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Thursday, April 19, 2007

Coyotes love Fido and fluffy

By Bill Cochran

Mike Hinson has found the remains of two fawns in the backyard of his Craig County farmhouse.

They were kills by coyotes.

“But they won’t eat my cats,” Hinson said. “I’d rather they eat my cats.”

Just wait. Coyotes are highly opportunistic feeders, and their diets include pets, said Dr. Jim Parkhurst, associate professor and wildlife extension specialists at Virginia Tech.

Suddenly a dog or cat put into a backyard disappears. The owner has no idea what happened to the pet.

Parkhurst does. Coyotes! “They love Fido and Fluffy,” he said.

“Coyotes are here to stay,” he told members of the Tri-County Forestry and Wildlife Club meeting in Roanoke County this week. “They are not going anywhere. We are not gong to be successful eradicating them.”

That’s because they are extremely adaptable and have a fast learning curve, he said.

Recently they have been making headlines as they extend their range from rural to urban areas. Sometimes they live in the vacant lot next door and people have no idea they are anywhere close, said Parkhurst.

The fact that they have established themselves in Washington, D.C.’s, Rock Creek Park was the subject of an April 16 article in the Washington Post. John Northcutt, who lives across the street from the park, heard one and described the sound as “a monster-movie howl,” adding, “It was just very strange to be in the city and hear that.”

Get used it.

Here are some of the things Parkhurst had to say about coyotes in Virginia:

WHEN THEY ARRIVED: In the late 1950s and early '60s. For a long time they were operating under the radar screen and people didn’t know they were here. They quickly spread out and their population expanded to the point that they have been observed in every county of the state.

ORIGIN: Coyotes in Virginia are from the Plains states. There was a southern and a northern migration that met in Virginia, which became a melting pot for the species.

SIZE: Males are 30 to 60 pounds, females slightly smaller. They really aren’t as large as some people believe.

COLOR: Most common is a salt and pepper dusty brown, but that varies. They can be pure white or jet black and everything inbetween.

RANGE: This varies as to the season, the food source, the density of the population and the social interactions of the animals. Dominant females do not tolerate each other well. The result is spacing of the population. In the western end of the state there are likely places where the population is at capacity. Coyotes prefer forest and field edges.

DENS: They often are on slopes, under brush piles, beneath upturned tree roots, rock outcroppings, hollow logs, the enlarged dens of other animals, such as groundhogs. In urban areas coyotes can live under buildings, in culverts, hollow logs, beneath decks and old lumber piles, even in an abandoned car. They mate mid-January to March, have pups in litters of four-to-eight in April and May and are weaned in five- to seven-weeks.

DAMAGE TO WILDLIFE: If they find a turkey or other ground-nesting bird on a nest, they will eat her. If she is off her nest they will eat her eggs. Coyotes are no threat to adult deer that are in good health, but they are known to take fawns. The impact of the fawn kill is uncertain, but considering the size of the deer herd it appears to be insignificant. There may be local exceptions. No question that groundhog numbers are down in some areas because of coyotes, and they compete with red foxes.

FOOD SOURCES: They are opportunistic feeders eating what is available and what cost the least amount of energy. This includes small mammals, fruits and berries, insects (especially grasshoppers), small pets, road kills, injured deer, gut piles during the hunting season, urban garbage and pet food. They love watermelons.

RESEARCH: Very little is being done in Virginia because the coyote is classified as a nuisance species and funding for studies is deemed less important than for other species.

HUNTING: Not many are shot except by happenstance during the deer season. Eastern coyotes, for an unexplained reason, are difficult to call. There is no season or bag limit.

CONCERNS: That they will lose their fear of humans, eat pets, damage other wildlife, become a disease threat.

BOUNTIES: This is a mostly “feel-good” effort that has administrative burdens and limited impact, although little research has been done to measure its effectiveness. Again, nothing is going to eliminate coyotes. People have tried unsuccessfully in the West for 100 years.

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