Coyotes becoming less wary of humans: Researcher
Rob Wilkes first spotted an eastern coyote in his downtown-area neighbourhood when he was about to put scraps in his backyard composter at lunchtime earlier this month.
The graphic designer was about to lift the lid when a coyote hopped out of the cedar hedge lining his property, dashed toward the Rotary Greenway Trail and disappeared into the foliage on the west bank of the Otonabee River near the London Street footbridge.
The Waterford Street resident and his wife saw an identical animal at the same time nine days later — he was even able to photograph it sniffing around his backyard gardens and sauntering down their street.
The eastern coyote, or coywolf, may be becoming more familiar to those who live near semi-natural areas, but not because of a spike in numbers, says Dennis Murray, Canada research chair in integrative wildlife conservation at Trent University.
The number of the coyote-wolf hybrids has increased over the past two decades, but the animals are being spotted more often because they are growing more comfortable near urban areas where they are more exposed to humans than ever before.
“It’s not like it’s an invasion of coyotes, by any means,” Murray said, pointing out how local coywolves would be less wary than their cousins in Algonquin Park, for example.
Another factor is that their natural prey — including squirrels, rabbits, wild turkeys and white-tailed deer — are moving into these semi-urban areas, he added.
The Parkway Trail, where Murray said a pack of roaming coywolves may be more visible, may be a prime example. Those who live near the area have likely heard the animal’s eerie nighttime howls, whines and yelps.
Peterborough Field Naturalists webmaster Dylan Radcliffe has mapped city coyote spottings on his Steward’s Notes blog, based on anecdotal feedback gleaned from social media responses related to a local broadcast media report.
“Coyotes roughly appear to be travelling from through our city along this corridor … this is a prime example of how wildlife moves around our city,” he wrote.
Passages such as The Parkway Trail are ideal travel routes for the animals and provide just the kind of scrub landscape they like to call home, Murray agreed. The omnivores also eat berries and insects, particularly during the summer.
Eastern coyotes have come a long way in a short period of time and if the recent past is any in-
dication, humans should get used to seeing them more and more.
Two hundred years ago, there were no coyotes in Ontario — but they expanded their range northwards, breeding with Algonquin wolves not far from here before taking over the territory and dominant role of their now threatened relatives.
The animals, which have also interbred with feral dogs, weigh an average of 35 pounds and can be found across northeastern North America.
Virtually all eastern coyotes south of Sudbury are hybrids, said Murray, who has studied the population ecology and conservation biology of the animals for several years; he’s worked at the university since 2002.
The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry collects data on coyote populations through deer and moose hunter harvest reports (the number of coyotes seen while hunting) but that information is limited and only indicates relative trends in coyote abundance, spokeswoman Jolanta Kowalski wrote in an email.
“The hunter harvest trends indicate coyote populations are relatively stable across most of Southern Ontario and in the Peterborough area,” Kowalski stated.
Kowalski pointed out how coyotes are more likely to move closer to urban areas at this time of year, when there is less natural food available and deeper snow can make hunting of small animals more difficult.
“Sometimes people think there are more coyotes because if there is snow on the ground, they are easier to see. It doesn’t mean there are more of them,” she wrote.
Eastern coyotes are an opportunistic hunter that won’t hesitate to snap up a family pet, if it is given the chance, or even attack a child.
A three-year-old boy needed 100 stitches after he was attacked by a coyote in his Burnaby, B.C. backyard in May.
The ministry encourages you to keep your distance from a coyote, wolf or fox and the animal will most likely avoid you.
Pet owners can protect their pets by keeping a close eye on their animals even in fenced-in areas, and by keeping dogs leashed in areas occupied by wildlife, Kowalski stated.
Murray encouraged residents not to feed coyotes and, should they see them, ignore them as much as possible. If an animal gets too close for comfort, you should scare them off. “Just make yourself large and loud and that should be enough to deter them.”
Removing food sources that attract coyotes is one of the most important ways landowners can prevent encounters, Kowalski wrote.
The public is urged to report aggressive or fearless coyotes immediately, and to call 911 if there is a threat to safety.
Murray, who has lost a dog and a cat to coyotes, sees fewer deer on his rural property these days and he has a good idea why: coyotes are taking down the fawns.
The animals play an important role as a top-down control that keeps prey in check in the ecosystem, Murray explained. This is key, since their larger cousins would have dominated that role previously.
Speaking of wolves, the professor highlighted how eastern coyotes found here are larger than those in Toronto because they have more wolf DNA in their blood.
There seems to be more coyote and dog DNA in big-city coywolves, he said. “There is a kind of gradient.”
NOTES: For more information on encounters with coyotes, wolves and foxes, visit http://www.ontario.ca/page/preventing-and-managingconflictscoyotes-wolves-and-foxes .... To see the map of city coyote spottings created by Dylan Radliffe, visit https://stewardsnotes.ca/ 2018/11/14/travel-the-coyote -parkway/