Safety Around Coyotes; PLUS Behaviors to be aware of if you have a dog: Updated

03 Nov 2009 93 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coexisting with coyotes, coyote safety, coyotes and dogs, coyotes defending themselves Tags: , , , , ,

This information was distributed at a health & safety fair here in the city:

PLEASE DO YOUR PART IN PROTECTING THE ENVIRONMENT WHICH INCLUDES OUR WILD COYOTES!

  •  coyotes are a natural part of this environment 
  • seldom are they aggressive, but they will protect themselves and their territories
  • small dogs could be targeted as prey 
  •  an ounce of prevention works! Protect both your dog and coyotes 
  • first and foremost, always be VIGILANT and AWARE when dog-walking
  • when walking a dog, always walk away from a coyote: Just outright AVOID it.

1) Prevent close coyote encounters in the first place:

  • never feed a coyote or try to tame it
  • never walk towards a coyote – give them space
  • never let your dog chase or play with a coyote
  • leash your dog whenever you see or hear a coyote or know one is in the area and walk away from it
  • pick up small dogs and walk away from the coyote

2) Behaviors coyotes use to protect themselves when chased by a dog

  • charge-and-retreat sequence
  • a long barking episode, often rearing up on their hind legs
  • a nipping at the haunches, same as a cattle dog herding, to move the dog away
  • “escorting” or following you out of the park (rarely)

3) If this should happen, first and foremost, GET AWAY FROM THE COYOTE by tightening your leash and dragging your dog away with you. Walk, don’t run. The coyote’s sole intention is to move you away — so please just do it!  If you choose to scare it away, you could throw a stone in the coyote’s direction or yell angrily while clapping and stepping in the coyote’s direction (without getting close), or slapping a newspaper on your thigh (as demonstrated in the video How To Shoo Off A Coyote), but know that what’s safest is simple and plain unmitigated avoidance. So, mainly:

  • grab your dog when you can and leave the area walking

4) Two coyote behaviors to be aware of — usually between a coyote and a dog who know each other:

  • “Chase-Chase” Behavior: the coyote will be traveling in the same direction as a walker and his/her unleashed dog, and will come in close with a little “darting in”  and “retreat”. The dog will return the behavior. It is almost a “dare” or “oneupmanship” with no other intention than just this — it verges on play. Some dogs can handle this, some need to be leashed.
  • A mother coyote may come to the aid of one of her full-grown pups and the two will work as a team to vex a dog to get it to leave: one coyote will distract the dog, the other will come around to dart in from the other side.
  • In both cases, leashing the dog creates a barrier of sorts: it calms down the dog — and this can be seen by the coyote. But also it keeps the dog next to the owner which serves to deter the coyote from coming in. Coyotes do not care to tangle with humans.

*A compilation of more in-depth information and a video can be found at: “FIRST: Coyote Coexistence Guidelines and Safety Information.”

Please read postings on December 12th: “Dog Reactions to Seeing a Coyote”, November 4th: “Some Reactions to Dogs”, November 17th: “ANOTHER Reaction to Dogs”, and December 1: “Significance of a Seemingly Unprovoked Challenge”. “Blatant Visual Message for Newcomer Dog” on 2/8/10. “A short back-and-forth chase: oneupmanship verging on play” 2/4/10.

Dog Behavior – a story about winning

03 Nov 2009 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coexisting with coyotes, coyotes and dogs Tags: , ,

Jesse is neither an aggressive dog, nor a dominant/alpha dog. He’s a medium sized, short haired happy-go-lucky dog that comes to one of the parks early each morning with his owner. He socializes with the other dogs, is happy to greet other owners, runs all over the place, and for the most part, comes when his owner calls him. But several times he has seen the coyote before his owner could leash him, and off he went. Yesterday, Jesse chased two coyotes into the bushes. Often, one of the coyotes, after being chased, will come back and stand up for itself by barking and nipping. Fortunately, no incident occurred this time, but it has in the past. Jesse once ended up with a nip on his haunches and didn’t like it — letting his owner know about it all day long. Maybe because of this previous incident, Jesse needed to show the coyotes who really was boss — I’ve been calling this “oneupmanship.” So this time, after the coyotes were well out of reach and quiet within the bushes, Jesse trotted back to their entry point into the bushes, paced back and forth, and finally pooped right there on their “doorstep”. That’ll show them!!

