Madison, WI- Coyote problems in the news

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Florida- Coyotes in North Pinellas are getting more aggressive

March 29, 2009

Kathy Hollick, 43, walks her 5-pound Malti-poo, Amy, with her Maxfli five-iron for protection against coyotes.

EAST LAKE

Danielle Kelly had been searching for her teacup Pomeranian Foxy Lady for hours when golfers summoned her to the 14th hole at the East Lake Woodlands North golf course.

There she found two paws, a fluff of fur and a piece of tail, the apparent victim of a hungry coyote. Kelly picked up the paws and held on to them for two days.

"That was just probably the worst thing that's ever happened to me so far," said Kelly, 28, a paralegal.

Most likely, authorities say, the worst is yet to come.

The increase in aggressiveness among North Pinellas coyotes is exactly what authorities would expect from a predator that has lived for generations in close proximity to people. Based on what happened in Dunedin about four years ago and in South Florida last year, this is what East Lake can expect next:

Coyotes snatching dogs right off leashes, crashing through lanai screens to grab cats by the throat, people mauled trying to protect their pets.

Already, residents have armed themselves with sticks, golf clubs, a stun gun and, in at least one case, a cane that transforms into a sword.

Foxy Lady is one of at least two pet dogs killed in East Lake in recent months. Earlier this month, a West Highland white terrier barely survived an attack and two coyotes chased a woman with two Huskies to her door.

As she searched for Foxy Lady, Kelly saw five or six coyotes, three or four together at one point.

Kelly's mother had let the 7- or 8-pound dog out in the front yard of their house at 2002 Muirfield Way the morning of Jan. 12, as they had for 11 years. In a flash, the dog was gone.

"It was so fast," Kelly said. "I tell everybody: Use a leash and keep it short."

Roberta Pawlowski, nearby in the Turtle Creek subdivision of East Lake Woodlands, had also seen coyotes at one time or another.

"You get so complacent, you don't even think about it," she said.

On a cold morning in January, her husband left Rocky in the front yard while he went back for a jacket and shoes. Soon, he was back in the house telling his wife their 15-year-old Jack Russell terrier was gone.

Remembering the coyotes, she ran out in the street in her nightgown. There were two and in its mouth, one had Rocky.

"He was obviously dead," Pawlowski said. "That's the hardest thing, just getting rid of that image."

In his younger days, Rocky would have put up quite a fight, she said.

Last week, a dog in Odessa survived a scuffle with a coyote, but the coyote scratched the person who got between it and the dog. Here's how officials at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission recount the event:

Lauren Sherwood, 18, was on the ground planting flowers at a small horse farm and an Australian shepherd mix was on the ground near her when a coyote went after the dog. The animals started to fight, then Sherwood stood up and kicked the coyote and it ran off into the woods.

She was scratched and her aunt, a nurse, treated her scratches. The Fish and Wildlife Commission recommended rabies shots, but officials say there have been no recent reports of rabies in the area and Sherwood decided to forego any further medical treatment.

In Southwest Florida last year, according to reports in the Naples Daily News, three coyotes were trapped after they snatched dogs on leashes and went through lanai screens to kill cats.

Two residents required rabies shots: a man who came in contact with a coyote's saliva and a woman who was scratched while defending her dachshund, according to Breanne Strepina, a wildlife biologist with the Southwest region of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The woman's mistake was falling on the dog to protect it, Strepina said. It's better to pick up your dog and stand tall when confronted by a coyote.

Last week, Strepina said she gave information on living with coyotes to the East Lake Woodlands homeowners association. She said she has heard some residents there put corn out to attract deer and that may be attracting coyotes, too.

"It's important that people change their behavior if they want an animal to change its behavior," she said.

Strepina also gave the homeowners association the name of an experienced trapper, in case the situation gets worse.

When is it time to call a trapper?

When coyotes start snatching pets with no fear for the human holding the leash, she said, they are getting aggressive. Until then, education is the best approach.

Dunedin faced a coyote uprising in 2005 in early summer, the time of year when coyotes need food for their pups. They went after a 70-pound German shorthaired pointer, threatened a woman walking dogs and killed a small dog.

The county responded with an education campaign, and the problem died down.

A few simple actions can prevent pet loss and injuries to residents who come between coyotes and their pets, said Welch Agnew, director of veterinary services at Pinellas County Animal Services.

