a lot like a .... coyote!" and I opened the door and yelled at Pooka NO and COME and then remembered my recall "PizzlePizzlePizzle!" it took her two barks to finally hear me (it seems like so long) and she turned and ran to me like she's supposed to. (a very very very good training tool). By that time the coyote was pretty much gone and Pooka was whining and wanting to go back outside to defend our territory.
It was very scary and I was all panicky. I calmed down because I was actually very very happy that the coyote was not interested in Pooka one bit. If he had been, I probably would've been too late, or it could have caught up to her in the long run. My husband told me coyotes aren't really inclined to jump fences. They're not like deer. Now I watch Pooka when she goes out pretty much all the time because this happened in the middle of the day.
I was wondering if anyone had any knowledge on urban coyote behavior. If coyote's are less inclined to go after other canines? (I remember there was a sad story on here a while ago of someone's corgi getting dragged off and being put down) or if it was simply because this coyote was by itself, or if they tend to only hunt at night? Can someone confirm they won't really jump fences, especially as a pack?
My husband said ranchers would buy human hair from barbers and spread it along fence lines to keep some animals away. Any tips like that? I don't know if that would work with urban coyotes.... any thoughts would be appreciated.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by David on
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Here is a good article.
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Permalink Reply by Jamie on
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Where I live (Illinois), we have a large field behind our house with several acres of wooded area. I don't think I have ever seen a coyote out there until a few months ago. Two of them have been roaming the field at least a few times a week in the middle of the day, and they get very close to our backyard. We don't have a large fence, which worries me since it's very difficult to see past the edge of our yard at night and I really can't tell if they're out there or not. Unfortunately, no advice here, just a similar concern.
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Permalink Reply by Wendt Worth Corgi's on
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Studies, researches are great but times change as well. Wildlife is getting scarce and so they are coming into more populated areas and in desperate times call for desperate measures. I like to play the safe route. Protect your animals no matter the size for the attact may not be the killer but the diseases that animal may carry will!!!! We all know how our Corgis are fearless and try to take on bigger battles then they can handle. This bravery can be their doom.
They've said that human urine spread around the perimeter of your property will detour the Coyotes. Yeah I know...this is a job for the men of the house. hehe Also, male dogs marking in your yard as well. We have Coyotes here but they don't seem to come in my yard and I think its because of my males marking everywhere. Nonetheless, I go out with them everytime. I will not feel safe just because of fences or barriers. I've seen domesticated dogs climb fencing and lift tops to escape. I believe I have that on my home page..a video of it.
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Permalink Reply by Rosemary Tilton on
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I live in Az in a well developed area and the coyotes still came down off the mtn and roam our streets and Yes they do jump fences and 5FT. retaining walls , 1 night I had 5 large coyotes in my backyard, I turned on outside lights Now before I let my corgi out and if I've heard them howling I talk her out on her leash. My neighbors 25lb. cat "BID RED" was dragged off by 2 coyotes with my neighbor trying to fight them off..............so be careful..................Rosemary
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Permalink Reply by Alice on
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We have a lot of Coyotes here in Az and with all the newly developed land, they are being pushed out of their homes along with other wildlife and they are getting hungry and desperate. I see them in the city often and there have been many reports of them killing people dogs in their back yards and many outdoor cats. Recently they have become more desperate and are attacking dogs in daylight. One woman's dog was snatched by a coyote while she had it on a leash. They've been going for larger pray as well such as rams and goats.
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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Actually, they've done some studies that indicate it's not so much they are being "pushed out" of their habitat, as that urban and suburban areas are prime habitat for them. Urban coyotes, on average, live longer and are more successful than their rural counterparts (no hunting or trapping and plenty of food).
Much like seagulls, crows, squirrels, mice, rats, opossums, raccoons, and to some extent deer, coyotes find excellent hunting and shelter in developed areas. Rats and mice, mixed with garbage, petfood, rabbits, and colonies of feral cats are all abundant food sources in developed areas. They can travel freely along the edges of highways and railroad tracks.
Coyotes are moving in because we provide them excellent feeding grounds.
Around here, there are thousands upon thousands of undeveloped acres and marginal cropland, yet deer, coyotes, and foxes choose to live in the cities because it suits them. If you were a deer in winter, which would you rather: tree bark and saplings in the woods, or rows upon rows of brand-new shrubs that the suburban subdivision kindly planted in the spring?
As for coyotes, since their primary prey is rodents in most cases, again an urban or suburban area provides ideal habitat, as long as there is sufficient greenspace for them to have a denning site.