I discourage all dog owners from letting their dogs chase the coyote — we need to protect both the dogs and the coyotes — but it does happen sometimes. Both the coyotes and dogs reveal, by their behaviors, what they are actually thinking and how they feel.

Ugly Human Activity Recently

03 Nov 2009 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coexisting with coyotes, coyotes and dogs, human behavior Tags: , , ,

Upsettingly, there has been ugly human activity in one of our parks which is affecting the coyote’s behavior: I saw this very clearly today.  It is the first time I have ever seen one of the coyotes so extremely nervous, edgy and jumpy. The coyote was agitated. It was looking around, particularly in back of itself, and it was flinching and jerking constantly, seemingly at imagined noises. This is so contrary to this one’s normal calm and relaxed self. I’ve become worried about it.

The new treatment that is being directed at coyotes is unnecessary and mean since the coyotes in this park are so peaceful — all of it is perpetrated by a small self righteous “clique” of about three people with a mission to make the coyotes afraid of people. This treatment includes throwing rocks in the direction of coyotes wherever they might be. I have heard about throwing stones to move a coyote away from yourself or from the path you are on. But this group of individuals is actually pursuing the coyotes anywhere they are, far from where the individual might be. One of these people, a man, ran off of his path about 50 feet up to where I was, on an entirely different trail, and started viciously heaving rocks towards a coyote which was 40 or so feet in front of me. The coyote had not been in his path or in his way. When I questioned him, he told me that the coyote had “looked at him”. I was absolutely bewildered.

Then, two days ago, I saw a large woman with a large stick, yelling at a coyote to “shoo, git, out-of-here”. This was nowhere near any of the paths. It was in an area where the coyotes should be allowed to be safe, where people seldom if ever go, towards the middle of a field by a thicket area — the woman had pursued the coyote into this area. This incident occurred as this coyote was barking after it had been chased by an unleashed dog. This “clique” thinks it needs to create fear in the coyote — they think the coyotes are becoming too fearless. They are trying to “manage” the coyotes and “manage” the park visitors without any authority to do so. If they want to prevent incidents with the coyotes, all they need to do is leash their dogs since all coyote incidents have been caused by dogs intruding on them.

The whole picture needs to be examined more thoroughly. Our coyotes are not aggressive, but might they become so as a result of the aggression that is being perpetrated against them?  Or, might they just leave the park? Our parks are one of the safest places for them in our city. Of course, if they go elsewhere they might be treated better — the problem is that coyotes who move into new territories risk being run off by coyotes which already reside there. Finding a new territory would be difficult, and in the meantime, their vacated spots in our park would be taken up by newcomer coyotes — this is how it works.

I have been asked “why don’t they just leave the coyotes alone?” We have been told that coyotes are a natural part of this environment: they belong here as much as we do. Most of us  just want to see the coyotes thrive and give sparkle to our urban parks. The only “incidents” we have ever had have involved unleashed dogs chasing the coyotes. If we need to “manage” the situation it would be to enforce the leash-law when the coyotes are visible. Please read postings on November 11th about “habituation” and on November 13th about “feeding”.

The Factor of Human Behavior: Really Seeing

28 Oct 2009 1 Comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coexisting with coyotes, coyotes and dogs, human behavior Tags: , , , , ,

While I was taking photos of a family of baby owls growing up, I heard a lot about wildlife. I want to share with others the kind of information that gets transferred sometimes. In one instance I mentioned to an observer that there were three baby owls. This observer, a woman, looked at me and said, “No, there is only one”. I tried pointing out that you could see at least two of them at any one time. This woman continued: “No, that is impossible since mother owls sacrifice all but one — only one is ever raised”. This was said with such a very commanding and definite voice, that I decided just to listen. I asked her how she might know this. Her response was that everyone knows this, it is written in books. I actually didn’t know how to handle this situation, except to just let it go. But I have discovered that this is actually not unusual on several fronts.

