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Coyotes Coexist In Maine, But With Caution

May 24, 2010 - AUGUSTA -- Coyotes, unlike many other carnivores, are capable of coexisting in fairly close proximity with humans if they’re allowed to remain the wild animals they are, according to a Maine conservation biologist working with a national advocacy group.

And, Geri Vistein said, people’s well-meaning efforts to help the coyotes or protect their own domestic animals from them often have the opposite effect.

“Coyotes are very capable of coexisting with us,” Vistein said. “But we need to keep coyotes wild, by never providing them food, water or shelter.

“Humans want to feed wild animals. But that’s the worst thing to do. Nearly all problems between coyotes and humans are caused by coyotes seeing humans as a source of food.”

She said overflowing bird feeders and unsecured garbage cans draw critters, coyotes included, to homes.

So, too, can pet food left outside where coyotes can access it, according to biologist Wally Jakubas, mammal group leader for the state Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

Killing coyotes to control their population in order to protect farm animals, according to Vistein, can actually have the opposite result.

She said stable, healthy families of coyotes are likely to be very wary of humans. However wandering, unhealthy, or starving coyotes are more likely to snag an unprotected chicken or other farm animal. And, she said, killing coyotes which have established territories opens those territories up to wandering, dysfunctional coyotes.

She said coyote families actually respond to their kind being killed off by increasing their birth rates, giving birth to anywhere from seven to 16 pups, compared to only three or four per year when the population is stable.

She suggests farmers use good animal-husbandry practices to keep their livestock safe. Good fencing can keep wild animals away, as can a guard animal, such as a llama or dog. And bringing animals in at night also helps keep them safe from coyotes and other predators.

A healthy, stable coyote population can actually be beneficial to farmers and other people by keeping down the population of rodents — their major food source.

Vistein, representing the national Coyote Project, spoke recently at Lithgow Public Library in Augusta about coexisting with coyotes.

The species, she said, lives only in North America and is a half-million years old.

She said the more people know about them, the more they’re likely to appreciate them.

But precautions must be taken, as with any predator.

“They are powerful carnivores,” Vistein said.

Jakubas said any wild animal can be dangerous. He said there are no records of coyotes attacking people in Maine, but people have been attacked in other states.

Usually, he said, the attacks have involved food.

“Ninety-nine percent of encounters with coyotes will be nonconfrontational, and everything will be fine. They are fairly wary of us,” Jakubas said. “On the rare occasion, they may be aggressive. If you encounter a coyote, watch its behavior. Its normal behavior will be to identify you and, often, it runs off. If it becomes aggressive, treat it as you would an aggressive dog. Shout at it, don’t run away and stand your ground.”

Vistein offered similar advice if encountering a coyote — look at the coyote, put your hands in the air to make yourself look big, yell, maybe throw a rock or stick in their direction, but not at them, and don’t turn and run away.

Coyotes can be hunted year-round during the day in Maine. There is no limit on the number of animals a single hunter can kill.

Vistein said she could support regulated hunting, with bag limits and a set season, of coyotes.

Jakubas said there are approximately 12,000 coyotes in Maine in the winter, 19,000 in the fall, according to past research. Over the past 10 years, the number of coyotes tagged by hunters or trappers yearly has been going down, but he said that does not necessarily indicate the population is going down, because not all animals killed are tagged.

Coyotes are rarely seen by people. They’re more likely to be heard, howling.

“They howl for many different reasons,” Vistein said. “They’re saying we’re a family, we’re here, singing together.”


by Keith Edwards, May 24, 2010, Kennebec Journal

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