Teardrop, Part II: Released

23 Sep 2023 8 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in death of a pup

I’ve looked back at the photos I have of Teardrop and her siblings. Only a month ago she was thriving. She was small and she had something wrong with her eyes which were constantly tearing up, but otherwise she had a little round body just like the rest of her siblings. Behaviorally, she tended to keep to herself more than the others: I attributed this to her small size. Rough play was the order of the day and it seemed this was too much for her.

I posted her situation and a long video on September 16th. For that video, she had plopped herself down right in front of the camera as though she wanted her story to be known. Before that video, I had only been seeing her with IR at night which had not revealed the extent of her illness and emaciation.

Above is a series of videos I was able to capture during her last day.

And then it happened — I found her body. Her death, in my opinion, was a release — a release from the pain and discomfort her little body had to cope with due to an illness which was not of her choice nor of her making. Pup survival rate in the wild is not high. The videos, all taken within the last week, show she was in pain and withering away — she needed to be relieved of that.

Nature, even without humans around to make it worse, is not always pretty: it’s brutal, messy, and dirty. We tend to think of *nature* and what is *natural* as being good, pure, pristine and calm — but is it? Wild animals are always hungry, and they don’t know where the next meal is coming from or even if there will be a next meal. They are constantly plagued by bugs, sores, dirt, the weather in all its forms, the environmental situation they find themselves in. There is no relief from the pain of physical injuries, be they from a thorn in a foot pad to an actual broken limb. And there are diseases including distemper, rabies, mange that are endemic to wildlife. Above what nature has dealt them, we humans often worsen their lives with our hate, fears, and even our love — including feeding and befriending them — all of which inform their behaviors and alter them, and in the end make life more difficult for them.

This is how I found the tiny 5 month old

After Teardrop’s death, and maybe even during her death, her family appeared in the field cameras. They had been around as individuals but not as a family before that, so I’m sure her dire situation is what attracted them. I’ve heard coyotes howl at the death of a family member, but my cameras are not triggered by sound, so I didn’t hear it if it happened. I don’t know if her family tried to help her, but I know that one of her brothers hung around, possibly not comprehending her death, her stillness, or her new odors that came with death — or maybe he was waiting for her. He waited around longer than the others and even came back and sat above where I found her.

Video of her family dealing with her death

I didn’t catch the situation until less than a week ago. I immediately called my wildlife vet who told me that, if the emaciation wasn’t caused by a systemic illness such as kidney disease which can’t be helped, it could be due to bad hunting skills. This struck a bell with me because I had observed since her birth that her eyes were always watery and she was constantly rubbing them. Over the last month — which is the timeframe when the emaciation took hold and progressed — parent coyotes were pushing and encouraging their youngsters to hunt more and more on their own by not bringing them food: “hey, if you want to eat, you’ll have to hunt.” It’s an act of love and kindness to push them to become self-sufficient, even though it might hurt a little. But without excellent eyes, maybe this was impossible.

Could we have captured her and fixed her, or sent her to a sanctuary? The answer in balance and realistically is no: there were too many negatives and no guarantees of success in this case. In the first place, we would have made life terrifyingly worse by trying to capture her: removing the youngster from the only family situation and life she has known is bad, even if you’re trying to save her life. As for a sanctuary: life without freedom and concomitant elements of a natural life is not much of a life. Their natural lives include exciting life cycle milestones such as dispersing, looking for a territory, finding a mate, defending that territory, raising a family and developing individual relationships with family members, feeding that family. A wild coyote’s life that doesn’t include these things, or the potential for these things, is a compromised life that I don’t believe they would want to live.

As I said, she was extra small from birth and had problems with her eyes from that time on, so she appears to have been born with a weak system right from the start. Again, coyote pup survival rate is not high.

Scat is Where It’s At, by Walkaboutlou

20 Sep 2023 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote scat, scat reveals diet

Scat showing berry seeds, rodents and grasshoppers. ©Walkaboutlou

This coyote isn’t raiding sheep, lamb, or calves. 

It’s been at the berries, rodents and grasshoppers. And so has its family. 

[I responded asking if this could be sent to the ranchers who were complaining]

This has been done and they followed up with trail cams in different spots. (Not a light decision..the bears often damage the cameras. Expensive.) 

They did find a coyote with prey…a feral cat. (That’s another plus…for the local songbirds and quail) No coyote seen outside sheep pastures…but two neighbor dogs were. (From over mile away and both times between 10 pm-1am. )

So scat scouting really is needed to confirm coyote predation or to pin point what really is going on. 

In this case, dogs freed at night were the prime suspects, not the local coyote pair. 

Lou

Banning Coyote Killing Contests Only on Public Land?, by Walkaboutlou

18 Sep 2023 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote killing contests, Stop Coyote Killing Contests, Uncategorized

https://centraloregondaily.com/coyote-hunt-ban-contest-derby-kill-humane-society-wildlife-commission-vote-regulation-game/

Walkaboutlou sent me a link to the above article and then the statement below, revealing a much more complicated and convoluted issue with concomitant repercussions than first meets the eye:

Hi Janet.

