Coexisting with coyotes

FALLS VILLAGE — Wildlife expert Ginny Apple brought an audience at the David M. Hunt Library up to date on the eastern coyote at an in-person talk Saturday, Feb. 24.

Apple, who is a master wildlife conservationist with the state Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP), began by expressing relief that the presentation was live instead of online, and thanked not just the Hunt but all libraries for their efforts to keep people connected during the COVID-19 pandemic.

She described the eastern coyote as an “ecological generalist and ultimate survivor.”

Coyotes evolved as a distinct species about 1 million years ago in North America, and until relatively recently were found only west of the Mississippi River.

Native Americans regarded the coyote as a “trickster, demigod, prophet and teacher.”

She included a quote from an Apache medicine man: “The coyote was just like a real person in the old times. He was two-faced; he was evil, but he was also good. The people often use him in the evil way; and in the good way too, they use him for he has the power to help as well as to harm.”

The coyote has been called many things, many unprintable in a family newspaper. The members of the Lewis and Clark expedition had never seen a coyote when they encountered them in 1804, Apple said. The explorers called them “prairie wolves.”

Mark Twain didn’t think much of the coyote, Apple continued. In “Roughing It,” Twain said of the coyote, “The meanest creatures despise him, and even the fleas would dessert [sic] him for a velocipede [early bicycle].”

In the 1920s, Scientific American magazine described the coyote as “the original Bolshevik,” which was pretty strong stuff at the time.

The Warner Brothers cartoon character Wile E. Coyote improved the animal’s image somewhat, as did subsequent Disney films, even if the filmmakers sacrificed accuracy for cuteness on the screen.

But the coyote continues to be regarded with suspicion and fear, Apple said.

Coyotes are having their pups right about now. Apple said that in the next few weeks, the pups will become visible to humans. Not coincidentally, this period has the most coyote sightings.

Apple had a pie chart that broke down sightings by category for a recent year (but did not specify which year):

— Sightings: 141 (72%).

— Dog attacks: 17 (9%).

— Approaching people: 13 (7%).

— Poultry/livestock attacks: 12 (6%).

— Diseased: 7 (4%).

— Cat attacks: 6 (3%).

Canis latrans vans is typically 48-60 inches long, weighs between 30 and 50 pounds, and lives five to seven years, although coyotes living 10 years and up are not uncommon.

At a glance they might look like a German shepherd.

Apple said they are intelligent and extremely adaptable, capable of surviving and thriving in suburban and urban environments as well as rural.

A big part of the coyote’s ability to adapt is its diet, which consists of “anything it can chew.”

So deer, mice, rabbits and other woodland creatures are on the menu.

Coyotes also eat berries, nuts and bugs; garbage, pets and small livestock.

Because the coyote is so adaptable, the best way for people to guard against unwanted contact is to keep their garbage secured and their pets under supervision, Apple said.

That means dogs on a leash and cats indoors, especially at night.

Homeowners should close off crawl spaces beneath decks and buildings to prevent coyotes from setting up shop.

Coyotes can be scared away by “hazing,” Apple said. Methods include yelling, using an airhorn or Apple’s favorite, a coffee can filled with coins, which she said makes a noise so unlike anything found in nature that it scares the coyotes thoroughly.

Apple said Connecticut, which registered its first official coyote kill in 1963 in Kensington, has between 3,000 and 5,000 coyotes. Some 200-400 are legally hunted or trapped every year.