Humans often see very little of the wildlife around themselves. We often would prefer reading or hearing about something than actually making observations ourselves. I would say that 30% of walkers do not see the coyotes that are right out in the open on a hill, or on the path right in front of them. When you point it out, they are amazed that there are coyotes in a park in a big city. To a certain extent this actually reminds me of myself. I didn’t realize there were so many children around until I had some myself, at which point I started “seeing” them and playgrounds all over the place! The same with dogs: not until I had my own dogs did I truly “see” the quantity and types of pets that people owned — and also the off-leash parks and dog-runs. And, not until I wanted to “collect” some different species of bird photos did I actually see that there were more than robins, hummingbirds and pigeons. And that is how it seems to go.

Most people are not very aware of coyote behavior. The Internet dispenses some misconstrued information: speculations and theories that someone thinks maybe “could” hold. One observation seems to be grist for a generalized theory. This, added to the observed fact that coyotes are highly individualistic in their behavior — it is hard to generalize, just as with human behavior — their behavior is also very situation-oriented. People have told me that a coyote which loses its fear of humans will become aggressive — they have read this on the Internet. Since, by definition, urban coyotes are going to become habituated to humans, this would suggest that all urban coyotes will become aggressive. One needs to dig a little deeper, and look at sources. First of all very few coyotes or habituated coyotes ever become aggressive at all. Coyotes are not particularly aggressive animals, even though they will defend themselves from dogs — aggressive and defensive behavior have to be distinguished. More importantly, some have speculated that intentional feeding may be the most significant reason if and why some coyotes begin to exhibit aggression toward humans. How important is intentional feeding, as the root cause of coyote aggression toward humans? Chicago has not had aggressive coyotes, even though there are 2000 of them in the city, accustomed to humans and their activity. In southern California there have been aggressive coyotes — I have read that all the incidents there can be traced to feedings.

The question of human and coyote coexistence and habituation is an important one. Acceptable habituation should not mean that a coyote will feel comfortable wandering casually into areas where there is high human activity — such as a picnic — it should mean coyotes will feel okay seeing humans in the area. When coyotes engage in activity which we don’t fully comprehend, it is best to create a distance. I heard of an instance when a coyote approached the peripheral area of a day-camp and started barking. It is unlikely that it did so because it was habituated and felt comfortable doing so. Might its approach and distressed barking have been set off by the loud noise and high activity level of the campers? I know sirens have been known to cause coyote barking sessions. The coyote, which remained across the creek and never really entered the camp area, took off when the camp director approached with small stones which he tossed not at, but around the coyote. It is always best to keep your distance from wildlife, especially when you don’t understand what their activity is suggesting: Wildlife follows its own rules, and these rules are not the same as our own, nor are they always understandable to us.

I would challenge everyone who can to actually observe coyote behavior: there is a rich family life, hunting, curiosity, lots of intelligence, community. The ones I’ve observed are totally peaceful unless they are interfered with. Pupping season offers more territorial challenges, but we can respect that. Please also notice that they might display the same behavior that was dished out to them: if you aggressively throw stones at a coyote, then if he becomes cornered, might he feel he has to bite his way out of the corner, rather than be allowed to pass?

The harmful habituation that IS going on in our parks is that of coyotes to dogs. Since coyotes first arrived in our parks, people have allowed their dogs to chase and to otherwise interfere with coyotes. The problems might have been prevented by keeping our dogs leashed and close to us in these areas in the first place. But people refuse to leash their dogs. Coyotes have come to know the dogs which have gone after them. In addition, eye-contact, body language and activity level of the dogs communicate and convey what a coyote needs to know about which dogs are threatening to them on various levels. This is true even of leashed dogs. Some of the coyotes have developed behaviors towards dogs for self-protective reason. For instance, some coyotes in some of our parks “monitor” particular dogs — watching them from lookouts until they leave the park. I’ve seen a couple of dogs followed by the coyote — apparently the coyote was “escorting” them out of the park. Or, a coyote might engage in a strong warning display if a dog gets too close — a display that is meant as a message for a dog to “stay away” and to “note that I’m here and not to be messed with.” In some cases, the coyote has even approached certain dogs with this display. Coyotes often engage in long and distressed barking after being interfered with. This barking constitutes both complaining and, again, a statement of “I’m here and not to be messed with.”