I sent a decision made in Oregon today concerning coyote hunting contests. However…its concerning because it only covers public lands. Private lands can still hold these events.

It also is dividing because lack of discourse means whole groups of community didnt bother to bring their views. 

Which means whole communities will politicize coyote and most certainly make these “contests” a way to express their displeasure at government. 

I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a resurgence of hate and re-channeled angst aimed at an animal in my life.

It’s a societal stressed reaction much like witch burnings of old. 

Last few months Ive been asked not to return for property patrols 4 places..simply for voicing the need for proactively setting safeguards in place for livestock and minimizing coyote and wolf conflict.

I’m learning…some want conflict. They want excuses to hunt every predator in land. And they practice that belief legally or otherwise.

At any rate, this legal decision is a start. But something far greater needs to be reached. 

Warped and nearly superstitious views of predators is often the regional norm and combined with implacable hatred of coyote and government…it really is complex.

Its more then coyote. Its what they could symbolize. Tolerance. New Views. And accepting those. 

Lou

Hi Lou —

OMG! So it’s now turned around and even more polarized than before. Your comments above give huge insights and I’d like to post them. May I? I would post with the link you sent me. 

This kind of knee-jerk reaction happened before, where people who thought they were helping the coyotes were actually harming them. When those supporting banned leg-hold traps, they didn’t know they would be increasing the use of snares, which are far, far more insidious than leg-hold traps.

[Those who hate don’t want to be stopped]. And humans justify their hate and hateful actions through rationalizations. The story is [sad].

Let me know! And thank you for sending!  

Janet

Hi Janet,

Yes you can. The thing is…and I say this via a blanket question I ask myself…for everything in my life…”What if I’m wrong?” Or at least..not as informed as I thought? I recently had a tense conversation with a long associate who also has ranch. Talking about wolves appearing and the ever appearing coyote..he said “my family and neighbors have been killing coyote for over 110 years here. And we’re not gonna stop” I calmly countered…well…that means it hasn’t really worked out has it?”

I won’t type his reply. But I can sense..for one..its residual traditions and a belief system and social pressure. Its a form of identity. Killing every coyote seen is seen as a community service, good sport and social responsibility in many areas. Also..even when presented with solutions those solutions aren’t usually wanted by traditionalists. Assembling and creating a pack of LGD, fenced lambing areas and allowing coyote to naturally form long lasting territorial pairs really is seen as expensive, crazy proposals. 

But over and over, we’ve seen it work. A well kept group of LGD with serious fencing and daily presence of people is what is needed. 

Minimizing predation on livestock keeps coyote very manageable. Wiping out whole packs and disruption of territory only creates footloose rather nomadic super predators every herder dreads. But that kind of predation is man caused. 

At any rate…I think my views are different because the local headlines tout the new laws as a “win”. But just because someone has come out goal met..doesn’t mean they won.

It’s a 1st step. But by alienating many who live on ranges..its insured even greater hostility toward coyote. Who are the symbolic scapegoat for all predators.

One of my comforts is..I know Coyote. They don’t care about laws or lack of laws. And they will keep countering and winning every persecution aimed at them. A lot are lost. Many more return. They’ve been underdog before a human ever set foot here. And remain defiant and more numerous than ever.

Lou

Teardrop is not Thriving

16 Sep 2023 4 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in Uncategorized

This ten minute video might seem long by today’s 2-minute standard. Although I’ve actually cut it by half, I’ve incorporated the entirety of what the field camera captured except the long sleeping sections.

I spend hours out in nature, waiting to see the coyotes I know, and then waiting for something to happen, as it often appears that nothing at all is really going on. But of course, something is always going on, and I can figure it out if I really look for it. In this video it appears that almost nothing is going on, but in fact there’s a wrenching story.

This is a five-month-old coyote pup. At five months, developing coyotes are becoming what we might call *teenagers*, unless something is preventing that from happening. Teardrop is one of Scout’s pups born this year — one of seven pups and the smallest. In addition, right from the start I noticed her constantly wet and oozing eyes, indicating that her immune system was not up to par. So she has been challenged right from the start.

I hadn’t seen her in months and thought she might no longer be around, but then several days ago she passed by one of my field cameras, and then, magically, as if she herself wanted to share her story, she spent time right in front of another of my cameras. I’m sharing that 20 minutes (reduced to 10 minutes) here.

In the video, Teardrop approaches one of the numerous dens dug by her parents but which were never used. Until this day, neither parents nor pups had ever entered this den, though they passed it occasionally and sniffed around. I had a camera there *just in case*. Coyote parents dig numerous dens to have them ready if they are needed, say due to flea buildup or a sudden danger, but few of these are actually used.

This particular den was dug when the pups were already two months old — not before they were born! — and HERE is a video of this den being built back in June.

