[Urban Wildlife] Urban Coyotes: A Reality, Not a Myth

The creators of that popular TV cartoon coyote — Wile E. Coyote — gave him an appropriate name. In the real world, coyotes really are “wily.” They’re intelligent, stealthy and adaptive, quite capable of giving a hard time to those trying to trap them. Larger than a fox but smaller than a wolf, this wild member of the canine family in recent years has been finding its way more and more to city and suburban settings around the country.

Coyotes have been seen in Milwaukee, near the city’s downtown area. They’ve been found on the streets of Detroit. They’ve been captured at a water reclamation plant on Chicago’s Navy Pier and in a sandwich shop in the heart of Chicago’s loop. One got into a mattress store in Kansas City. They’ve been sighted in downtown Houston, as well as in Middletown, N.J., about 40 miles from New York City, where a 5-year-old boy was bitten by one. And they’ve been spotted in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park and the city’s Bernal Heights neighborhood.

EXPANDING INTO COYOTE HABITATS. “Coyotes have always been a rural problem, but they’re an urban concern, too,” said Scott Steckel, vice president of operations for Varment Guard, Columbus, Ohio. “That’s partly due to the fact that our urban areas are expanding into coyote habitats.”

Steckel now reports an average of one or two coyote jobs per week in the Columbus area. “We had averaged one or two coyote calls per month four or five years ago. Municipalities are calling us because they want to control the coyote populations in their areas,” he said.

Cities and suburbs have fewer wild animals for coyotes to eat, so they’ll go after small house pets, which are easy pickings compared to running down a white-tail deer in the forest, said Russ Vanhellen, owner of Critter Control offices in Houston, San Antonio and Austin.

In Houston and San Antonio, Critter Control has been receiving a lot more coyote complaints in recent years, according to Vanhellen, a biologist. “It’s a definite trend,” he said.

USING HUMANE TRAPS. “Municipalities and homeowner associations want us to go out and set traps to catch them. We use a Collarum — a humane trap that shoots a snare and a locked cable around the coyote’s neck,” Vanhellen said.

Coyotes can be dangerous to small children and pets, he cautioned. “I grew up in Southern California, and know of cases where coyotes have bitten kids. I haven’t heard about that here, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened,” he said. “The animals are getting used to people. They approach them and come closer. Sooner or later, someone’s going to get attacked.”

“I don’t see this as a coyote problem,” said Cliff Moore, owner of Animal Services, Van Alstyne, Texas. A 20-year veteran of wildlife control in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Moore says it’s more of a “human” problem.

“America’s land use, changing from a rural setting to an urban and suburban setting, has diminished the coyote’s normal habitat,” he said. “As we change our land use from rural to dedicated suburban use, there’s not much left for the coyote. In a rural setting, coyotes could normally claim a territory that extended three to five square miles. In an urban setting, coyotes are forced to live in a half-mile or a quarter mile territory. They have a territorial need that can’t be met. Their quality of life has become greatly diminished so they’re forced to seek out other areas.”

Moore said the coyote population is not growing in those areas, “but they change their wild life behavior to co-exist with the human population. They’ll spend a large amount of time in parks, in back yards.”

Moore said he gets numerous complaints about coyotes in the nine-county area his company covers. “In about 90 percent of those calls, we ease the minds of those complainers by educating them about coyote habits. But the other 10 percent require trapping,” he said. “We catch the coyotes alive. If a trapper has the right technology, understands their habits, territorial needs and social dynamics, it can be done. Coyotes are smart and trap-shy, but you can out-think them. Especially if you spend the time and energy to learn all you can about them.”

Moore trapped 43 coyotes in one year’s time in one of the cities he covers.
 
MIGRATING TO NORTH FLORIDA. The coyote problem in this part of the state has been propagated by coyote migration to Florida from coyote pens in Georgia. “You can’t keep a coyote in a pen,” says Robert Mesquit, wildlife specialist for Critter Control, Jacksonville, Fla.

According to Mesquit, these animals are getting more into urban and suburban areas in Florida because of the way Florida has become urbanized. “We produce plenty of food for them. A lot of coyotes eat food out of the bowls that are set out for people’s pets. I’ve heard that they sometimes attack those pets, but I haven’t witnessed this.”

Although the coyote is a smart animal, Mesquit believes that those that have found their way to cities seem to lose some of that intelligence. “They seem to be getting a little too complacent. They’re losing their fears because they don’t have to contend with large predators like wolves, plus it’s easier for them to get food there.”

If a pest control operator wants to get into coyote control, Mesquit, like Animal Services’ Moore, recommends spending time learning more about their biology and habits and trapping techniques. “They’re much more difficult to trap than other wild creatures. The trapping process could take a lot of time, and that will impact your business, because time is money,” he said.

The author is a freelance writer from Milwaukee, Wis.

Catching The Pups

Paul Winkelmann, owner of Advanced Wild Animal Control in Milwaukee’s suburb of Mequon, has seen a “great many” coyotes over the years. “There are a lot of them running around here now, some living under backyard decks. In those cases we set a couple of cage traps and catch the young ones. When that happens the adults take the rest of the pups and relocate.”