Please note that these are a coyote’s defensive behaviors. If you understand them, you will better be able to deal with them. Please keep your dogs leashed in a coyote area and please read about coyote safety which I have posted at the top of this blog.

A Burial: coyote behavior

28 Oct 2009 13 Comments

by yipps:janetkessler in coexisting with coyotes, coyotes and dogs, hunting Tags: , , , , ,

Today I saw something I had never seen before. A coyote captured a gopher by patiently and quietly waiting for it, then dove in after it, head first. The gopher was not immediately killed, which made it very difficult for me to watch. In fact, the little animal always landed on its feet when it was dropped: it looked like it was putting up a fight or was pleading for mercy. Eventually it was still, and the predator carried its dead prey a distance — maybe 200 yards — and dropped it. And this is the part I have never seen before: the coyote then scooped out a hole with its muzzle, moved the gopher into the hole, then used its muzzle to move dirt and leaves over the animal: it was being buried. The process took less than 60 seconds. I’m wondering if coyotes have “caches” of food here and there? I looked at the site when the coyote left — although there was a little mound of leaves, it really was hard telling it apart from the area around it. I went back a day later to find that the leaves and the deceased were still in place. But I looked again on October 30th, three days after the kill, and although the leaves and sticks were carefully piled back where they had been, the gopher was no longer there. So maybe it had been “saved” for later? Coyotes eat not only prey, but also carrion. I have seen a coyote bury an old, dead, dry snake. Also, there has been an observation of a coyote burying a rock!!

I love watching and documenting coyote behavior. I’ve seen a mother coyote dart down a hill to aid her pup who was being chased by a dog: then both coyotes, mother and pup, “worked” the dog, charging it from both sides and nipping the haunches, as a cattle dog would, to get it to move on. The dog obviously was overwhelmed and fled with his tail between his legs. Today I watched a bored coyote, at rest, gnaw on a branch which was within its resting reach — the coyote seemed to be entertaining itself. I’ve seen a sitting coyote grab a gopher out of a hole as effortlessly as we might grab a coke from the refrigerator. And I’ve seen a coyote really work for its meal: standing, head cocked to one side, and waiting patiently at a vole or gopher hole until there was movement, and then dive, muzzle first, with a high leap, into the hole, where, if the coyote wasn’t able to grab the critter, at least he had injured it, because with a little digging, the injured vole/gopher was retrieved. Prey is sometimes killed and consumed right off — with minimal chewing or bone crunching followed by one big gulp, and sometimes it is toyed with. Besides voles and gophers, I’ve seen coyotes eat peanuts and catch a squirrel. And I’ve seen a coyote eat grass, exactly the same as some dogs do, and then heave several times to throw it up. Coyotes have been seen devouring snails.

A couple of times I have seen coyotes catch voles, toy with them and eventually behead them (coyotes’ back teeth are like scissors), before tossing the carcass aside never to be eaten. I wonder why? And in back of a house I once saw a couple of dead voles which I thought might have been poisoned (rat poisoning from the house?), because when, a few days later, a coyote came upon them, she picked one up in her mouth, she spat it out disgustedly, and then squatted over them and urinated on them. Might this be some sort of sign to other coyotes?

I’ve seen coyotes, sometimes alone and sometimes in twos, go up to a known dog with its owner close by, circle around and, ultimately, as if it were a dare, go up and “touch” the tail of the dog before running off. I’ve seen coyotes sit for hours, watching the show of walkers and dogs in a park — calm, collected and relaxed — until a dog gave chase. I’ve noticed that each coyote has a very different “critical distance” that they like to maintain from walker and dog to walker and dog. Coyotes seem to ignore humans and never approach them, but coyotes are keenly interested in all dogs and can “size them up” as to their friendliness, aggressiveness, dominance, energy. And, coyotes seem to know when dogs are leashed.

