Coyotes: How To Keep Pets, Property Safe

As the cold weather takes over, we find ourselves bundling up indoors. Coyotes, however, don't have that luxury. This time of year, for them, means lots of scavenging and desperately preparing for the winter ahead. So it's more likely that we'll see them in the streets, our yards and in the woods as they look for food.

The Humane Society of the United States released a document teaching people how to prevent coyote conflicts. It explains what attracts them and gives tips as to how to keep your pets safe. Also, they released a outlined why coyote killing and population control programs don't work.

So, what attracts coyotes to urban and residential areas?

Food

It may be fun, but you should never deliberately feed a coyote simply because they'll come back for more. Here are a few steps you can take to ensure coyotes don't get any food from you:

• Avoid feeding your pets outside. If you must, though, then make sure you bring the food bowl inside as soon as they're done eating.
• If you compost, enclose your bins and don't compost meat or fish scraps.
• Clean up bird seed around feeders.
• Clean up fallen fruit from trees.
• Put trash cans out the morning of pick up rather than the night before.
• Use quality trash containers with tight-fitting lids.

Shelter

Coyotes are elusive and secretive animals. They often live in close proximity to human populations without being noticed. In the spring time, according to the Human Society, coyotes are raising their litters and rarely go far from their dens or burrows. So, if you see a coyote in the spring time, their pups are likely in the area and they may be defensive.

Free-Roaming Pets

If you or your neighbors let cats and small dogs roam around freely, or if your neighborhood has stray cats and dogs, this may attract coyotes. They often see smaller animals as potential prey.

If you let your pets out regularly, be sure they're in an enclosed area. That way, your pets stay in and the coyotes stay out.

Feral Cat Colonies

Coyotes are attracted to both outdoor pet food and to cats themselves as prey. If you feed feral cats for any reason, you should:

• Feed cats once per day at a set time.
• Pick up any leftovers as soon as possible.
• Elevate the cats' feeding stations out of coyote reach.
• Give the cats an escape: if there are no trees nearby for them to climb, install posts they can climb up to escape any coyotes. Four-by-four inches wide and 10 to twelve feet in height works.

Coyote-Proof Your Yard

It's common to let the dog out back into the fenced-in yard, and, more often than not, they come back without incident. But coyotes are highly intelligent and cunning, so the only way to be sure your pets are safe is to coyote-proof your fence. A dog was attacked by two coyotes in Riverside this February minutes after being let outside and a River Forest family's dog was killed by coyotes in March.

The Humane Society says that a coyote-proof fence is: at least eight feet tall and made of a material coyotes cannot climb; at least six feet tall with a protective device on top (coyote roller, PVC piping, chicken wire). These protective devices block coyotes from getting a solid foothold on the top of your fence as they try to scramble over.

To prevent coyotes from digging under your fence, ensure it extends at least 12 inches underground. Additionally, you can use a mesh apron that extends 18 inches out from your fence, secured with landscaping staples, which provides a robust layer of protection against digging.

Coyote Hazing

The Humane Society describes coyote hazing as "a method that makes use of deterrents to move an animal out of an area or discourage an undesirable behavior or activity. Hazing can help maintain a coyote’s fear of humans and deter them from backyards and play spaces."

• Hazing is most successful when multiple people and multiple tools are being used.
• Coyotes have to realize that the threat is coming from a human, so make yourself seen.
• Don't stop hazing once they start walking away—keep going.

How do we haze coyotes? First, it's vital to act with confidence and aggression.

• Yell and wave your arms, to appear larger, while approaching them.
• Use any sort of noise maker, like your voice, whistles, air horns, bells, pots and pans, to make them afraid of humans.
• Throw things at them like sticks, small rocks, tennis balls or anything else you can find that won't cause them any harm.
• Certain physical repellents may work like hoses, water guns with vinegar water, pepper spray, bear repellent or walking sticks can work.

If a coyote hasn't been hazed before, they're likely not to immediately run away when you yell. This is when you should show more aggression, yelling louder and walking towards them. Keep going until they've left the area completely. They may stop and look back, and if you're not acting aggressively, they'll assume the threat is gone.

Why Killing Coyotes Doesn't Work

As coyote conflicts become more common, people are more afraid of them and want more to be done. A natural solution is simply to kill them off, but it's not that simple. The Humane Society outlines why coyote killing programs don't work.

It's Ineffective

• There's no way to be sure that the problem-causing coyote was killed.
• When one coyote family is killed, another will simply move in because it's unclaimed territory.
• New coyotes may not have been hazed, so they are likely to take more risks, getting closer to humans.

It Doesn't Reduce Populations

The Humane Society cited research which suggests that coyotes experience a reproductive boom, mating younger and having larger litters, when their populations are wiped out. A University of California study found that even when a population drops by 70 percent, it can pop right back up.

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With coyotes being as elusive as they are, it's nearly impossible to kill them all off. There have been bounty programs and large-scale efforts to reduce their population over the past 100 years, but they just keep expanding their territory.

Trapping is Inhumane

The most common devices used to trap coyotes are leg hold traps and neck snares, according to the Humane Society. Not only do these traps cause injuries, pain and suffering, but they can also lead to starvation.

Traps are also dangerous because unintended victims can run into them. Other wildlife can be trapped, sure, but our own pets can become ensnared and injured by these traps. Animals that are suffering severe and terminal injuries, often caused by traps, should be killed quickly and humanely to prevent unneeded suffering.

So, keep your pets in, coyote-proof your yard and keep a clean property. Happy hazing!

Article image public domain via Pixabay