Remove all outdoor food sources and keep small pets close on a leash when outside. Stand tall when you encounter a coyote, make it feel unwelcome with loud noises or a water from a hose and pick up small pets.

"Then they will do like they did in Dunedin," said Agnew, "and slink back into the woods."

  "I saw something brown, and it had my dog in its mouth," she said.
       What she saw was a coyote, which had killed her Pomeranian. She chased the animal until it finally dropped the small dog and scampered off.
       She said in her 23 years of living in the area she never had issues with the wild dogs and only heard them howling or yelping in the distance.
       "We've heard them, we hear 'em all the time, but we've never seen them before," she said. "I've owned two Yorkies before this and I never had this problem . . . it was so sudden."
       According to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR), coyotes are easily found throughout the state and have dispersed into both urban and rural areas without any assistance. A coyote's typical home range can vary from eight to 12 square miles.
       The wild dogs, which usually grow to the size of a medium German shepherd dog, are extremely adaptable and are considered opportunistic hunters. Their preferred prey are small mammals such as moles, mice, rabbits, hares and squirrels, but have been known to kill livestock such as sheep, goats, calves and poultry.
       Tim Payne, DNR wildlife supervisor for southeast Michigan, said his office has had multiple reports of coyotes taking small dogs and cats. He said the reason they do this can vary from hunting to territorial defense.
       "If you stop to think about it, a coyote is a big dog," he said. "So if they see another canine in their territory, they'll try to eliminate it. They will protect their young if they're in the area as well."
       He said the DNR doesn't typically react to such calls, as they are not a rarity. However, they do offer advice to anyone who has concerns about coyotes in the area.
       He said if coyotes frequent an area, people should use caution in letting small pets outside, especially at night. People should never intentionally feed or attempt to tame them as well, as that will reduce their fear of humans.
       "Keep them wild and don't let them get accustomed to human food," he said.
       If continued problems exist, pest control services can be contacted to trap coyotes. In fact, in more rural areas where the discharging of firearms is allowed, people can defend their livestock or family by hunting them.
       "Our laws with coyotes are pretty liberal," he said. "If they're doing damage, you can get rid of them, you don't need special permission to take care of it."
       That doesn't mean it's open season on coyotes, though. If one is in the area but doesn't bother people, he said it could be advantageous to leave it alone, as removing it allows a new coyote that may not be afraid of humans to enter the former animal's territory and establish dominance.
       "Don't trap them just to trap them," he said.
       Since the attack, Gabler said she has kept an eye on her pets whenever they go outside, and hopes others will learn from her experience to remain watchful.
       "I know people know they're out there, but I don't think they realize they'll do this," she said. "People should know this can happen to them."

NY-NORTH TONAWANDA: Coyote shot after third bite

NORTH TONAWANDA - As of Thursday morning, the tally of North Tonawanda men bitten by a coyote stands at three  in a little more than two weeks.

This time, the attack happened on Zimmerman Street.

Unlike the March 31 biting of a man on Sweeney Street and Monday nights incident by the old Wurlitzer plant, however, the animal was shot and killed by police who responded shortly after midnight.

Niagara County Health Department officials then collected the animal's corpse, which has been decapitated, and the necessary brain tissue sent to Albany for rabies testing.

Police reports indicate the bite did not break the skin of the Lena Drive man, but treatment for the disease may depend on test results expected sometime today. 

I exited my patrol vehicle after deploying the patrol rifle, reads a statement by one of the responding officers. ?The coyote tucked its legs in close to its body and laid down facing me. I moved slightly to my right to have a broadside shot and closed the distance toward the coyote, it continues. I was approximately 25 feet away ... with a safe backstop ... I fired one round from the patrol rifle, striking the coyote in the heart/lung area. The coyote spun around and ran into the woods approximately 20 yards before expiring. 

Niagara County Director of Environmental Health Jim Devald said he, along with city officials and the Department of Environmental Conservation, have discussed the recent rash of attacks.

The question is whether this is the same coyote or not, and I don't think anyone can answer that yet, Devald said.

Mayor Larry Soos is warning residents to be cautious, and his office plans to schedule a public forum to address related health and safety concerns.