And human behavior is just as interesting. When a coyote is close to the trail I always let people know that it might be best to leash up  – after all, the parks are “on-leash” parks, even though few people abide by this. Today, a fellow human balked when I suggested that giving the coyote a wide berth might keep things calm. Oh no — for this man, coexistence means the coyote would have to move. So I watched as this fellow and his dog went by, obviously within the coyote’s “critical distance”.  Although the coyote kept its distance, it began baring its teeth and wrinkling its nose, charging back and forth in short spurts, scratching the soil and bucking and rearing — the coyote was obviously upset. So the man pulled his dog along and hurried by.  Is it really so difficult to give in a little to the wildlife in our parks? This female coyote did end up moving off — but I don’t think she would have during pupping season: May to September.

The first four photos above show the capture, fighting back and burial of a gopher. Photo five is of a coyote playing with a stick. The last photo shows how upset a coyote is when the above-mentioned dog walker entered the coyote’s critical space — the walker could easily have given the coyote a wider berth.

Children’s Health & Safety Fair, October 24, 2009

25 Oct 2009 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coexisting with coyotes, coyotes and dogs Tags: , , , ,

I was asked to spread the word about wildlife safety at a fair!! What an honor! So my husband, Jack, and I set up a booth at the Diamond Heights Shopping Center Children’s Health and Safety Fair on October 24, 2009. Our booth featured safety around our urban wild animals. Specifically we addressed the coyote-dog issue: helping everyone become aware of what to expect in the way of coyote behavior, what they can do to prevent dog-coyote incidents, and, ultimately, how to extricate oneself and one’s pet from an incident in progress.

Our booth had photos and an example of a shake-can to scare coyotes (for those who are less likely to screech out). We distributed fliers on dog-coyote safety and on coexisting with coyotes. We had a coyote puppet raffle which required you to know three things when encountering a coyote. Lots of people turned out and were interested in, and thankful for, hints on how to make coexistence work. We found out that 98% of everybody loves having coyotes around. We were able to explain the difference between an aggressive coyote and a defensive one, and found out that almost everyone expects a coyote to defend itself when pursued by a dog.

Coyote Story: A Burial

04 Oct 2009 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in Burial, coexisting with coyotes, coyotes and dogs Tags: , , , ,

In the morning on October 3rd, I met Margaret walking with her son and her dog in one of the parks. So that she and her son would be sure not to miss it, I pointed out one of the coyotes resting on a hilltop. We noted how peaceful this wild animal was — but we knew it could and would defend itself if chased by a dog. We marveled at wildlife in the city, and then Margaret had a wonderful coyote story to tell me.

For a while she lived in Big Sur — coyote country. Yes, her cats all disappeared over time — this was not the habitat for domestic cats. But her dog, April, developed a mutual respect and fondness for her wild coyote relatives which lasted until her dying day.

April did die at the ripe old age of 14. The family wanted to give their pet a decent burial — they did not want the body devoured by coyotes — they felt they owed this to April. They decided that the grave they would dig would have to be a deep one. As the digging began, they noticed that the coyotes slowly did line up along the horizon to watch. This was confirmation to the family that, yes, the grave would have to be deep — 6 feet deep — no getting around this.

So deeper it got. The family pet was lowered into its final resting place and finally covered with dirt, and the earth was packed down. That was all they could do. The family said farewell and left, but watched.

Sure enough, the coyotes did come down from the horizon. They came to the site of the grave. But they did not dig. They sat on the grave looking around and inspecting, and finally they began howling. They had seen and understood what was happening as the grave was being dug. They had watched the entire event with understanding, and then they had come down themselves to howl their farewell and respects to their friend.

An Instance of Seeing A Coyote One Day

20 Sep 2009 Leave a comment

by yipps:janetkessler in coexisting with coyotes, coyote behavior, coyotes and dogs, human behavior Tags: , , , , , ,

I met Jona with her rescued greyhound on the leash in a park early this morning — she called out hello to me, asking if I had seen the coyote which lives there. As I answered, she spotted the coyote! The coyote disappeared, but as we talked it reappeared. Ahh, it always is nice to talk to people who understand and love the coyotes. I found out about Jona’s previous park work within the national parks  – I hope she can help us with what is going on in the parks here.

