Dr. Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila-Presenter
Dr. Chris Mowry-Presenter
In June 2023 Heartland Rewilding hosted our third Connect the Heartland webinar called “Coyotes & Coexistence” with presenters Dr. Francisco J. Santiago-Ávila and Dr. Chris Mowry. We wanted to thank everyone who was able to attend and those who will be viewing the recording, which can be found on our YouTube channel.
In an effort to address any lingering questions or queries that may have arisen during the webinar, we have crafted this blog post to provide you with further clarity and information. We understand that time constraints and other factors may have limited the opportunity to fully explore certain topics, so we aim to bridge those gaps and offer a comprehensive understanding of the subject matter. Our intention is to provide you with a resource that not only answers any unanswered questions but also serves as a reference point for future exploration. Thank you once again for your enthusiastic participation, and we hope you find this blog post to be a valuable extension of our webinar experience.
Q: I’m interested in learning more about peacefully coexisting with urban coyotes we’ve seen & heard in an undeveloped area where I’d hoped to let a dog (with a strong prey instinct) run off-leash near Lafayette, Indiana.
Fran: You could begin by checking out Project Coyote’s website and youtube channel, where you will find a variety of information, resources, and webinars (some specific to urban coyotes) relevant to coyotes and how to coexist with them. There are also a variety of research programs dedicated to urban coyotes, such as the Atlanta Coyote Project or Chicago’s Urban Coyote Research Project.
Q: Here in rural west central Wisconsin, there’s a saying. If you have coyotes, you don’t have foxes. If you have wolves, you don’t have coyotes. Any truth to this?
Fran: Definitely! Briefly, the largest predators suppress the populations or the smaller ones, not because they eat them, but because they outcompete them for resources, kill them or displace them from those areas. There is much evidence of this type of competitive and suppressive effects, including how wolves, through suppressing coyotes, allow for a higher presence of foxes on the landscape. Given their substantial size difference, wolves don’t see foxes as competitors and foxes can more easily stay out of wolves’ way.
Q: Local [Wisconsin] folks love to use their dogs to hunt coyotes in winter. Does this hunting hurt coyote populations?
Fran: Perhaps (depending on the number of coyotes killed), but only in the short term. Many studies provide evidence that killing coyotes does not result in decreased coyote populations in the long term. On the contrary, killing tends to catalyze an increased reproductive response in coyotes that overcompensates for their killing through increased litters and pup survival.
Q: I was in a conversation with someone who shoots coyotes on sight, claiming they could snatch human babies. Now, I get that coyotes are opportunistic, but have there actually been documented incidents where this has occurred?
Fran: In very rare circumstances, coyotes have been known to try to snatch unsupervised toddlers. To my knowledge, there has only been one documented attack by a coyote on a child that resulted in the child’s death, around 40 years ago.
Q: You mentioned that we domesticated grey wolves to create dogs (Canis familiaris). But it is *coyotes* who are comfortable in/around human settlements. It makes more sense that humans domesticated coyotes– rather than grey wolves– because the latter are more comfortable in human environments. How sure are we that dogs came from grey wolves and not coyotes?
Fran: Based on genetic studies, we can be certain that modern wolves and dogs came from a common ancestral wolf species that exclude coyotes. The geographic evidence also suggests this evolutionary event, and the domestication of wolves, happened in Eurasia, which would also exclude your coyote hypothesis because at that time coyotes were limited to Western North America. Perhaps if the event would have happened more recently, coyotes may have been domesticated as well. That said, you should never try to domesticate or tame a coyote.
Q: In my area, we have Eastern Coyotes. So many people use the term coywolf. I avoid that term, given that association with wolves brings out the wolf haters. Should we be using only the term Eastern Coyote?
Fran: Either term is accurate, given the admixture of wolves and coyotes that have produced hybrid offspring and therefore individuals with mixed genetics and phenotype in that area. To find out more about coywolves, you can check out Jon Way’s Eastern Coyote/Coywolf webpage, which hosts a variety of resources and research on these wonderful animals.
Q: How do coyotes and raccoons (also increasing in urban areas) interact?
Fran: Coyotes are predators and can eat and consume raccoons. In Cook County, IL, raccoons make up ~8% of coyote diets, but given this minimal percentage, coyotes likely do not prey on raccoons to an extent that would limit raccoon populations in urban areas. There may also be differences in habitat selection (e.g. dumpsters by raccoons, while coyotes may keep closer to green areas with cover). But also, a recent study found that even when there is high spatial and temporal overlap, raccoons do not seem to fear coyotes.
