DEM Offers Tips on Preventing Conflicts with Coyotes
Coyotes are keenly
intelligent, extraordinarily adaptable, and willing to eat almost any available
food – whether natural, including small animals, birds, insects, and fruits;
scavenged roadkill; or easily obtainable human-provided sources such as
garbage, pet food, birdseed, and compost. The key to minimizing interactions
and conflicts with coyotes is reducing food sources available to them around
our homes and neighborhoods.
Coyotes
that rely on natural food sources remain wild and wary of humans. Feeding
coyotes – or any wild animal – however, makes them less fearful of people and
they can become casual or even bold when encountering people.
"If you see coyotes that are bold and brazen, it's often directly related to intentional feeding or easy and reliably available food sources associated with human activities," said DEM wildlife biologist Charles Brown.
"Intentionally
feeding wild animals habituates them, causes them to lose their inherent fear
of humans, and may lead to brazen behavior. It also leads to a whole series of
problems, including frequenting areas close to homes and preying on domestic
animals such as chickens, cats, and small dogs."
The CoyoteSmarts
coyote management toolkit is a valuable resource for Rhode Island
municipalities to help address coyote problems. It brings together policies and
practices adopted by local governments that can serve as models for communities
throughout the state. A PDF of the toolkit is available on request from info@coyotesmarts.org.
Launched
in 2013, CoyoteSmarts is a public information initiative that addresses the
growing presence of coyotes on Aquidneck Island and in other communities across
Rhode Island. Partners in this collaborative effort, which is designed to raise
public awareness, promote public and pet safety, and encourage coyote best
management practices, include the Potter League for Animals, Aquidneck Land
Trust, Aquidneck Island Planning Commission, Norman Bird Sanctuary, The
Conservation Agency, RI Natural History Survey, and the Eastern RI Conservation
District. For more information, visit https://www.coyotesmarts.org/
Typically, adult
male and female coyotes breed in late winter and the female gives birth to a
litter of 4 to 8 pups in April. Consisting of the adult pair and the pups, this
social unit will be maintained until the pups become yearlings and disperse on
their own or get booted out by their parents.
Noisy,
hungry pups must be fed. That means adult coyotes will be seen and heard
foraging and hunting for food in rural, suburban, and even urban Rhode Island
neighborhoods over the next several months. As daylight hours increase, adult
coyotes may spend more time actively foraging during daytime than they would at
other times of the year.
Coyotes play an
important ecological role by controlling populations of rodents, resident
geese, and in some cases white-tailed deer, Brown said. Shy and elusive by
nature, most coyotes usually make every attempt to avoid interactions with
people. Coyote attacks on people are very rare.
On
the other hand, more than 4.5 million people are bitten by dogs each year in
the United States, over half of dog bite injuries occur at home with dogs that
are familiar to us, and over 800,000 receive medical attention for dog bites,
according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Visit DEM's website for more
information about coyotes.
HOW TO CUT DOWN
ON COYOTE CONFLICTS
Remove
"attractants" from your yard. This means removing all food and water
sources like pet food dishes and birdfeeders and keeping barbecue grills clean
of grease. Don't put meat or sweet food scraps in your compost pile, and keep
compost in secure, vented containers.
Put
your trash in containers with secure lids and store them in sheds and garages
away from doors if possible. Put garbage for pickup outside on the morning of
collection, not the night before. If you have fruit trees, pick up fallen
fruit.
Cut back brushy
edges and dense weeds from around your yard and structures like sheds. These
areas provide cover for coyotes and their prey.
Chase coyotes
off your property. Keep coyotes wild by "hazing" them, which means
doing things to scare them or chase them away. According to the website
CoyoteSmarts.org, the following actions are effective
hazing tactics:
- Be as big and
loud as possible. Do not run or turn your back.
- Wave your
arms, clap your hands, and shout in an authoritative voice.
- Make noise by
banging pots and pans or using an air horn or whistle. The sounds also can
alert the neighbors.
- Throw small
stones, sticks, tennis balls, or anything else you can lay your hands on.
Remember: the intent is to scare and not to injure.
- Shake or throw
a "coyote shaker" – a soda can filled with nuts and bolts, pennies,
or pebbles and sealed with duct tape.
Protecting pets.
Keep pets, particularly cats, indoors. Coyotes don't distinguish between
domestic and wild animals and are likely to view cats and small dogs as
potential food and larger dogs as competition. For the safety of your pets,
always keep them leashed when outdoors and feed them indoors. Outdoor feeding
can attract many wild animals. Do not leave small dogs outside unattended,
especially at night.
When confronted
by a coyote. Stand up and look big. Wave your arms. Yell loudly. Don't lose your
head. Keeping an assertive posture and making eye contact will convey a message
of authority that coyotes will typically respect. Maintain eye contact. If the
coyote does not retreat, walk slowly away toward the house. Do not turn your
back on the animal.
Report
aggressive behavior. Coyotes that exhibit bold or aggressive behavior towards
humans should be treated with caution and reported to authorities. Also,
animals that appear or act aggressively or are noticeably sick should be
reported to the DEM Division of Law Enforcement (222-3070) or to your local
animal control officer. Also, any contact between a coyote and a dog or other
domestic animal should be immediately reported to your veterinarian and animal
control officer.
Never feed
coyotes. Feeding coyotes or other wild animals causes behavioral changes that
will almost certainly cause unintended problems for neighbors and the animals
that were meant to benefit. Report neighbors that are feeding coyotes to the
DEM Division of Law Enforcement (222-3070) or to your local animal control
officer.
Adult female
coyotes typically weigh 33-40 pounds, while males typically weigh 34-47 pounds.
They often look heavier because of their thick fur. The first appearance of
coyotes in Rhode Island occurred in the mid-1960s, part of a range expansion
into the eastern United States that began at the end of the 19th century.
Coyotes
can currently be found in all Rhode Island communities except New Shoreham.
They may hunt and travel alone or sometimes will travel as a group, usually an
adult pair with their offspring from the most recent litter. In our area,
coyotes are mostly nocturnal, mainly to avoid interactions with people. They
remain active year-round and do not hibernate. Coyote pairs are territorial and
will exclude other coyotes from their established territory.
"Coyotes
are now well established as part of our native fauna and unless you live on
Block Island, you can expect that coyotes occur in your town or neighborhood
and at some point, you may actually see one in your yard, on the bike path, or
crossing a farm field," said DEM wildlife biologist Charles Brown.
"Not
all coyotes exhibit bad traits and those that do have likely been encouraged or
conditioned to behave that way because of human behavior."
For more
information on coyotes, click here for a DEM fact sheet and visit CoyoteSmarts'
Facebook page. Follow DEM on Facebook at www.facebook.com/RhodeIslandDEM or on
Twitter (@RhodeIslandDEM) for timely updates.
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