Coyote Conflicts Solutions: Why Killing Does Not Solve Conflicts with Coyotes
As coyotes have expanded their range across North America, encounters with people have increased. These encounters sometimes alarm people who fear for the safety of their pets and children. To address this, communities may feel they need to pay for widescale programs to remove coyotes from the population. These killing programs don’t work and are inhumane. Better solutions exist.
Why Don't Coyote Killing Programs Work?
They Are Ineffective
- It is extremely difficult to ensure that the problem-causing coyote will be the animal located and killed.
- Coyotes removed from an area will quickly be replaced by others. Coyote pairs live in territories together, which leaves single coyotes (“floaters”) constantly looking for new places to call home.
- If the items attracting coyotes to a neighborhood are not removed (e.g. pet food, garbage, etc.), new coyotes in the area will quickly discover the food sources and once again return to the neighborhood.
They Will Not Reduce Populations
- Research suggests that when aggressively controlled, coyotes can increase their numbers by breeding at an earlier age, having larger litters and producing a higher survival rate among young. This allows coyote populations to quickly bounce back, even when as much as 70% of them are removed.
- It is nearly impossible to completely eradicate coyotes from an area. Despite bounties and large-scale efforts to kill coyotes over the last 100 years, coyotes have in fact expanded their range throughout the U.S. and Canada tremendously. One study even found that killing 75% of a coyote population every year for 50 years would still not eliminate the population.
Removal is Costly
- Coyotes are very intelligent animals and are difficult to catch. Even a very skilled trapper or sharpshooter, at a hefty price tag, will need many hours to catch a targeted coyote.
Trapping is Inhumane
- The most common devices used to capture coyotes are leghold traps and neck snares. Both can cause severe injuries, pain and suffering.
- Pets become unintended victims of traps set for coyotes. An informal search of media reports suggests thousands of unintended incidents have occurred, causing heartbreak for the families affected.
- Wildlife other than coyotes are also caught — and many sustain injuries so severe that they die or must be euthanized.
What Can Stop Pet Attacks?
First, some claim that diseased coyotes are to blame for pet attack incidents, and that removing such animals from the population is the answer. This is not the case.
Most Attacks on Pets are Caused by Healthy, Habituated Coyotes
- Sick coyotes are usually not more aggressive than healthy coyotes, unless they have rabies.
- There is no evidence that coyotes with mange are more likely to attack people or pets. Coyotes with mange can simply appear threatening because they are weak, strange looking (due to hair loss) and may be found resting in suburban areas during the daytime.
- Attacks on dogs are likely caused by coyotes who have lost their fear of people and have become habituated. This happens when coyotes are being fed in residential areas (either intentionally or unintentionally through pet food that’s left outside, garbage, etc.) and are not hazed by people.
- A 10-year study of over 300 coyotes in the greater Chicago metropolitan area revealed only two coyotes had attacked pets. Necropsies done on these coyotes showed that they had been eating pet food but were otherwise healthy.
Territorial Attacks
- Coyotes breed between January and March. During this time, it is natural for them to protect their territories from other canine species, including domestic dogs. Coyotes may attack dogs in yards or being taken for walks because they view them as a threat.
How to Protect Dogs
- It is normal for coyotes to be afraid of people. The best protection for your dogs is to always accompany them outdoors and to use a leash when walking them in a park. If your dog is left unsupervised in your yard, installing a coyote-proof fence is another solution. A coyote-proof fence is at least 6 feet tall and extends at least 12 inches underground or includes a rolled-out piece of mesh at the bottom of the fence, measuring at least 12 inches horizontally and secured with landscaping staples. It can also be equipped with a protective device like a Coyote Roller. Coyote rollers are meant to literally “roll off’’ any coyotes who attempt to scramble over the fence and will be equally effective in keeping dogs from jumping out of fenced yards.
- Since most dog attacks occurring outside the coyote breeding season are probably caused by coyotes who have become too comfortable with humans, it is critical to remove or secure attractants such as pet food and garbage from residential areas.
How to Protect Cats, Rabbits and Other Small Pets
- It is natural for coyotes to seek out small animals such as rabbits and small rodents for food. However, if outside, our pets may also be at risk. Keeping your cat indoors is the best way to protect them from harm.
- Pet food attracts coyotes to residential areas. If you must feed pets outdoors, do so only by day and remove uneaten food immediately or within an hour.
- Elevated feeding places and escape opportunities (trees and/or a tall climbing pole) can help protect outdoor cats.
What is Proven to Work?
Learning about coyotes and using humane hazing techniques is the best way to handle and prevent conflicts with coyotes — and we’re here to provide you with the information you need! This type of program is already working in a number of communities and can help us respectfully coexist with the animals we share our home with.
Education
Food Attractants
- Some well-intentioned community members may think feeding coyotes is helping, but it’s actually putting the coyote and other animals in the community at risk. Never feed coyotes or encourage them to visit your property.
- Indirect sources of food (pet food, composted meat scraps and trash) can also be highly attractive to coyotes. These items must always be thrown away in a secure bin or properly stored in a sealed container.
Pets
- The best way to protect pets and prevent coyote conflicts with our animals is to keep cats indoors and not leave dogs outside unattended.
- Dogs should always be kept on leash in neighborhoods, open spaces and natural areas.
Educational Campaigns
- Teach children how to recognize a coyote and what to do if they encounter one. Children should never run from a coyote — instead they should stand up straight, wave their arms up in the air and be as loud as possible while moving slowly toward the nearest adults.
- By learning about coyotes and their behavior, common myths and misunderstandings about this species can be explained, reducing fear and helping us coexist with these animals.
Hazing
When coyotes do not run away when approached or charged by a human, they have probably become habituated, or lost their fear of humans. They may even approach people, looking for food handouts.
What is hazing?
- Hazing is an activity or series of activities that help reintroduce the natural fear of humans into coyotes. It includes simple actions such as yelling and waving your arms, spraying the coyote with water, using noise makers like blow horns and whistles and throwing objects such as sticks or toy balls in the direction of the coyote.
- Communities including Denver, Colorado, Vancouver, British Columbia, and Los Angeles, California have successfully used hazing to reverse undesirable behavior in their coyote populations.
Hazing Techniques
- For many coyotes, making yourself loud (by yelling or using homemade noisemakers) and large (by standing tall and waving your arms) is all that is needed to scare them away.
- More aggressive methods (including banging pots and pans, spraying a hose or using noisemakers like air horns) may be necessary for some coyotes. Groups of volunteers can even be recruited and taught to haze in problem areas.
- It is important to continue hazing until the coyote completely leaves the area. Using a variety of hazing techniques is also helpful to prevent habituation.
The bottom line is that killing is not a solution for managing conflicts between people and coyotes. A combination of education and hazing can be more effective. By “educating” your resident coyotes through hazing methods, you will be leaving coyotes in place who know and abide by the “rules” of living close to people. Coyotes are here to stay, and they are our built-in rodent control — it’s up to us to find ways to coexist with them.