As we spoke, a woman with two active dogs began up the path. I warned her that a coyote was around: if her dogs might chase, could she leash them? It did not happen immediately, but she was able to grab them and leash them. She did not want to be followed by the coyote and anxiously asked if the path she was on would be okay. The coyotes make some peoples’ day, and unmake others’!

Then Hunter showed up with his dog. The coyote still was perched high above, observing us below. Hunter’s dog ran up to me but then calmed down. As he and I talked, the coyote watched us, but particularly it watched the large labrador. Hunter told me that when he encountered this coyote several nights ago, he was surprised that his dog actually greeted it “in its own fashion”: a crouch and then a leap up! Coyote behavior, and dog-coyote behavior are always favorite topics of conversation.

Hunter walked on, while I snapped some pictures. The coyote was grunting, which means it was preparing for a barking session, as it watched Hunter and the dog leave. The coyote suddenly decided to follow them, so it raced down the hill, keeping its distance, and I, of course, followed too. So we ended up in a long single file: Hunter in front, the lab, the coyote and me at the end. At a certain point, Hunter’s dog decided to let me know that he was happy I had re-joined them. As he came running at me, the coyote wandered off to the side. I’ve been knocked off my feet before by this dog, so I crouched low, so that a fall would be a short one. The lab danced around me. The coyote became agitated with all the commotion and started its barking: a very high pitched and continuous bark. We knew the coyote was already in a mode for barking because of the grunts we had heard earlier: there had been enough dog activity earlier to set this off: coyotes do not seem to like a lot of commotion. This particular coyote really gets into its barking. The barking sessions sound like arias, so we call this one a “real drama queen”. She sits still when she barks, sometimes rearing up on her hind legs, sometimes raising her hackles, but always tilting her head back. She really gets into it.

So Hunter walked on out of the park — he doesn’t want his dog to be the reason for prolonging the barking — and I watched. Another dog walking on the trail, seeing and hearing the coyote, started to chase her. I pleaded with the owner not to allow this, and she was able to grab her unleashed dog. Then two more walkers with leashed dogs walked by as the coyote was still barking away. I think we all appreciated the “drama queen” and her performance. Things then became calm and the coyote settled down to rest and sleep — yes, right there in the open and in plain view.

Then suddenly, well before I had noticed any change in the surroundings, the coyote took off like a flash into the far distance and was gone. The “cause” of the fleeing appeared: it was a dog running up to where the coyote had been. The dog had not seen the coyote’s split-second departure. I approached the owner who didn’t have verbal or leash control over the dog — she had been yelling ineffectively for the dog to return to her. Our Animal and Care Department has been sending out someone to enforce the leash law at odd times — I thought I should warn her. This person was very upset that she might have to keep her dogs leashed, and she was upset that Animal Care and Control was coming to the park in order to protect a coyote. Dogs have always been fairly free in the San Francisco parks — and dog owners don’t want to give this up.

I’ve been speaking to a wolf specialist who said there really is “no middle ground” with coyotes. We need to protect the coyotes. The park situation has changed since our coyotes have moved in. We are the ones that need to adapt to this with stricter rules.

It was time for me to go. I had been in the park almost two hours. It is always nice to see a coyote. More often there is no coyote to be seen, or a coyote is much further off.

I want to add a conversation I had several days ago with Jacob, who has two dogs and is very enthusiastic about the coyotes and about his dogs’ behavior towards them — behaviors in which they engage at a distance from each other. He has noticed that some dogs, including one of his, are totally in-tune to eye-contact and communication with the coyotes — this translates into them being wary; whereas other dogs are totally oblivious to a coyote, as is his other dog. Jacob has noticed that the particular coyote we have lately been seeing will “lock” into eye-contact with some of the dogs, and he has noticed that this is an indication of this coyote’s dominance, which only those dogs who are in-tune to are able to discern.

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