No treatment was needed for the victim of the latest bite. It appears police first spotted the animal back on Zimmerman Street a short time after they arrived and searched a nearby dump. The animal at one point approached the patrol car, nearly putting its front paws on the vehicles side window, the report said.

It's a concern, Devald said. From a health standpoint, we need to work with the City of North Tonawanda, with the DEC and see what can be done to address it. It's basically new to us. We haven't seen this before. Everyone needs to sit down and work together.

Soos, in a statement issued Thursday, said he spoke with the state's regional wildlife manager, who is willing to issue a letter of permission to the city to hire a trapper, that would reduce the coyote population by removing the offending animal(s).

He kept retreating while looking for a stick. They followed him all the way to the barn, where he closed the door. Within five minutes they disappeared.

When word of Steadman's run-in with the coyotes was reported in The Observer, it sparked a debate at city hall over what to do. But the attendant, a hunter and trapper with 30 years experience, remained silent about his encounter, until now.

Steadman left the Animal Farm two days later and now works at the Clearwater Arena. He refused to work alone in the park because he believes the city's immediate response -- providing an umbrella and a pickup truck -- was insufficient, he said.

"They said police officers use umbrellas when they confront a mean dog. But they have guns when the umbrella doesn't work."

By speaking to The Observer, he defied what he said were orders from city hall to stay quiet.

He once feared that going public about his concerns would cost him his beloved job at the farm. But now he wonders what will happen if the city continues to do nothing about the animals.

"It's pretty sad. Peopleare more worried about the safety of two coyotes than they are about the kids and people who live in the city of Sarnia.

"They've lost that fear of humans, which makes them just like a dog. Except they're wild animals that are very unpredictable."

Steadman said the coyotes should be shot.

"In my opinion, what has to happen is those two particular coyotes have to be dealt with. If that offends some people then I'm sorry. You've got to think of public safety."

Acting city manager Lloyd Fennell said council is waiting for guidance from the Ministry of Natural Resources, which so far has been inconsistent.

"Even the experts . . . are all struggling with what the answer is," he said. "We need to take our lead and any future directions from the professionals."

Fennell said he was unaware of any attempts to silence or punish Steadman for speaking out.

"For us, this is not anything against an employee," Fennell said.

Sarnia has since given workers at the farm tools to fend off the coyotes, including an electric cattle prod, floodlighting and an air horn. Since Steadman's encounter, there have been no coyote sightings at the Animal Farm, he said.

"We need to be cognizant of the well-being of the public, and as well the coyotes.

They're doing what is natural to them."

Dr. Marc Bekoff, a professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, has studied coyote behaviour for decades.

He said Steadman was right to be scared, but added more information is needed to draw conclusions. They were probably curious to see if Steadman had food, he said.

In terms of human-coyote interactions the encounter wasn't serious, he added.

"On a scale of 10, I would put this at about a two. People need to stop feeding (wild) animals. We redecorated their living rooms by moving in on them."

Coyotes rarely hunt co-operatively and are very adaptive, looking for the most readily available food source. They rarely hunt anything larger than themselves, Bekoff said.

"If the coyotes had wanted to attack him they would have gone straight for him," he said.

Bekoff said a habituated animal is a problem, however. But like humans, each coyote is an individual and removing every one from a city isn't possible or necessary, he said.

"They have very distinct personalities and temperaments. There are bold animals and shy animals."

He agrees with Steadman that more encounters are likely, especially during the breeding season of March and April when they're more assertively searching for food and mates.

Camilla Fox, founding direc-tor of Project Coyote, an animal welfare institute, said Sarnia isn't alone in dealing with coyote encroachment. The city of Chicago has an estimated population of 2,000, and coyotes have even turned up in New York's Central Park.

Fox said coyotes can actually benefit an urban ecosystem by controlling rodents and other pests. Humans need to adjust their behaviour because wild animals can't change, she said.

"Coyotes have been persecuted for decades and their population has expanded threefold in that time. That's despite a concerted government eff ort to reduce the population."

Bekoff said the city needs to devise a plan before a human attack occurs.

"Once there is an attack, either substantiated or not, you're dealing with a radically different issue," he said. "It's beyond belief what one attack will do. It will elicit intense fear."

In the meantime, Tim Steadman said he feels like he's caught in the middle. He desperately wants to go back to the job he loves, but is concerned about people who frequent the park.

"Are your children safe, are my children safe?" he asked.