The recent coyote attack in Iredell county is unfortunate and sad. Someone lost a pet in a matter of seconds. Human fear and emotions are real and for good reason. The dog was likely attacked with no warning at all.
In situations like this, comments like, “What do we expect? We have built houses in their habitat” are not helpful. It also does no good to simply say, “If I see one, I am going to just shoot it!” or to argue whether or not you can actually shoot a coyote within city limits. These comments bring little comfort to the people who have seen coyotes in their neighborhoods and are frightened. What may actually help is understanding coyote behavior and knowing what the scientific literature says about this urban carnivore.
For the past 6 years, researchers at Mitchell Community College have surveyed areas around Statesville using motion-activated trail cameras. The following picture shows where coyotes have been observed (highlighted in yellow).
As you can see, if there is a green patch within city limits, these animals can be successful. Individual coyotes or pairs can typically have smaller home ranges in urban environments because resources (i.e. food) are greater. Below, we have attempted to provide answers to some coyote questions by compiling data from scientific articles. We have also used some of our own camera trap data from Statesville.
1) Have coyotes just recently learned to live with people? Nope.
In a recent news article, a N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission biologist was quoted as saying coyotes are “getting used to people.” This makes it sound like the co-existence between coyotes and humans is relatively recent. It’s not. Coyotes have never been solely wilderness creatures. For the 15,000 years since humans have inhabited North America, coyotes have been living alongside us (Flores 2016). Besides, we do not ever want coyotes to get used to us to the point where they feel comfortable.
2) Are coyotes “non-native” and “invasive”? It depends on how you define “non-native.” As far as invasive goes, not by a long shot.
It is probably accurate to say that coyotes are the most persecuted animal in North America, with 500,000 of them killed every year (Flores 2016). What makes them different than any other urban animal is that they are deemed a “problem” just because of their presence. By most accounts, coyotes are described as “non-native” and “invasive.” Those are two words that may not be suitable in this case. In 2008, Iredell County Animal Services and Control sent out this publication. It states that at one point in the past, foxes were in so much demand for hunting that someone transported coyotes from Virginia into Iredell County to replace them. Hurricane Hugo, which came through the county in 1989, supposedly demolished the coyote pens, and they all escaped into the wild. Judging by how fast coyotes have spread into other counties throughout North Carolina, it is unclear whether this single event helped coyotes spread into the area faster than they normally would have. Even though coyotes may not have always inhabited North Carolina, red wolves once did. Since recent genetic research has shown that 80% of the red wolf genome is similar to coyotes, you could make an argument that coyotes (their genes, anyway) are native (VonHoldt 2011).
3) Are coyotes beneficial to urban ecosystems? Yes.
As is the case in Statesville, coyotes are the top predator in most urban ecosystems. Crooks and Soule (1999) showed that coyotes regulate a trophic cascade mechanism within fragmented landscapes. In the absence of coyotes, mesopredator (like raccoons or cats) populations increase. When mesopredators increase, songbirds tend to decrease, so you could make the argument that coyotes benefit native songbirds. Coyotes can also influence foxes, cats, raccoons, and skunks through direct competition. They may even influence behavior in domestic cats in urban environments (Kays et al. 2015). At our urban green patch sites, we did not catch any domestic cats. However, at our backyard sites over the same period of time, we had 22 independent captures of cats. So, maybe cats know where to go and where not to go. Through direct predation, coyotes do regulate rodent, rabbit, and in some areas, deer populations. For example, look at both Figures 2 and 3. Coyote and rabbit activity overlap is higher in Statesville green spaces (Figure 2) than in backyards (Figure 3). You will also notice that rabbit activity peaks soon after midnight in backyards where coyotes are less dense (Figure 3). In Statesville green patches, rabbit activity peaks a little before 6 a.m. and right after 6 p.m. Are coyotes changing the behavior of rabbits in urban environments?
4) Do coyotes pose a danger to pets? Obviously, yes, but conflicts are rare.
Occasionally, coyotes do kill pets, but it is hardly a common occurrence. Contrary to popular belief, coyotes do not simply eat garbage and harass pets. It’s not the dumpsters or the small cats that attract coyotes to urban areas. Coyotes are top-level carnivores here in Statesville, and they are actively engaged as predators. Most conflicts with pets are because coyotes view small dogs and cats as competitors, not as food. In fact, this competitive response is similar to the response that coyotes show towards smaller foxes. Coyotes in urban ecosystems do not depend on pets as food (Gehrt 2007). If they did, we would not have any pets left. In most studies, cats only make up 1-2% or less of the diet of urban coyotes (MacCracken 1982, McClure et al. 1995, and Bollin-Booth 2007). Our studies have shown that coyotes prefer cottontails in Statesville.
5) Are coyotes dangerous to humans in urban environments? Typically, not at all.
Coyotes have been documented attacking people. In 1981, a small child died from a coyote attack (Howell 1982). In 2009, White and Gehrt classified 142 U.S. and Canadian coyote attack reports. They categorized the attacks as follows:
Pet related- 6%
Like the recent attack in Statesville, most of the attacks occurred during pup-rearing season (May-July). “Problem” coyotes seem to be those that have become habituated to humans. Most urban coyotes avoid humans by shifting to more nocturnal activities. Our data certainly indicate this. Over 126 days, we collected 56 independent coyote captures on our cameras within city limits. Our data show that coyotes within city limits are, on average, 68% nocturnal. Four capture sites in one particular area showed that coyotes were 89% nocturnal.
Habituation could be the result of intentional or unintentional feeding of wildlife or avoiding them when they are seen. To successfully live with these predators, it is always best to yell and scream at them if you see them in your neighborhood. Make sure they stay wild, but also make sure they stay nervous.