Since this den had not been used, of course I was surprised that suddenly was, even if not for very long. Teardrop enters the den and remains in there, emerging a full hour later. The thing to notice is how emaciated, frail, and feeble she is. I don’t have images of her next to her siblings, but here is a healthy brother of hers on the left, she is in the middle photo. To the right is her as a much younger pup.

Bolder (brother) to the left; Teardrop a few days ago in the middle; Teardrop as a small pup to the right.

I’ve put captions in the video, pointing out what is going on. I wrote my wildlife vet and asked what, if anything, could be done to help. For instance, if this were a case of parasites or worms possibly we could intervene.

UPDATE: Her response was negative: “Most worms don’t cause severe emaciation- I would think more like not hunting well, or some other more severe problem- like kidney disease or other digestive malformation. Sadly that is not going to get better just with a deworming medication.”

I’m now thinking that the watery eyes, and the way they look in the video, may indicate a problem with seeing which would lead to not hunting well, as the vet suggested. I don’t think this is something we can intervene for. If there is a Part II to this story, I will post it, but it’s bound to be a sad one.

Pup Etiquette: Personal Boundaries and Antagonisms

07 Sep 2023 2 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coyote behavior, siblings

Displaying testy behavior towards a sibling: hackles up, grimace, teeth displayed

In coyotes, “etiquette” — the customary code of polite behaviors among members of a group –is slowly absorbed through constant sibling and parental interactions.

In human terms, this might include not bumping the next person, not interrupting them, not hitting, not grabbing their stuff, not crowding them. And, of course, there are different degrees of what is and what is not acceptable, with sometimes just a fine line separating the one from the other. And then there’s teasing and joking that allow crossing the line “in fun”. “Rules” are all geared to respect personal space and boundaries and to prevent a defensive or antagonistic reaction. On the receiving end of another’s behavior, there are also degrees of acceptance: from returning the respect, removing oneself from a less-than polite encounter, to warnings and to all-out retaliation in kind or more. The same seems to hold for coyotes.

At 4 months: wrestling, play-biting, testing, oneupmanship is all for fun and has no meaning behind it.

With coyote pups, back even just a month ago, tugging, chewing on, tackling, pinning were all behaviors pulled out of the toybox with no real underlying meaning except for the fun of it all. Early pup interactive behavior consisted of back and forth bantering and reactions which were innocent and fun. Here, above, is a series of photos showing the fun: pell mell, tumble bumble, catch me if you can, gotcha! behavior.

By five months of age I’ve noticed a qualitative change injected into this play. Now their behavior towards each other can be testy, seemingly coming from a developing sense of personal boundaries and resulting in standing up for oneself. There is less tolerance for perpetual pushy, dominating, or too rough play.

Below are photos showing five-month-old coyote pups reacting to each other’s perceived intrusions, with warnings of various sorts. It’s not particularly intense yet at this stage, but from their gazes and expressions, you can see that there are negative feelings and an “I mean it” behind a lot of their actions now. Their actions and reactions have growing meaning for themselves and their relationships with their siblings.

At five months, there is now a qualitative difference in their play: they respond with resentment and anger to unwanted intrusiveness from another sibling.

Photos: First row, a second youngster is interested/curious about the first youngster’s focused activity. First coyote decides to quelch any intentions that second coyote has about intruding on him and stealing his find: he firmly grabs the newcomer’s snout in a perfunctory manner, telling him “no” in a much milder manner than his parents have. The *message* then continued with another perfunctory back grab to the intruder coyote: the underdog first coyote has his say about it. Of interest here, the intruding coyote remained totally chilled with this treatment — “ho hum” about it. Within seconds all seemed forgotten — but it’s never entirely forgotten and these episodes add up, just like with humans.

Middle row, notice the antagonistic facial communication. In the first photo, again there is an intruder and the first coyote is warning him off with a snarl and bared teeth: there’s something in the bushes he wants and has claimed as a second youngster shows interest in taking over. In the middle photo there’s a glare of “you’ve crossed the line” at a sibling’s body slam; and in the third photo a youngster pulls back his lips, backing away from an intruding brother who he doesn’t want to deal with.

In the bottom row you’ll see a bullying sibling dominating and pinning down a sibling, hackles up in anger at being resisted. In the second photo, a sibling lashes out intensely with bared teeth and a lunge — a sibling has crossed the personal boundary line. And lastly a bullied youngster bends over with hackles up, teeth bared, and tongue out, showing intense displeasure with being ganged up on by two brothers.

So, they are now pushing their boundaries and pushing back in order to stand up for themselves.

In past litters, I’ve seen antagonisms grow and lead to dispersals. But I’ve also seen avoidance to divert an antagonism. Siblings end up pairing up with like-energy and like-dispositions for play purposes. I’ve also seen reversal of antagonisms. They are writing their stories as they go along!

By the way, parents don’t interfere in sibling relations — siblings are left to work these out by themselves. That is . . . . until dispersal time when dominating behavior of a lingering male may be slammed down by a parent when a parent is present, even if the dominating behavior was part of play.