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Urban coyotes emerging from dens
By Peter Jones
It’s early July and coyote pups may coming to a backyard near you.
Coyote breeding season is from January to early March. There is a gestation period of about 60 days. Pups will stay in their dens for up to 10 weeks and generally start emerging in urban neighborhoods in mid-to-late June.
During the summer months, adult coyotes teach their young how to survive, and where and what to hunt. Coyotes will be more active during the summer months, thus increasing the amount of sightings and encounters.
Earlier this year, the City of Centennial, passed a comprehensive ordinance to help manage its booming coyote population through educational components, “co-existence” strategies and limited lethal mitigation of problem coyotes.
As part of its educational efforts, the city has issued a number of recommendations to residents as the breed’s youngest animals make their way out of dens this summer.
First, if you happen to have a den on your property, the city is advising that you destroy the structure once the pups are out, usually by mid-July. Coyotes will use the same natal den from year to year if it remains available.
Residents are also advised to remove all food sources from their yards and actively haze — a term that refers to an assortment to tactics designed to instill a fear of humans into coyotes.
“Coyotes are watching and learning from us,” the city said in a statement. “We influence their behavior, and it is our actions that determine what the young coyotes learn. We want the new generation of coyotes to be naturally afraid of humans and not find our neighborhoods or back yards to be a safe place to live.”
Coyotes are adaptable predators and are common in urban areas. They are tolerant of human activities, and adapt and adjust rapidly to changes in their environment.
“There is no wild for these urban coyotes,” Ashley DeLaup, a wildlife ecologist for the City of Denver, told the Centennial City Council in December. “They were born in cities. They were bred in cities. That’s what they’re familiar with. If you took a coyote out of downtown Chicago and put them in a short grass prairie where they used to be, he would have no idea what to do.”
Experts say the biggest problem arises when people feed coyotes, either deliberately or inadvertently. Feeding can cause any wild animal to lose its natural wariness of people and can lead to unpredictable and aggressive behavior.
“A coyote has to really work to get its food and if you have food and it needs to get it, it may become more aggressive trying to get that food it needs to survive,” DeLaup said. “It may not become aggressive to the person who handed it the food. It may become aggressive to the next person.”
The city asks that if residents are aware of neighbors feeding coyotes to ask them to stop or report it to the Colorado Department of Wildlife at 303-291-7227.
Residents can reduce the likelihood of coyotes entering their property by taking these tips:
Remove all food and water, including from such sources as pet food, swimming pools, birdbaths, fruit trees, grills and trash containers.
All trash should be in trash containers stored indoors with secure lids. They should not be placed on the curb until the morning of a scheduled pickup.
Keep cats indoors. Outdoor pets should be supervised.
Close dog doors at night.
Trim vegetation and tall grass in the yard. Remove brush and rubbish piles to eliminate the places where small rodents live and their predators, coyotes, sleep.
Avoid using bird feeders. Seeds that have fallen on the ground attract coyotes. Bird feeders also increase the number of small animals that can be food sources for the coyotes.
Completely enclose gardens and compost piles.
Enclose open spaces under porches, decks and sheds with welded wire buried at least 18 inches.
The following items may help repel or deter coyotes:
Skunk odor, wolf or mountain lion urine (released through squirt bottles or poured on rags)
Strong-scented cologne or perfume
Ammonia soaked rags
Radios
Motion-detector activated strobe lights, sirens, blinking holiday lights and sprinkler systems
Odor deterrents (e.g. cayenne pepper or vinegar)
Six-foot fence or higher
Coyote Hazing
Here are some of the tactics residents can try if they encounter a coyote:
Spray with garden hose
Wave arms and yell in an authoritative voice
Bang pots and pans or use horns and whistles.
Throw rocks, sticks and tennis balls toward the coyote, but never corner a coyote in an area of the yard where there is no escape for the animal.
Use bear spray or Citronella bug spray, but do not get too close to the coyote.
