Coyotes thrive in Old Lake Highlands

Billusa99 says:

Somebody needs to tell Ms. Greer to relax and quit complaining. If her puss was not running wild, freely defacating in other's flower beds, said feline would not have become yet another ode to the Darwin theory for cat evolution.

There have been too many notices, from tooooooooooo many neighborhood associations to count, over the past 2 years of drought, that Wile E. Coyote and pals are stalking all the 'hoods around White Rock Lake. I know -- I live in White Rock Valley. Our cats stay inside... period.

It's always amazing when the wildlife experts take on a mission they should have been prescient enough to recognize in the first place. That being: prolonged drought; White Rock parkland/grasslands purposely ALLOWED to grow large again, in order to attract native blackland prairie species again; said birds, rodents arrive; predators on wing and foot follow; nature takes its course.

I'm sorry that the harvest was not to her liking, but other than that... 'nuff said.

J_Mortimer says:

I'm going give her the benefit of the doubt given her experience and take it that that's not her only motivation. Its easy to knee jerk and focus on that but there is more going on. Further, even if it is HER only motivation, an argument can still be made to lessen the population.

Actually, White Rock has been dealing with this for many years long before the drought. From descriptions I read several years ago and from accounts told to me, the problem was more serious that simply having little kitty stay inside. The coyotes had become more aggressive and less frightened of humans. They were known to hop fences and take dogs from backyards and in one case, go after a dog that was being walked.

J

Cantonson says:

Today a cat, tomorrow a toddler... This should cause some concern for most people.

annem says:

Coyotes are night predators and prefer to eat critters the size and weight of a rabbit. If a parent is so thoughtless as to leave a toddler outside, unattended, at night, the child is more likely to be a victim of a human predator than a coyote.

Scott says:

Today a cat, tomorrow a toddler?

Coyote attacks on humans are extremely rare--much rarer than domesticated dog attacks on humans. And, unlike domesticated dog attacks which result in a modest number of deaths every year (i.e., 20-30, mostly infants and toddlers), coyote attacks are almost never fatal.

DC says:

Probably has something to do with the amount of contact people have with domesticated dogs vs coyotes, but whatever, try this out

http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/vie...

Billusa99 says:

It's been reported by county wildlife officers over the past year that the move of coyotes closer in has had a lot to do with the prolonged drought we have been in. They are coming in along the Jackson Branch creek and White Rock creek forested trails.

They are seeking food and water, and they are also being driven out by continued development. Witness the entire Urban Reserve area near Royal, for example, which removed a lot of their former "cover."

As was correctly stated upstream, they are nocturnal hunters and they rarely bother humans. They will, however, take a small dog/cat/bunny/Bush's pet goat in a New York minute. Thus, all the warnings in this area over the past 2 years -- and esp. since last summer -- to keep them inside at night. Fence or no fence.

Scott says:

DC,

The report shows increased frequency of incidents in suburban areas, but the statistics are pretty unintimidating. In the state of California, there have been 89 documented attacks on humans (or animals in proximity to humans) over the past thirty years. Of those, only one was fatal (i.e., a three-year-old girl killed in 1981 in Glendale). However, about 40 Californians were killed by domesticated dogs in that same period, with 5 just in the past three years.

DC says:

I think the bigger picture of that report was that they recommend that as attacks on pets become more frequent that non lethal deterrents may not be useful in dealing with the coyote issue.

It also estimates that there may be few absolute numbers of coyote attacks in the study area in California compared to dogs. However, they estimate there are approximately 650,000 dogs and 5,000 coyotes in the LA region. If there are about 130 times as many dogs as coyotes, the percentage of lethal attacks looks to favor the coyote.

Scott says:

The "percentage of lethal attacks" favors the mountain lion even more than the coyote. But, in raw numbers, mountain lions kill far, far fewer humans than domesticated dogs do. It seems to make more sense to deal with the risks that do, in fact, kill us more often, rather than the ones that might, under very different circumstances (e.g., 650,000 coyotes or mountain lions inhabiting LA suburbs), kill even more of us.

Billusa99 says:

I couldn't agree more with Scott on "deal[ing] with the risks that do, in fact, kill us more often,..."

That's why I never cross the street on foot, and why I never eat CFS south of the Trinity.

DC says:

Scott, there is nothing theoretical about the coyotes in the story. The paper has evidence that coyotes attack people. If the chance of an attack is rare enough that noone in your neighborhood cares, great.

Scott says:

I agree, the coyotes are real. How real is the risk that they're going to kill humans? Not very. More remote than the likelihood that those same humans will be killed by a domesticated dog. More remote than death by lightning strike (which still kills about 50 Americans a year). I don't see many of my neighbors getting worked up about so remote a risk--as long as they're informed about the remoteness of the risk. If others wish to live in disproportionate fear of coyotes, pit bulls, and sharks, more power to them.

DC says:

Here you go:

http://www.nsc.org/lrs/statinfo/odds_...

We all ready tried smoking bans and motorcyle helmet laws and we know what happened there.

OLHNA says:

I do not know Ms. Greer personally, but applaud her for trying to help others avoid the fate of losing a pet. I am only sorry that some people feel compelled to make insensitive comments regarding the loss of a pet, which can feel like a member of one's family.

kristi6405 says:

I live in Lake Highlands and my cat was killed by a coyote on Tuesday (6/19/07) at 4 am. It is a problem. My beautiful cat was gutted by one of these coyotes. The police would not do anything and neither would Animal Control, but at least I got the number for Wildlife Coalition and they took a report. They also warned about coyotes in our area. (I live east of the Northeast Police Station). They said when they start exhibiting aggression like this on our streets, it IS a Problem. They recommended doing neighborhood education about the coyotes for safety.

Scott says:

A coyote eating a cat is not "aggression." It's "nature." Just like when wandering domesticated cats eat birds.

J_Mortimer says:

My sad attempt at merging humor with the pedantic:

If you'd known some of the cats I've known, you'd agree that their average lifespan indoors would be 3 minutes if they weren't let outside. They would meet -- how shall we say it -- unnatural ends.

For my sanity and that of my cat, one of ours goes outside. He's a smart cookie and we don't have coyotes. He's been doing it for about 10 years.

A coyote eating a cat is indeed aggression as aggression is part of nature. To say that aggression isn't part of nature is to say that nature contains no qualitative distinctions.

J

alli8778 says:

While I sympathize with the loss of Ms. Greer's cat (I too have two beloved pets, although they are dogs), is trapping the coyotes really the answer? I am a resident home owner in the Lochwood area and live two houses from the main creek running through the area. We as humans have encroached on their environment. And now we are going to allow them to be trapped and carted away, resigning them to a less than pleasant fate? Why not stop there? Let's just begin to rid ourselves of everything in our environment that may kill or injure us! If those of us whom oppose the coyotes perhaps would practice a bit more awareness and follow recommended guidelines for living in and around them, then perhaps they could stay in their quickly disappearing environment. Coyotes are wild, and yes they do kill other animals. To reference a comment above, a coyote killing a cat is no more out of the ordinary than a cat killing a bird. Again, I am sorry for the loss of anyone's pets. It is truly unfortunate! But as a resident of Lochwood and Dixon Branch, many of us are aware of the coyotes. Let's protect them rather than snuff them out.

preader says:

This website has a pretty thorough treatment of urban coyotes. Interesting reading, and relevant to this conversation...

http://urbancoyoteresearch.com/index.htm