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Coyote Facts
source:
http://www.desertusa.com/june96/du_cycot.html
Coyotes usually present little danger to livestock. While
they are normally fairly solitary or roam in small groups,
at times they may gang up and attack larger animals such as
sheep or a pony. During foaling time, do not let foals out
without a human around at all times. Coyotes will attack
sheep and foals but not adult cattle or horses unless such
livestock are sick or extremely weak.
Although the coyote has been observed killing sheep, poultry
and other livestock, it does not subsist on domestic
animals. Food habit studies reveal that its principal diet
is composed of mice, rabbits, ground squirrels, other small
rodents, insects, even reptiles, and fruits and berries of
wild plants.
The coyote is
an opportunistic predator that uses a variety of hunting
techniques to catch small mammals likes rabbits and
squirrels, which comprise the bulk of its diet. Although it
hunts alone to catch small prey, it may join with others in
hunting larger mammals like young deer or a pony.
Conservation
Coyotes have long been one of the most controversial of all
non-game animals. Agricultural interests have urged its
control by whatever means necessary so that actual and
potential livestock losses may be eliminated. Since 1891,
when the first programs aimed at control were begun in
California, nearly 500,000 coyotes have been reported
destroyed at a cost of an estimated $30 million of the
taxpayers' money.
Environmentalists firmly believe that the coyotes are
necessary to preserve the balance of nature. Some sportsmen
feel the coyote is responsible for the declines in game
species. Biologists agree that individual animals preying on
livestock and poultry should be destroyed but that the
species as a whole is not necessarily harmful, because much
of its diet is made up of destructive rodents. Biologists
also agree that coyote populations have no lasting effects
on other wildlife populations. So the controversy rages on.
Coyotes have recently been classified as non-game animals in
California and may be taken throughout the year under the
authority of a hunting license. Meanwhile, despite the
constant hunting and intensive efforts to reduce the coyote
population, on a quiet night the song of the "Little
Wolf" may still be heard throughout the Desert
Southwest.
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote
They are
highly adaptable and live in a variety of different niches.
Their behavior can vary widely depending on where they live,
but in general they live in packs yet hunt singly in search
of small mammals including rabbits, mice, shrews, voles,
squirrels, grouse, carrion, insects and sometimes sheep, and
fish. In areas where coyotes and deer co-exist, an adult
coyote will typically prey on one fawn per year (Voigt and
Berg, 1999). The majority of deer found in coyote scats
comes from carrion, such as road-killed and hunter-killed
deer or victims of starvation or disease (Morey 2004).
In Washington DC's Rock Creek Park, coyotes den and raise
their young, and scavenge roadkill and rodents. "I
don't see it as a bad thing for a park," the assigned
National Park Service biologist told a reporter for
Smithsonian Magazine (March 2006). "I see it as good
for keeping animal populations in control, like the
squirrels and the mice."
In 1981 in Glendale, California, a suburb of Los Angeles, a
3 year old girl was killed by a coyote. This remains the
only known fatality of a human as a result of a coyote
attack. [Until the awful news: Coyotes kill Canadian folk
singer Oct. 29 2009 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8331106.stm
which authorities stress is a very rare occurrence and
not cause for war upon coyotes] This attack [1981] was the
direct result of organized feeding of coyotes during
neighborhood social events, a prevalent precursor to almost
all known attacks. City officials in Glendale, led by Police
Capt. Mike Post, established the effective coyote management
program noted in the Timm et al. study. The primary goals of
that program were to prevent attacks through public
education with coyote trapping considered only when obvious
habituation to human food sources had occurred or to remove
an injured or otherwise unhealthy coyote.
Despite this, coyotes still pose very little threat to an
adult human and, at an average of just 35 lbs in weight, are
less intimidating than some domestic dogs. Coyotes were
interbred with several hound breeds to produce the Blue
Lacy, the state dog of Texas.
There once was a high demand for coyote pelts in North
America, especially in Canada. In the 1970s the price of a
good coyote pelt was up to $180.00. As of 2007, the average
pelt in Saskatchewan is only worth $60.00. This is partly
because more people find it inhumane to hunt and kill these
animals just for their pelts.
Robert M.
Timm, Hopland Research & Extension Center, University of
California, Hopland, California ; Rex O. Baker, California
State Polytechnic University-Pomona (retired), Corona,
California ; Joe R. Bennett, USDA APHIS Wildlife Services,
Taft, California ; and Craig C. Coolahan, USDA APHIS
Wildlife Services, Sacramento, California, "Coyote
Attacks: An Increasing Suburban Problem" (March 3,
2004). Hopland Research & Extension Center. Paper
timm_baker_P047.
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