This morning I got an email from our local municipal police department.
The Town of Xxxxx Police Department has been notified that the USDA APHIS Wildlife Services in conjunction with Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) will be increasing their efforts for coyote trapping beginning tomorrow morning, January 27, 2018, in the area north of
This probably means a coyote became too aggressive towards a human. Usually our state division of wildlife doesn’t take measures to remove coyotes just for preying on dogs. I live in the suburbs. Sprawl. Part of the Fort Collins/Denver/Boulder/Colorado Springs sprawl. Being composed of almost all new construction our town has great bike paths and open spaces between housing developments, and HOAs require the typical open 4’ high fencing.
Coyotes wait for someone to let the dog out at night, grab it up, hop over the fence, and consume it. 37 dogs have been killed and 4 kids have had “contact” with coyotes in my town. I’m not sure what contact means. We are experiencing a lot of coyote issues this year. A few years ago a dad in Boulder prized his toddler out of the jaws of a yote.
Coyotes will attack dogs, but they are normally very fearful of humans, for good reason, shooting coyotes is a tradition in the west, open season everywhere. Our division of wildlife recommends keeping dogs on a leash, our municipal code actually requires it. Coyotes shy away from dogs attached to humans with a leash.
Typically coyotes target small dogs, but they will pack up and kill a retriever.
All this worry over dogs and song dogs and suburbia sounds like a humorous modern tale of urban dwellers meeting up with nature in a way they hadn’t considered. To the people who lost a dog, not so much. I sat at a meeting next to a couple who’d lost a chihuahua. They were anxious to find out what had actually happened to their dog. They wondered if a coyote had eaten their dog, collar and all, and if the tags would show up in scat. They also wondered if an owl had gotten it, or if it was a coyote, how much their dog had suffered. They were really put out.
What to do?
1. Don’t let your dog out at night except on a leash.
2. When walking your dog keep it on a leash.
3. Keep all dog food inside.
4. Of course never ever ever feed wildlife except for birds, and take the bird feeder down if you are in bear country.
5. Support hunters. Not because they’re apt to shoot urban coyotes, we aren’t, but because we pay the salaries of the people who hire Wildlife Services or answer the phones or come out and give talk to your HOA or municipality.