by Timothy Rutt
Yes, there are more coyotes -- and no, there’s not much that can be done about it.
In fact, a county official told the Altadena Town Council: “This is a kind of a dangerous place for small pets --- there’s nothing that’s going to change that.”
Raymond Smith told the Altadena Town Council Tuesday night that Altadena’s coyotes are not necessarily refugees from the Station Fire, as is commonly assumed: Altadena’s coyotes are “wild, but they’re not some kind of pack that would normally live in the Angeles National Forest --- they’re urban coyotes, and they live amongst us.”
Coyotes: your neighbors
Coyotes are one of the animals that do very well next to people, said Smith, the deputy director of the Weed, Hazard, and Pest Management Bureau at the state Department of Agriculture, Weights and Measures. Where the urban and wild interface meet, Smith said, the number of coyotes can be 15 times what can be carried in the wild. Homes and neighborhoods bring water, shade, shelter, food sources such as fruit, trash, and the occasional pet -- all things that increase the land’s carrying capacity for coyotes.
In fact, Smith said, because of urbanization, there are “more coyotes now than ever before in the history of the world, both in numbers and in colonization.”
Still, “this is the most coyote activity we’ve seen in years,” Smith said. Coyote populations can rise and fall cyclically and coyotes typically give birth to more young than can possibly survive. This was a good year for them, and what we are seeing now is the seasonal migration as larger numbers of surviving coyote pups are making their way in the world, according to Smith.
Spreading the word
Smith also countered some common assumptions about coyotes. They usually don’t gather in packs, Smith said -- the sightings of coyote groups are more likely family units. People have also said they’ve heard animals being torn apart at night but Smith said that was a family group vocalizing to each other -- actual kills are usually quiet.
Altadena is one of the few areas where anything is being done about the coyote problem, Smith said. Ellen Walton, an Altadena resident and employee of the Dept. of Agriculture, has been tapped as liaison to educate the community about coyotes, and traps have been set up -- seven coyotes have been trapped so far. The department will also remove coyote dens that have set up on private property.
When asked where trapped coyotes go, Smith said, “They are killed, every one of them.”
So what can be done about the coyotes? Smith said, as they can get over a six foot tall wall, or dig under a fence, the best thing to do was to make your property unattractive to them -- they’re looking for food, water, shelter, garbage, and yes, small pets. If they don’t find anything, they’re going to move on to someone else’s property.
Particularly, Smith said, don’t feed them -- it’s illegal. (At last month’s meeting, Walton said that some residents were leaving out food for coyotes).
Managed, not solved
Wildlife rehabilitator MaryEllen Schoeman, a Meadows resident, said that she sees coyotes every day, and that there had been no case of predation against a housepet in her area, despite it being next to the forest. “Part of the responsibility of pets is that we protect them from predators. The easiest, best way is not to make them [predators] welcome in your yard.” Pets need to stay inside as much as possible and be observed when they are outside, Schoeman said.
(After the meeting, Schoeman, vice-president of Animal Advocates, told Altadenablog that he escorted her dog outside when it needed to go, no matter what time of night).
Schoeman, objecting to the trapping, said that coyotes fill a niche in nature: “you cannot keep punching holes in the food chain,” Schoeman said, because that niche could be filled with another predator, such as a mountain lion. “The only way to get [coyotes] out of the yard is to push them out.”
Smith admitted that this is a problem that can be managed, but not solved: “The foothills are very rugged -- [coyotes] are always going to be here.”