Here is another great report:
http://ohioline.osu.edu/b929/pdf/b929.pdf
My husband once saw a fox in the heart of London. My guess is they've been living there for a very long time.
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From the study I posted, this is from samples of coyote scat in Chicago; from the scat they can determine the diet. Goose eggs are a popular food source that does not show up in scat. Deer is generally from fawns or roadkill.
Table 1. Frequency of Food Items in the Diets of Coyotes in
Cook County, Illinois.*
Diet Item Occurrence
Small rodents 42%
White-tailed deer 22%
Fruit 23%
Eastern cottontail 18%
Bird species 13%
Raccoon 8%
Grass 6%
Invertebrates 4%
Human-associated 2%
Muskrat 1%
Domestic cat 1%
Unknown 1%
* Based on the contents of 1,429 scats collected during 2000-
2002. Some scats contained multiple items; therefore, the percentages exceed 100%. See Morey 2004.
They estimate several thousand coyotes in Chicago.
And specifically regarding dogs:
"More extreme are the cases where coyotes attack and,
sometimes, kill pets. As coyotes move into metropolitan
areas, there is undoubtedly an increase in the loss of free-
ranging domestic cats (Figure 23). Coyotes sometimes take
cats as food, or simply to remove a possible competing
predator from their territory (much like they do with
foxes). Less commonly, they may attack small dogs or, even
less frequently, medium-to-large dogs.
Usually dogs are attacked when they are not
accompanied by people, but in some rare cases, small
dogs have been taken in the presence of an owner. Small
dogs may be taken at any time of year, but attacks on
larger dogs are usually associated with the mating or
breeding season, when coyotes are most territorial.
In some cases, small dogs have been taken while the
dog was on a lead, or coyotes have jumped fences to
attack a dog in a yard. Most metropolitan areas in the
Midwest and eastern United States have reported an
apparent increase in the number of attacks on pets. "
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When I was little, the land near us was undeveloped and we would see and hear coyotes all the time. Now that area has long since been built on and the coyotes are seldom seen and never heard. From experience, I know that the coyotes are still found more on the outskirts of town where they are still in the desert but have access to the city. The ones spotted in the middle of the city are usually alone but rarely seen with one or two others and they are there for a purpose; food. We know that they jump fences and it's been proven that they dig under as well. Many people see them walking on the walls between yards searching for a snack.
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Permalink Reply by Linda Nix on
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Coyotes are getting too "familiar" here in North Central Texas. Advice: Don't trust them; don't assume that they will act like urban or rural, or wolf-cross or not, or any "profile"; do not let them get too close to humans or pets.
One night last summer, one trotted within 15 feet of me when I was watering garden with a floodlight on, hose in hand. Incredibly, he didn't even glance my way-- in fact, I thought at first it was my Corgi (trimmed for summer) and called, "Hey, Nacho." The animal turned his head and saw me, reacted with a dodge, then continued slowly trotting in same direction. Then I noticed that my "dog" had rounded ears, a single color, and had grown a TAIL! Made me more cautious of a wild animal that didn't see, hear or smell my prescence.
Another night, my dogs were in the pasture as usual, and I could tell by their barking that they were coming closer to the yard. When I called them again, I turned to see my dogs inside the yard fence, and a pair of coyotes just outside, with bright lights on them and on me. I don't know if they would have come under the barbed wire fence to pursue my dogs further, but my husband fired a shotgun above them and they trotted on.
Our Corgi "Nacho" stays a distance away from them, but Dachshund "Buddy" is even more defensive of the place, so I make him go inside (once I catch him!).
There are at least 3 packs that come close; their howling is interesting communication between packs. I want it to stay at a distance, not up close and personal. We don't put food outside; the only food for coyotes would be rodents and cottontails -- our outdoor cat runs up a tree. Their lack of fear of humans, noise, and lights is nerve-wracking.
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Permalink Reply by christy fry on
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The coyotes in my part of the northwest seem tiny to me maybe 35 lbs but not much bigger I have actually lost a stray kitty to a coyote and there was enough of her left in my yard to know what happened. She was an older kitty I named Porch because thats where she lived but her arthritis was preventing her from jumping up over my gate onto the porch. I had decided to take her in and have her put down(winter was coming she would have been in great pain then with the cold) because she would pee all over my house the few times I tried to make her an indoor kitty. So to the gory stuff if your wondering what I found there were peices of her insides and fur the little white wire fence around my flowers was trampled and the prints were coyote a neighbor is a retired wildlfe person and he confirmed it. She must have put up a hell of a fight good for her. you could see the blood trail when the battle was over and the coyote took it's prize home. So I am wary of them they will attack a weak animal at least.
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