Laurainnj, who writes the fascinating blog, Somewhere in NJ, recently posted the story of the coyote down there that tried to carry a toddler off, right out of the family back yard. Many people had very interesting comments on her post and I got to thinking about our experiences with the little brush wolves here at Northview.
About thirty years ago, though I had lived most of my life hiking the mountains and working outdoors, I had never seen or heard one. They just weren't out there. Then on a trip to the Boonville area (not so very far from Canada) we heard a pack howling as we slept in our camper one night. It was a wonderfully eerie, hair-standing-up-on-the-back-of-your-neck experience.
Soon we were hearing them here, some distance farther south and east. They didn't bother much of anything and were an interesting reminder of wilder places. We still didn't see them, but we knew they were out there.
Then at age 26 I took up milking cows. Soon I married my farmer and coyotes took on a whole 'nother aspect. First they contented themselves with taking our cats. They just LOVE cats! From a high of around forty clustered around the free milk dish (thanks to all the folks who do drive-by drop-offs) we now have seven. Any that don't stay in the buildings are lunch. Next they began to prey on weakened animals like twin calves born outdoors at night. The mother cow can protect one quite successfully, but two are hard to cover. Then they killed a cow that fell down an embankment and couldn't stand. We couldn't get her on her feet, but she looked like she was going to recover, so we were carrying food and water to her with the truck. One morning her hide was almost entirely ripped off, her throat was torn out and, of course, she was dead. So to those who wonder if they can take deer, the answer is a resounding yes, even though they are quite content with rats and rabbits when they can get them.
Later a pair of them drove the visiting nurse off the back porch when she stopped to care for my late mother-in-law who was receiving hospice care. The nursing service called us in high dudgeon to come get our dogs off the porch so the nurse could get in. No dogs though, just a pair of coyotes that were bolder than they needed to be.
I suspect the one that attacked the child was rabid, like the fisher that attacked a woman in her garage near here, or didn't realize that the child was a person. I have no fear of them bothering me personally, even though I have encountered them many times when walking in the fields. They are bolder than foxes, which bolt willy nilly, but not aggressive-seeming. They offer us dirt farmers a boon in that they kill woodchucks, which otherwise build great mounds of dirt around the holes they dig in hayfields. There is something about a hidden pile of dirt and stones that is rough on farm machinery! We don't miss the chucks as they just adapted to the predators and moved down to the house, where they dig holes under all the buildings.
However, to all the folks who claim that we are encroaching on coyote habitat and thus should be happy to have problems with them, sorry, this time we were here first. Unquestionably people drove wolves out of the northeast and opened a niche for the little wild dogs, but coyotes didn't show up here in upstate New York until LONG after I was born. The cities they are moving into were there many decades before they arrived to sort through the garbage and grab small dogs. I am sure they are here to stay though, so we get calves in off the hill as fast as we can, and are thankful for cows like Zinnia, who would protect a baby from a whole pack of real wolves if she had to.
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BREAK TIME!—-Monday, April 29, 2024
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10 comments:
I don't feel sorry for the coytoes either. They are honest to goodness survivors and will be here for a long time to come. They kill cats here too and swift foxes and little dogs. They have adapted to our world very easily.
Hi joni, You are sure right about that.
We never dare leave dogs out at night because they would come and kill them. The horse barn door must be locked every night because they could get the pony. They got our neighbor's pony and nearly killed her...in broad daylight. Thankfully some passersby stopped and drove them away.
Holy cow! I had no idea that coyotes were that aggressive. I'm so glad you don't roll over before that 'we've encroached on their territory business'. I love all manifestations of nature and heartily support measures to preserve the wonderful diversity of life, but frankly, we are a culture producing, hard working species that as we sit naturally at the top of the food chain - get to push back at the viruses, bacteria, floods, famine and yes - predators that would harm us. Amen. Sorry about the rant.
Back when I kept cows, I kept horns on them because of the coyotes and dogs running wild. And like your experience, the feral cats that survive here are the homebodies. The days of coming across a truly wild cat living in the back 40 are over. I no longer hear any bobcat nor foxes, either. I do carry a weapon these days when I go for a walk in the woods, too ... the coyotes hereabouts are mite bolder or hungrier than yours.
Cathy, they are amazingly bold here...the story about the one trying to take a child didn't really surprise me. I am not at all offended by your rant, and am actually really glad to find someone who shares my outlook. Thanks
Wil, don't blame you a bit! The ones around here are too bold for me. They make it hard to break heifers to be worked by dogs too, because they harass them so much they are really on the prod when they see a dog.
Coyotes in our area are fairly meek and mild and creatures of opportunity. I'm sorry to hear you are having such problems there.
Not that I wish your livestock and pets any harm, but if the coyotes are removing feral cats ... then they are doing the environment a huge service. There are few things more destructive in the woods than the cat some heartless owner dropped off.
I agree with you on the coyote as a recent colonizer of the east and south. Our Florida population got a kickstart by fox hunters who brought them in for hound practice.
I'm inclined to agree with FC about the feral cats.
I'm really surprised with the great comments my *casual* post about coyotes has prompted. I see they're not something to be taken lightly or casually by most people. I really had no idea they were such a problem to so many.
Hi Laurie, I believe the eastern ones are actually larger than the western version and they are pretty fierce
FC, as long as they leave our personal herd of pet barn cats alone I agree. We get a lot of drop offs of unwanted urban pets, ranging from a nearly wild chow dog that we finally caught because he decided to sleep in one of my dog kennels to dozens of half-wild cats. They don't last long now and that is not really a bad thing. Some of the cats that show up here are scarier than coyotes.
Laura, yours was a very thought-provoking question and I found the answers very interesting. There is certainly a wide range of experiences with them, as I guess, with any interactions with the wild. I never minded them much until they started killing stock. That may have come about because at least some of them are interbreeding with dogs resulting in a larger, bolder animal.
I grew up in the Adirondacks and recall having the occasional coyote around. Lots of coy-dogs as well though I suppose they could have just been wild dogs--they didn't carry a pedigree around with them and there wasn't any DNA testing back then. The coyotes didn't seem to flourish though--maybe the snow was too deep in Winter or the old growth type forest just didn't provide much food.
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