Q: How do you feel that outreach and education to populations who have never encountered coyotes may be most successful? Especially in regards to mitigating fear, misinformation, and misconceptions where impact can be expected but unknown for various communities.
Chris: My best advice is to try and educate people on the value of predators to an ecosystem. Even though coyotes are really omnivores, they can help to promote biodiversity by keeping other species in check. This is the message that we were trying to convey in our study of urban biodiversity. Also trying to allay people’s fears by explaining the coyote social system (a small family group) and their general wariness and avoidance of humans. Thanks for watching the webinar and good luck with your own work.
Fran: First, there needs to be an acknowledgment that the movement of species is a natural ecological process and therefore avoid any classification of coyotes as ‘invasive’ or ‘non-native’, which often leads to attempts to kill those animals. Second, studies show that effective education and the promotion of positive emotional connections with these animals (rather than just providing biological/ecological information) may be a better way to mitigate fear and increase acceptance (much as with humans).
Q: When the Alpha female is killed will all the other females in the family breed?
Fran: It depends on if those females are reproductively mature and are able to find suitable mates. They will certainly look to mate now that the reproductive suppression they were under in their pack has been lost.
Q: Is this (the melanistic coyote) like the Russian foxes that became tamer with different coat colors?
Chris: We suspect that there might be some link between melanistic coat color and tameness traits in coyotes, but we don’t yet know for sure. We looked for the so-called “hypersociability” gene in Carmine, but did not find it. However, we might be looking on the wrong chromosome. You can read our paper via this link.
Q: Is communal rearing thought to be an evolutionary trait (i.e. potentially in response to the human threat) or is it supposed this is a behavior that has been around since coyotes evolved (potentially from wolves? not sure what their breeding behaviors are)?
Fran: Similar to wolves in that respect, communal rearing in coyotes has been around since before widespread killing campaigns and is a result of their extremely social nature, which promotes affective connections to each other.
Q: I live on cape cod and we are trying to stop hunting on the national seashore any ideas?
Fran: Project Coyote has a variety of resources available to advocate for coyotes locally, and we help train volunteers to engage in advocacy. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us and we would be happy to assist. This particular issue may require changes to MA hunting regulations for coyotes (rather than just for the National Seashore).
Q: In a state like Iowa with very few public lands, the hunting permits help support conservation practices by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, right? What could be an alternative to this system?
Fran: Alternatives to tying killing to agency funding is to support agencies by funneling revenue from non-consumptive activities like wildlife watching, allocations from the state general fund, taxes on outdoor gear, and others. To find out more, see this fact sheet by the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators.
Q: The North American Model of Wildlife Conservation (NAMWC) is the primary guiding philosophy used by state agencies to justify/support hunting. The 7 tenets of the NAMWC include these 2 – no wanton waste of wildlife and no commercial gain from the killing of wildlife. Killing contests and trapping for the sale of fur clearly contradict these 2 guidelines. Requesting that state agencies respect the NAMWC and their obligation under the Public Trust Doctrine to conserve wildlife assets needs to be encouraged.
Fran: Agreed. And yet, the NAMWC is extremely historically inaccurate, antiquated, incomplete, ignores the contributions of non-consumptive users, and, most concerning of all, unethical. It seems to be mostly propaganda, and it is time for us to move past an invented framework. For more information, please see this post by our coalition partners at Wildlife For All.
Q: The coyotes in our yard sadly have mange. Anything to do that might be helpful?
Fran: We are very sorry to hear that. You may want to consult with a local animal rehabilitator, in case they are familiar with the coyotes or any resources. You can also check out Bi-State Wildlife Hotline’s ‘Mange by Mail’ program, where they offer great resources and advice.
Q: In Kansas, coyotes are hunted and trapped year-round; night and day; no bag limits. Trapping derbies and killing contests occur, and are supported by wildlife services, but are mostly held on private land. 97% of the land is privately owned. Heartland Coyote Coexistence Project (HCCP) has a strong education campaign; reaching out to legislators; Untrap Kansas petition was initiated. But the culture here is strongly anti-coyote. Any suggestions on what more HCCP can do?
Fran: Hi HCCP! We generally promote a combination of affective and ecological education promoting the well-being of coyotes, how they benefit our communities and environment, and therefore how harming them produces harms our community of life. We would be delighted to discuss the situation in Kansas and assist with any efforts.