6) Are coyotes frequently reported as rabid wildlife species? Nope.
Rabies is a common fear among those of us that live in the city. The Center for Disease Control reports that raccoons account for most of the rabies outbreaks in the U.S., followed by bats, skunks, and foxes. Unlike raccoons, the coyote-strain rabies (except for a tiny population in South Texas) has not been an issue in the U.S (Clark and Wilson 1995). However, raccoon-strain rabies or raccoon rabies virus (RRV) can spillover into coyote populations. This has happened only occasionally (Wang 2010).
7) Can you ever get rid of all the coyotes? It doesn’t look like it.
If a pest-control company tells you they can take care of the “problem” and eliminate coyotes, they can’t (at least not permanently). Most predators are either solitary (mountain lions) or social (gray wolves), but not both. Coyotes, however, can be both. They can also catch a variety of prey, from small mice to deer. These are just some of the characteristics that allow them to live just about anywhere. Also, coyotes seem to be somewhat immune to exploitation. Knowlton et al. (1999) showed that unexploited coyote populations tend to have older age structure, high adult survival rates, and low reproductive rates. However, in highly exploited populations, coyotes are characterized by younger age structures, lower adult survival rates, and increased percentages of yearlings reproducing, and increased liter sizes. What can you do? Removal programs that target problem coyotes on an individually basis may be more cost-effective. It is important to remember how you define “problem”. Not all individual coyotes are problems just because of their presence.
Bollin-Booth, H. A. 2007. Diet analysis of the coyote (Canis Latrans) in metropolitanpark systems of northeast Ohio. Master’s thesis. Cleveland State University, Ohio.
Crooks, K. R., and M. E. Soule. 1999. Mesopredator release and avifaunal extinctions in a fragmented system. Nature, 400: 563-566.
Flores, D. 2016. Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History. Basic Books: New York, NY.
Gehrt, S. D. 2007. Biology of coyotes in urban landscapes. Pages 303-311 in D. L. Nolte, W.M. Arjo, and D. H. Stalman, eds. Proceedings of the 12th Wildlife Damage Management Conference. Corpus Christi, TX.
Howell, R. G. 1982. The urban coyote problem in Los Angelos County. Pages 21-23 in R. E. Marsh, ed Proceedings of the tenth Vertebrate Pest Conference. University of California, Davis.
Kays, R. et al. 2015. Cats are rare where coyotes roam. Journal of Mammalogy, 96: 981-987.
Knowlton, F. F., E. M. Gese, and M. M. Jaeger. 1999. Coyote depradation control: An interface between biology and management. Journal of Range Management, 52: 398-412.
MacCracken, J. G. 1982. Coyote foods in a Southern California suberb. Wildlife Society Bulletin, 10: 280-281.
McClure, M. F. et al. 1995. Diets of coyotes near the boundary of Saguaro national monument and Tucson, Arizona. Southwestern Naturalist, 40: 101-104.
VonHoldt, B. M. et al. 2011. A Genome-Wide Perspective on the Evolutionary History of Enigmatic Wolf-Like Canids. Genome Research, 8: 1294-1305.
Wang, X. et al. 2010. Aggression and Rabid Coyotes, Massachusetts, USA. Emerging Infectious Diseases, 16: 357-369.
White, L. A., & Gehrt, S. D. 2009. Coyote Attacks on Humans in the United States and Canada. Human Dimensions of Wildlife, 14(6), 419–432. http://doi.org/10.1080/10871200903055326
Bekoff, M. 1977. Canis latrans. Mammal Species, 79:1-9.
Gehrt, S. D., Wilson, E. C., Brown, J. L., & Anchor, C. 2013. Population Ecology of Free-Roaming Cats and Interference Competition by Coyotes in Urban Parks. PLoS ONE, 8(9), e75718–11. http://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0075718
Gehrt, S. D., C. Anchor, and L. A. White. 2009. Home range and landscape use of coyotes in a major metropolitan landscape: Coexistence or conflict? Journal of Mammalogy, 90: 1045-1057.
Gehrt, S. D., & Prange, S. 2006. Interference competition between coyotes and raccoons: a test of the mesopredator release hypothesis. Behavioral Ecology, 18(1), 204–214. http://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arl075
Heinrich, R.E., Strait, S.G., and Houde, P. 2008. Earliest Eocene Miacidae (Mammalia: Carnivora) from northwestern Wyoming. Journal of Paleontology, 82: 154–162.
Kays, R., Curtis, A., and Kirchman, J. 2010. Rapid adaptive evolution of northeastern coyotes via hybridization with wolves. Biology Letters, 6:89-93.
Kilgo, J., Ray, S., Vukovich, M., Goode, M., and Ruth, C. 2012. Wildlife Management, 76:1420-1430.
Meachen, J., Janowicz, A., Avery, J., and Sandleir, R. 2014. Ecological Changes in Coyotes (Canis latrans) in Response to the Ice Age Megafaunal Extinctions. PLoS ONE 9(12): e116041. doi:10. 1371/journal.pone.0116041
Meachen, J. and Samuels, J. 2012. Evolution in coyotes (Canis latrans) megafaunal extinctions. PNAS, 109: 4194-4196.
Mech, L. D. 1974. Canis lupus. Mammal Species, 37:1-6.
Newsome, S. D., Garbe, H. M., Wilson, E. C., & Gehrt, S. D. 2015. Individual variation in anthropogenic resource use in an urban carnivore. Oecologia, 178(1), 115–128. http://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-3205-2
Tallian, A., Smith, D. W., Stahler, D. R., Metz, M. C., Wallen, R. L., Geremia, C., et al. 2017. Predator foraging response to a resurgent dangerous prey. Functional Ecology, 96, 1151–12. http://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.12866