Coyotes Take to City Streets

[StewiesMom]

By Rachel Metz
02:00 AM Feb, 02, 2006

Most city slickers are accustomed to seeing critters like raccoons, opossums or skunks sniffing around their homes and garbage cans, but how about coyotes? Not so much.

But an ongoing study in the Chicago area led by Ohio State University professor Stan Gehrt shows people are living in surprisingly close quarters with the animals, which are adapting to city life.

"In most cases, people are totally oblivious to it. There will be coyotes hiding in bushes or in the parks or something and people will be walking by with their dog and they'll have no idea there's a coyote there," Gehrt said.

They may not be hanging around at legendary blues joints or enjoying an Oprah show taping, but coyotes are thriving in city suburbs like Itasca and Palatine Village, and have even been spotted in the heart of Chicago's metropolitan area.

They've also been sighted in other major urban areas, including St. Louis, Minneapolis, Detroit, Cleveland and Boston, Gehrt said -- a result, in part, of increased urban sprawl and coyotes' adaptability.

Coyotes, which are members of the dog family, can be found in many parts of North America.

Over the past decade or so, there has been an increasing number of reported coyote-human conflicts, Gehrt said, especially in the Chicago area. In the 1970s and 1980s, fewer than 20 coyotes were seized annually by local animal control officers, but in the 1990s, there were between 350 and 400 coyote removals over the 10-year period. Usually, the animals are euthanized for attacking pets or hanging around backyards, Gehrt said, noting no human attacks have been reported in the area.

However, Camilla Fox, a coyote expert and director of wildlife programs for the Animal Protection Institute, noted that scientists are recognizing the important ecological role coyotes play in both agricultural and urbanized areas.

Gehrt's work "reflects the fact that humans can coexist with coyotes. We're already doing it," she said.

Since 1996, Gehrt and his colleagues have tracked the animals with radio collars and by analyzing their scats, trying to determine why and how they've become urbanized. They've collared more than 150 coyotes, and Gehrt estimates several thousand live in the Chicago area.

Radio and satellite tracking found some local coyotes roam large parks; others hang out in neighborhoods. They're occasionally spotted near strip malls, Gehrt said.

He found they have a 60 percent annual survival rate -- twice that of their rural counterparts. Coyote populations have also grown, in part, because fewer are hunted and trapped due to declines in their pelt values and societal shifts, Gehrt said.

They're also flexible when it comes to eating. City coyotes have adjusted schedules to hunting and foraging at night, Gehrt said. Coyotes can adapt their diet to their surroundings, and eat meat and plants. Despite their new environment, though, they don't really go for human leftovers, and they steer clear of people.

"They're not going around foraging in garbage cans and things like that," Gehrt said.

If, however, people consistently feed their pets or other wildlife outside, coyotes may start associating that location with dinner.

"Then they'll start taking pets and lose their fear of people," Gehrt said.

Their presence can be helpful, though. Gehrt found they've reduced a growing population of Canada geese, and said other studies cited coyotes as useful deer and rodent population controllers.

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