April 2018 - Parks & Recreation - 48

COYOT E S

On the other hand, the coyote has
been seen as a dark predator that ghosts
through the night, preying on lambs and
fawns and even on your pets. For many
ranchers and farmers, the coyote is a predator that causes untold economic damage
and one that learns how to avoid every deterrent or trap that might be deployed to
catch him. Some USDA wildlife specialists say that coyotes are smarter than just
about any predator you might encounter,
and they can adapt to any environment.

cies to do? Should they regard coyotes
as a dangerous pest and attempt to eliminate them from their parks however they
can, or should they accept that coyotes
are performing an important ecological
function, and therefore, follow a policy
of live and let live?
Coyotes, perhaps more than any other
suburban and urban predator other than
mountain lions, have inspired fear in certain communities. Some people fear having such a predator freely roaming about

" Coyotes are here to stay, " says John Kanter, senior wildlife biologist for the National Wildlife Federation. " They
are well-established in urban locations now, even in the
densest of urban areas. "
Coyotes (Canis latrans) have been present in the American West and Southwest
for an astonishingly long time, perhaps
more than a million years. However, it
is only over the course of recent decades
that they have spread eastward and southward throughout the United States, moving into cities and suburbs and inhabiting
parks, stream valleys and even densely developed urban areas. According to Professor Stan Gehrt of Ohio State University,
a wildlife ecologist and respected coyote
research biologist, they are so widespread
now that they can be found in every large
metropolitan area in North America.
Coyotes are an apex predator (occupies
the top of a food chain on which no other
animals prey), that has found a home in
urban environments, especially in urban
and suburban parks, and they are here to
stay. " They are widespread and doing pretty well in most urban areas, " says Gehrt.
" They have a higher survival rate and even
a higher reproductive rate than in rural areas. The city acts as a refuge for them. "
Accept or Control?
So, what are park and recreation agen46

Parks & Recreation

their neighborhoods and parks, and they
want them gone even by lethal means.
Others have gone beyond fear and loathing to acceptance and tolerance. They
have come to understand that coyotes are
not the threat they have been portrayed
to be and that they are quite beneficial to
urban ecosystems. And, to the surprise of
many people, experience has shown that
coyotes can live side by side with humans
and their pets pretty much in harmony.
Camilla Fox, founder and director of
Project Coyote, a San Francisco-based advocacy organization, says, " For those not
accustomed to having a predator in their
midst, coyotes make some people nervous. " Project Coyote, which she founded
about 10 years ago, works on " promoting
compassionate conservation and coexistence between people and wildlife through
education, science and advocacy. " Fox
says they approach advocacy from a science-based perspective, which is critical to
show how to safely and responsibly deal
with coyotes in urban environments.
" Coyotes are here to stay, " says John
Kanter, senior wildlife biologist for the
National Wildlife Federation. " They are

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well-established in urban locations now,
even in the densest of urban areas. In
some ways, they are like crows - social,
smart and adaptable. " Should people fear
them? " They should not, " Kanter says.
" People should take sensible precautions
living in proximity with coyotes. There
are many things you can do to avoid conflict, such as not feeding pets or other animals outdoors, and keeping pets close and
under control when you are outdoors. "
Coyotes vary in appearance and size,
but one sure field mark is their large, conspicuous ears that are most often seen
as upright and alert. Coyotes generally
breed in the late winter and have pups in
just over two months. The pups venture
out of the den about a month after birth
and run free by mid-summer. The coyote family stays together until fall, and
the young can breed by their first winter.
Food habits of coyotes are extremely varied. They will feed on rodents and small
mammals, including smaller carnivorous predators such as cats, rabbits, deer,
fruits, vegetables and even carrion. Coyotes have proven to be highly adaptable
in all environments.
The human dimensions of dealing with
wildlife is a subject that is of keen interest
to wildlife managers, as well as observers
of human social behavior. Tolerance and
acceptance of carnivores and predators
are becoming a well-studied subject by researchers working in wildlife biology and
ecology. There is a growing recognition of
the value of predators in ecosystems, especially urban ecosystems, and the economic
and environmental impact they may have
is important to any consideration of managing public lands and open spaces.
Assessing impacts of carnivorous predators range from how well they keep invasive, exotic and pest species in check, to the
issue of human and pet interactions that
cause humans to fear them, which leads to
demands for action to control such predators. There are few places where tolerance
of wildlife is more tested than in urban
environments, where human/wildlife con-

April 2018 - Parks & Recreation

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