For million years, coyotes have lived in North America and these poor animals have been subject to many scientific examination and research by many companies. The National Geographic had sometimes ago reported that annually some 500,000 coyotes are killed for studies related to science. Then, the question one needs to ask is; when so many coyotes are killed each year, then are there any coyotes in the city? Well, before going into the statistics to know about this, it is necessary to know about this animal, the existence of which is being discussed.
Coyotes – a growing population
This animal is a member of Canidae family and its expansion into South Eastern United States is not considered as natural because between the periods 1900 to 1965, no coyotes were found in the south-eastern states of Mississippi River. Coyotes are unnatural inhabitants of the city who were either released in pens established for hunting. Because, this animal has high reproductive potential, ability to produce 12 pups at a time, the expansion has been rapid.
Additionally, land management practices have been supporting their expansion on a wide and rapid scale. Moreover, they can survive on anything, which makes the answer to the question easier because when an animal can survive on anything, it does not need to stick to one place and can wander from one place to other, not in search of food but for a better place. Hence, it is right to begin at this point stating that there are coyotes in the city.
Coyotes are living in the city
An interesting statement to read is “we the humans are populating the world and coyotes are competing with the human beings”. It may seem funny but the rate at which the coyotes give birth to the new ones is quite astonishing. The Utah State University conducted a research on the coyotes’ presence in the city and studied wildlife officials in nearly 105 urban areas in the whole of the United States. The study found that 96 of the selected cities or 91% of the cities in the United States are home to coyotes.
This is a startling revelation and it is life-threatening too because coyotes in the city are dangerous to the residents as they carry rabies and other diseases. This is confirmed by the Utah study observation, which states that three-fourths of the cities that have coyotes have coyote-human conflicts, usually referred to as contradictory behavior of human and coyote, aggressive behavior of coyote towards human, and physically attacking a person or other pet animals. Now, this behavior is what makes it a more dangerous animal than it actually is. This is one of the symptoms in animals having rabies.
Coyotes’ presence in the USA
Coyotes are more likely to be found in larger cities like New York and California. They are animals that are more aggressive. Since coyotes can survive on anything and are omnivorous, they can adapt to an urban environment because they are less likely to be harmed and more likely to associate with the society with an easy and dependable source of food such as small dogs and cats. Yes, that is what coyotes in the city look out for. Many newspapers have reported stories of coyotes harassing dogs, or snatching cats from their owners.
Lawful killing of coyotes
There have been incidents of people being attacked or bitten by a coyote and later infected by rabies. Many incidents have been reported from large cities like California. Since its population is increasing and it’s not an endangered species, 400,000 coyotes are killed each year. While it may seem like a big number, but do not forget that coyotes have quick and high reproductive potential and give birth to 12 pups at a time.
The cities are flooded with coyotes with tons of complaints sent to US Department of Agriculture’s Wildlife Services agency to kill the menace. It is reported that the government agency kills 80000 coyotes while the remaining number 320,000 are part of the killing contests created by the United States to invite participation from interested people to hunt down coyotes and earn recognition and money. Nevertheless, this whole exercise costs $20 million of taxpayers’ money and yet, the number of coyotes in the city is increasing.
Coyotes carry rabies
There are coyotes in the city and they are increasingly becoming dangerous for people to roam freely on the street with their pets. For example, a girl at Alabama Park was attacked by a coyote and was given rabies shot and later, the management at the park, killed down two of the three coyotes roaming in the park. Other incidents include coyotes attacking individuals, harassing their pets, and spreading rabies.
In order to know whether there are coyotes in your city, one should look out for signs such as footprints, etc. The coyotes become aggressively active during the period of reproduction and tend to collect food and find dens for their pups, albeit far away from the humans, where there is no human movement.
How to protect yourself
Knowing about the presence of coyotes in the city is necessary to decide about the next step to take in relation to your safety, your pets’ safety, the safety of your livestock among other things. Residents should observe the behavior of coyotes and understand that they are not domestic animals but wild animals with omnivorous traits. This trait works as an advantage for them and they can adapt to the urban environment very easily because they do not need to search for food.
They can just snatch small dogs or cats and have it for food. In addition, as far as humans are concerned, the only thing that one should be frightened of is coyote’s bite, which may contain rabies virus. If there are any coyotes in the city, they must be hunted. The population is increasing despite the fact that nearly 400,000 coyotes are killed each year every year. That is such a huge number and yet, there are coyotes roaming freely on the road, at farms posing a grave risk to the livestock and health of humans.