For more information, visit centennialcolorado.com.
Coyote breeding season is from January to early March. There is a gestation period of about 60 days. Pups will stay in their dens for up to 10 weeks and generally start emerging in urban neighborhoods in mid-to-late June.
During the summer months, adult coyotes teach their young how to survive, and where and what to hunt. Coyotes will be more active during the summer months, thus increasing the amount of sightings and encounters.
Earlier this year, the City of Centennial, passed a comprehensive ordinance to help manage its booming coyote population through educational components, “co-existence” strategies and limited lethal mitigation of problem coyotes.
As part of its educational efforts, the city has issued a number of recommendations to residents as the breed’s youngest animals make their way out of dens this summer.
First, if you happen to have a den on your property, the city is advising that you destroy the structure once the pups are out, usually by mid-July. Coyotes will use the same natal den from year to year if it remains available.
Residents are also advised to remove all food sources from their yards and actively haze — a term that refers to an assortment to tactics designed to instill a fear of humans into coyotes.
“Coyotes are watching and learning from us,” the city said in a statement. “We influence their behavior, and it is our actions that determine what the young coyotes learn. We want the new generation of coyotes to be naturally afraid of humans and not find our neighborhoods or back yards to be a safe place to live.”
Coyotes are adaptable predators and are common in urban areas. They are tolerant of human activities, and adapt and adjust rapidly to changes in their environment.
“There is no wild for these urban coyotes,” Ashley DeLaup, a wildlife ecologist for the City of Denver, told the Centennial City Council in December. “They were born in cities. They were bred in cities. That’s what they’re familiar with. If you took a coyote out of downtown Chicago and put them in a short grass prairie where they used to be, he would have no idea what to do.”
Experts say the biggest problem arises when people feed coyotes, either deliberately or inadvertently. Feeding can cause any wild animal to lose its natural wariness of people and can lead to unpredictable and aggressive behavior.
“A coyote has to really work to get its food and if you have food and it needs to get it, it may become more aggressive trying to get that food it needs to survive,” DeLaup said. “It may not become aggressive to the person who handed it the food. It may become aggressive to the next person.”
The city asks that if residents are aware of neighbors feeding coyotes to ask them to stop or report it to the Colorado Department of Wildlife at 303-291-7227.
Residents can reduce the likelihood of coyotes entering their property by taking these tips:
Remove all food and water, including from such sources as pet food, swimming pools, birdbaths, fruit trees, grills and trash containers.
All trash should be in trash containers stored indoors with secure lids. They should not be placed on the curb until the morning of a scheduled pickup.
Keep cats indoors. Outdoor pets should be supervised.
Close dog doors at night.
Trim vegetation and tall grass in the yard. Remove brush and rubbish piles to eliminate the places where small rodents live and their predators, coyotes, sleep.
Avoid using bird feeders. Seeds that have fallen on the ground attract coyotes. Bird feeders also increase the number of small animals that can be food sources for the coyotes.
Completely enclose gardens and compost piles.
Enclose open spaces under porches, decks and sheds with welded wire buried at least 18 inches.
The following items may help repel or deter coyotes:
Skunk odor, wolf or mountain lion urine (released through squirt bottles or poured on rags)
Strong-scented cologne or perfume
Ammonia soaked rags
Radios
Motion-detector activated strobe lights, sirens, blinking holiday lights and sprinkler systems
Odor deterrents (e.g. cayenne pepper or vinegar)
Six-foot fence or higher
Coyote Hazing
Here are some of the tactics residents can try if they encounter a coyote:
Spray with garden hose
Wave arms and yell in an authoritative voice
Bang pots and pans or use horns and whistles.
Throw rocks, sticks and tennis balls toward the coyote, but never corner a coyote in an area of the yard where there is no escape for the animal.
Use bear spray or Citronella bug spray, but do not get too close to the coyote.
For more information, visit centennialcolorado.com.
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