Two years ago, he caught a pair of coyote pups that were ill with the mange, he said. “I took them to a rehabilitator, who in turn took them to a vet who treated them. As a matter of course, the rehabilitator raises the coyote pups we catch and then takes them to Wisconsin’s north woods and releases them.”

Winkelmann, who recently caught a young coyote with his bare hands, said the pups seem to be gentle and show no inclination to bite. He’s caught about 20 of them over the years. “That’s unlike fox pups, who do bite.”

“About 15 years ago, you rarely, if ever saw a coyote on the north Florida border,” said Robert Mesquit, wildlife specialist for Critter Control in Jacksonville, Fla. “Now I’ve seen a lot of them around the Orlando area.”

The Red (Squirrel) Menace: Cute But Costly

One author’s first-hand account with these wildlife pests.

One early spring morning some months ago, I sipped my coffee, gazed out my window and contemplated the beauty of nature in my Milwaukee suburb. This beauty often enhances our lives — whether it’s manifested by manicured lawns, colorful gardens, or the numerous species of small mammals and birds that are close by. On occasion my wife and I would admire Bambi Fawn, Bugs Bunny or Rocky Squirrel and be entertained as they played or snacked outside our window.

But my thoughts were interrupted that morning by scratching sounds coming from my kitchen ceiling. I was pretty sure I knew the cause. Recently, I had seen several red squirrels running on the roof of our attached garage. Since I belong to the Procrastinator’s Club, I hadn’t done anything yet to discourage them. Now they had somehow gotten into my attic. The potential damage they could do there turned nature from “beautiful” into “nuisance.”

An hour later, I spotted the flash of a red, bushy tail in our family room fireplace. Rocky Squirrel somehow had gotten out of the attic and into the house.

In an inspired moment, I opened the door leading to our backyard, grabbed a broom and rattled it around in the fireplace. Fortunately the noise frightened him and he scampered out the door. The Red Squirrel Crisis was over. Or so I thought.

Another day, another invasion. Rocky again got into our house. Or was it a relative of his? We spotted the squirrel as he zoomed across the floor, and attempted to climb up and out a window screen. Unable to escape, he quickly headed for another part of the house. We could hear him chattering away and traced him to an area behind file cabinets in my office. But he wouldn’t come out.

I phoned Paul Winkelmann of Advanced Wildlife Control in Mequon, Wis., and he dispatched his daughter, an experienced wildlife specialist with a cage trap. She arrived, carefully baited the trap with peanut butter and placed it down on the floor near the cabinets. Sure enough, the hungry squirrel sauntered out of his hiding place, went for the peanut butter and was trapped.

The source of the squirrel invasions was traced to a silver dollar-sized hole in the knotty pine ceiling in my living room, which has since been sealed and I’m happy to report we’ve had no further visits from red squirrels.

STOPPING SQUIRREL INVASIONS. How does one prevent a future red squirrel invasion? The late Jim Roberts, who was an area manager for Batzner Pest Management, New Berlin, Wis., once told me there’s not a great deal a homeowner or condo association can do to stop nuisance wildlife (such as red squirrels) in their tracks, other than watching the environment in the area to make sure it’s not conducive to attracting the animals.

Red squirrels can enter buildings from high levels as can gray and flying squirrels, he said, but they also have the capability of entering buildings from lower levels as well. Such areas consist of corner boards, stone foundations, sill areas and under porches. Due to the numerous entry point possibilities, the red squirrel can establish a nest in wall voids, attics, crawlspaces and basements. Red squirrels also are notorious for traveling along piping throughout the house.

He offered the following thoughts to squirrel proof a house:

Keep trees cut back three feet or so to prevent them from scaling a tree to get to your roof. That’s key. A lot of squirrels and raccoons enter homes, especially in the spring, through access on the roof. If they get in, they can be very destructive, gnawing on insulation or electrical wiring and possibly cause a fire. They usually find a small open hole to get in.

Use the right traps for squirrels. For cage traps, often called live traps, use one that is at least 5 inches by 5 inches by 18 inches. Be sure the trap has a mesh weave of no more than ½ inch. Failure to follow this advice will enable the squirrel to squeeze through the mesh.

Enhance the bait by sprinkling sunflower seeds on the peanut butter.

Know the habits and behavior of the red squirrel. This creature is active throughout the year. It has no protective layer of fat, and therefore it must continuously feed. This is why red squirrels spend most of their time during the summer and fall seasons storing nuts, acorns and seeds. Their diet also consists of insects, berries, corn, fruit and bird eggs. Red squirrels are active during the daytime hours. They normally will not travel any more than 50 yards from their nesting area. They have two mating seasons, one in March and the second in June or July. Litters of up to seven babies are born after a gestation period of approximately 36-40 days. The young will depend on their mother for approximately 12 weeks.

Roberts offered some good advice — advice that I am now putting into practice. — Jordan Fox