Post by Woody Williams on Nov 6, 2006 21:26:09 GMT -5
Coyotes travel around Tri-State
By Steve Ford (Contact)
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Every year there's another call or two, another e-mail on a recurring theme.
The steady increase in inquiries concern the apex carnivore in the Tri-State, the wily coyote. Only this one's nothing like the hapless cartoon character eternally vexed by the roadrunner. He's crafty, and when he sets off after something he generally catches it.
Thus, the calls. People think they see or hear a coyote and think it's a fluke or have a stray cat disappear and wonder what might have happened.
They see the dog-like critter with a mottled brown coat and tinges of red around the ears and snout trotting through their yard and think, "No, that couldn't be a coyote," and then call or write me.
Then I tell them it probably was, that coyotes are quite common in the city. Most people seem reluctant to accept that. The ones that do want to know if they're dangerous, which they generally aren't, or if they're diseased or something, which they generally aren't.
But that's not what I heard on a TV news report filed from some Midwestern city I can't recall. The newscaster said the coyotes were showing up in more urban settings because they "were being forced out of traditional habitat."
Wrong!
Coyotes are not being forced out of traditional range. They're expanding their range into urban settings, even into downtown, including Evansville.
Think not? Consider that a recent study by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources revealed coyotes in downtown Chicago. Yes, that Chicago.
The six-year study, conducted by the Max McGraw Wildlife Institute, was chronicled in Outdoor Illinois by researcher Stand Gehrt. It answered some interesting questions.
Questions included, how do coyotes live among 9 million people? Do all coyotes come into contact with people? Can coyotes and people coexist? And just what do coyotes eat?
In a nutshell the answers are very well, rarely, yes and not what you might think.
The study showed that coyotes will go out of their way to kill a stray cat, a behavior researchers couldn't explain because coyotes rarely eat cats.
Which gets to the question of what coyotes do eat. The urban research found that they ate very much like their rural cousins and that they rarely fed on pets or refuse. They preferred rabbits, rodents and fruit, changing seasonally.
The research found two very distinct types of populations: resident packs that could live easily in an area like Wesselman Woods or the Pigeon Creek Greenway and what are called floaters, individual animals with ranges as large as 30-40 square miles.
The study found that most people were unaware they were sharing the neighborhood with coyotes because the animals work the night shift and become quite good at crossing roads, often dozens a night, while making rounds.
It was noted that coyotes could be beneficial, such as around golf courses. There they control pests like moles, groundhogs and Canada geese.
So if you see a medium-sized canine trotting near your house at night, it might not be a neighbor's dog. If that's the case, you might want to put the cat up.
Contact Steve Ford at 464-7511 or fords@courierpress.com
www.courierpress.com/news/2006/nov/05/coyotes-travel-around-tri-state/
By Steve Ford (Contact)
Sunday, November 5, 2006
Every year there's another call or two, another e-mail on a recurring theme.
The steady increase in inquiries concern the apex carnivore in the Tri-State, the wily coyote. Only this one's nothing like the hapless cartoon character eternally vexed by the roadrunner. He's crafty, and when he sets off after something he generally catches it.
Thus, the calls. People think they see or hear a coyote and think it's a fluke or have a stray cat disappear and wonder what might have happened.
They see the dog-like critter with a mottled brown coat and tinges of red around the ears and snout trotting through their yard and think, "No, that couldn't be a coyote," and then call or write me.
Then I tell them it probably was, that coyotes are quite common in the city. Most people seem reluctant to accept that. The ones that do want to know if they're dangerous, which they generally aren't, or if they're diseased or something, which they generally aren't.
But that's not what I heard on a TV news report filed from some Midwestern city I can't recall. The newscaster said the coyotes were showing up in more urban settings because they "were being forced out of traditional habitat."
Wrong!
Coyotes are not being forced out of traditional range. They're expanding their range into urban settings, even into downtown, including Evansville.
Think not? Consider that a recent study by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources revealed coyotes in downtown Chicago. Yes, that Chicago.
The six-year study, conducted by the Max McGraw Wildlife Institute, was chronicled in Outdoor Illinois by researcher Stand Gehrt. It answered some interesting questions.
Questions included, how do coyotes live among 9 million people? Do all coyotes come into contact with people? Can coyotes and people coexist? And just what do coyotes eat?
In a nutshell the answers are very well, rarely, yes and not what you might think.
The study showed that coyotes will go out of their way to kill a stray cat, a behavior researchers couldn't explain because coyotes rarely eat cats.
Which gets to the question of what coyotes do eat. The urban research found that they ate very much like their rural cousins and that they rarely fed on pets or refuse. They preferred rabbits, rodents and fruit, changing seasonally.
The research found two very distinct types of populations: resident packs that could live easily in an area like Wesselman Woods or the Pigeon Creek Greenway and what are called floaters, individual animals with ranges as large as 30-40 square miles.
The study found that most people were unaware they were sharing the neighborhood with coyotes because the animals work the night shift and become quite good at crossing roads, often dozens a night, while making rounds.
It was noted that coyotes could be beneficial, such as around golf courses. There they control pests like moles, groundhogs and Canada geese.
So if you see a medium-sized canine trotting near your house at night, it might not be a neighbor's dog. If that's the case, you might want to put the cat up.
Contact Steve Ford at 464-7511 or fords@courierpress.com
www.courierpress.com/news/2006/nov/05/coyotes-travel-around-tri-state/
