There are coyotes in my 10 year old subdivision in suburban Indianapolis. Interesting how certain wild species (coyotes, possums, rats, cockroaches, chipmunks, racoons, etc, etc) thrive in the presence of humans whereas other species (wolf, bear, gorillas, etc, etc) do not.

I just hope no rat bites my ass while I am sitting on the can.

COYOTE CAJONES

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Jan. 2, 2001, 10:55AM

Coyotes are at the door in some suburban areas

By DALE LEZON

Copyright 2001 Houston Chronicle

Eerie, piercing howls jolt Shayne Hamil almost nightly at his mother's home in the Briar Hills subdivision near Barker Reservoir.

Once, Hamil said, he ran outside when he heard the howls, shining a flashlight into the darkness. He saw shadowy canines prowling outside his backyard fence and four pairs of gleaming blue eyes stalking him. They were coyotes.

Hamil's nocturnal visitors have become familiar guests during the past several weeks as recent frigid weather has driven coyotes closer to suburban areas in search of food.

"We've been hearing howling, and they get into fights about 2 a.m. or 3 a.m.," Hamil said. "They'll wake you up if you're (sleeping) in the back of the house."

Just 20 miles west of downtown Houston, the thick woods in and around Barker Reservoir, a 13,000-acre flood-control area, teem with racoons, bobcats, deer and other wildlife -- including coyotes. Despite the occasional annoyances, some residents who live nearby delight in these reminders of the area's wild heritage. Hamil's fiancée, Pamela Lazo, even plans to put out food at night, hoping to lure coyotes close enough to photograph.

But state wildlife and local animal-control authorities warn of the potential dangers of interacting too closely with nature. Wild animals may carry rabies and other diseases, they say, and people are cautioned to stay away from them.

The officials also warn pet owners to keep their animals inside early in the morning and late at night, when canine predators usually hunt.

Coyotes, who hunt in packs and weigh between 60 and 80 pounds each, will eagerly attack and eat household pets, said Derek Spitzer, a game warden in Harris County with the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department.

In the winter months, coyotes prowl subdivisions near undeveloped woodlands because they need to eat a lot to keep their energy level high in cold weather, Spitzer said. Their natural prey -- rodents, rabbits and birds such as quail -- might not be enough to sustain them.

"If they get to a dog or cat, that's easy picking for them," Spitzer said.

Carol Ross, Hamil's mother, said stray cats once wandered through Briar Hills regularly, but she suspects the coyotes killed them all or the strays left for fear they would be killed.

Some Briar Hills residents say coyotes have even been killing neighborhood pets for the past few months, said Rosita Pasquet, a board member of the Briar Hills Property Owners Association. However, Spitzer said he has received no recent reports of pets in the area killed by coyotes.

Hamil's coyote sightings are byproducts of Houston's urban sprawl. Development is squeezing wild animals from their native sanctuaries and forcing them to live side by side with humans, said Kenneth McDonald, a park ranger with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers stationed at Barker Reservoir.

"It's basically Houston encroaching on their land," Spitzer said. "When you have that encroachment, wildlife is more compacted. When you have wildlife compacted, even on 20,000 acres, they have nowhere else to go."

The Barker Reservoir has long been known as a habitat for predatory canines. Harris County paid bounties as late as 1967 for dead wolves and coyotes in part because they attacked livestock, Spitzer said.

The county discontinued its bounty programs in the 1970s, said Bill Schouten, chief deputy clerk for Harris County.

Pasquet said she would like the Harris County Animal Control office to capture the coyotes and move them to more rural areas. However, capturing the wily canines alive is nearly impossible, Spitzer said.

The county does not attempt to trap and release coyotes for killing pets, said Colleen Hodges, education coordinator with county animal control. They are indigenous wildlife following their normal instincts to survive, she said.

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), January 02, 2001

Answers

THE COYOTE

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), January 02, 2001.

"FOLLOWING THEIR NORMAL INSTINCTS TO SURVIVE". how about moving those burbanites back to the city and give those guys some space?

-- Johnn Littmann (littmannj@aol.com), January 02, 2001.

Never seen you do fantasy stuff before Littmann. Doesn't become you.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), January 03, 2001.

I've been feeding coyotes chicken dinners for years. One night they were sneaking up on the henhouse when an ambulance came by. They couldn't keep from howling, and they sounded pissed off about it. No chickens disappeared that night.

-- helen (b@r.f), January 03, 2001.

Coyotes have a right to their range. Mountain lions have a right to their range. People and chicken have no rights. Oh, but people and chicken are animals too. It all gets so confusing.

-- (MTM@PETA.pockets), January 03, 2001.

Ya get about 4-6 of em together and they can take down about anything. Had a cow calving once and she had a breach hanging out. The unborn calf was dead and she was beside the barn laying down. 5 coyotes had been working on the calf and had started on her vulva and anal region when she was discovered. The cow required 2 weeks at the Vet Clinic to heal up and then she went to market. I don't give Coyotes a chance to catch their breath if I've got the SKS with a 30 round clip with me. You can also run em down with a snowmobile but you better be carrying in revolver.

-- Boswell (fundown@thefarm.net), January 03, 2001.