http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2010/01/eastern_coyotes_thriving_in_su.html
Eastern coyotes reported thriving in suburban Mass.
By Stan Freeman
January 01, 2010
SOUTHAMPTON – It sounds to her like a conversation, delivered in haunting howls, going back and forth in the dead of night.
“Their midnight yowls bounce off the hills so loudly it can wake me up,” said Karen J. Andrade. “They howl to each other, sometimes one at a time, sometimes in a pack.”
The coyotes that surround her home have become more prominent in the last year.
“I have chickens, and I lose at least one every time I let them out in the yard now. I just find feathers. This only occurs from a fox or coyote, but I haven’t seen any foxes lately,” Andrade said.
By November, though, the coyotes also became more personal.
“A pack of them ran howling through the riding ring where my son was having a lesson. His instructor threw the horse in the barn and locked (himself and her son) in the car. I arrived a few minutes after this happened and they were both very shaken. They said they were howling very loudly and seemed to be on the hunt,” Andrade said.
The well-publicized death of a Canadian folk singer, Taylor Mitchell, in October from injuries sustained when she was attacked by a pair of coyotes while hiking in a Nova Scotia national park has raised fears about the animals, which are present now in every city and town in the commonwealth, save for those on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.
However, the incident was only the second confirmed death due to an attack by coyotes in North America, the other coming in California in 1981. That’s why wildlife officials continue to stress that coyotes, which are considered shy creatures, pose little risk to humans.
Mitchell’s death “was a very unfortunate but incredibly rare occurrence,” said Laura J. Hajduk, head of the furbearer program for the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. “In Massachusetts, we’ve only ever had three attacks on people, and two were by rabid coyotes.”
Eastern coyotes did not appear in Massachusetts until the 1950s, having migrated into the Northeast from Canada. Hajduk said there may now be 10,000 spread across the commonwealth.
A cousin of the Western coyote, the Eastern variety is slightly larger, with males typically weighing about 40 pounds and females about 35 pounds. Genetic tests have found the coyotes in the Northeast are a hybrid of Canadian red wolf and Western coyote, which explains their larger size.
The coat of an Eastern coyote can be grizzled gray, grayish tan, reddish blond or even charcoal black. Coyotes are often compared in appearance to poorly fed German shepherds, but coyotes characteristically carry their tail low to the ground, while a shepherd’s tail will be carried high.
In the East, a coyote pack is most often a family – the adult male and female, the young of the year and perhaps a few young of the previous year that have yet to disperse. Families are very territorial and are most often nocturnal.
Their howling, which is often done to announce a territory, may bring to mind lonely prairies and isolated forests. But in reality, suburbia is where you’re most likely to find and hear them, said Hajduk.
“In suburban areas, food is pretty easy to come by and pretty close together, so coyotes don’t have to travel far to meet their energy needs. That means you can pack more animals into the territory. In rural areas, though, food is more spread apart so home ranges are larger,” she said.
In Massachusetts, the typical home range of a coyote in suburbia is 6 square miles. In rural settings in the state, it is 20 square miles, she said.
Coyotes are opportunistic feeders, eating almost anything they can find, from small rodents to fruit to pet food left on a porch to small pets themselves. Hajduk said the key to keeping coyotes out of your yard is to make food unavailable.
“Harassment is also very important. When you see a coyote in your yard, make it know that it’s not welcome. Throw a tennis ball at it. Make noise,” she said.
Eastern coyotes reported thriving in suburban Mass.
By Stan Freeman
January 01, 2010
SOUTHAMPTON – It sounds to her like a conversation, delivered in haunting howls, going back and forth in the dead of night.
“Their midnight yowls bounce off the hills so loudly it can wake me up,” said Karen J. Andrade. “They howl to each other, sometimes one at a time, sometimes in a pack.”
The coyotes that surround her home have become more prominent in the last year.
“I have chickens, and I lose at least one every time I let them out in the yard now. I just find feathers. This only occurs from a fox or coyote, but I haven’t seen any foxes lately,” Andrade said.
By November, though, the coyotes also became more personal.
“A pack of them ran howling through the riding ring where my son was having a lesson. His instructor threw the horse in the barn and locked (himself and her son) in the car. I arrived a few minutes after this happened and they were both very shaken. They said they were howling very loudly and seemed to be on the hunt,” Andrade said.
The well-publicized death of a Canadian folk singer, Taylor Mitchell, in October from injuries sustained when she was attacked by a pair of coyotes while hiking in a Nova Scotia national park has raised fears about the animals, which are present now in every city and town in the commonwealth, save for those on Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard.
However, the incident was only the second confirmed death due to an attack by coyotes in North America, the other coming in California in 1981. That’s why wildlife officials continue to stress that coyotes, which are considered shy creatures, pose little risk to humans.
Mitchell’s death “was a very unfortunate but incredibly rare occurrence,” said Laura J. Hajduk, head of the furbearer program for the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. “In Massachusetts, we’ve only ever had three attacks on people, and two were by rabid coyotes.”
Eastern coyotes did not appear in Massachusetts until the 1950s, having migrated into the Northeast from Canada. Hajduk said there may now be 10,000 spread across the commonwealth.
A cousin of the Western coyote, the Eastern variety is slightly larger, with males typically weighing about 40 pounds and females about 35 pounds. Genetic tests have found the coyotes in the Northeast are a hybrid of Canadian red wolf and Western coyote, which explains their larger size.
The coat of an Eastern coyote can be grizzled gray, grayish tan, reddish blond or even charcoal black. Coyotes are often compared in appearance to poorly fed German shepherds, but coyotes characteristically carry their tail low to the ground, while a shepherd’s tail will be carried high.
In the East, a coyote pack is most often a family – the adult male and female, the young of the year and perhaps a few young of the previous year that have yet to disperse. Families are very territorial and are most often nocturnal.
Their howling, which is often done to announce a territory, may bring to mind lonely prairies and isolated forests. But in reality, suburbia is where you’re most likely to find and hear them, said Hajduk.
“In suburban areas, food is pretty easy to come by and pretty close together, so coyotes don’t have to travel far to meet their energy needs. That means you can pack more animals into the territory. In rural areas, though, food is more spread apart so home ranges are larger,” she said.
In Massachusetts, the typical home range of a coyote in suburbia is 6 square miles. In rural settings in the state, it is 20 square miles, she said.
Coyotes are opportunistic feeders, eating almost anything they can find, from small rodents to fruit to pet food left on a porch to small pets themselves. Hajduk said the key to keeping coyotes out of your yard is to make food unavailable.
“Harassment is also very important. When you see a coyote in your yard, make it know that it’s not welcome. Throw a tennis ball at it. Make noise,” she said.
