Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Coyotes
Wile E. Coyote may have looked the fool in all of his encounters with the Road
Runner, but he's not a good example of the species. Coyotes are intelligent,
curious, and adaptable. In fact, they're expanding their range into urban and
suburban areas of the United States and fi nding satisfactory homes there.
Coyotes usually attack at the throat, but sometimes they'll grab at a haunch,
bite the top of the neck, or attack in the soft fl esh under the belly. They gener-
ally select lambs over adults, unless hunger has made them desperate. They
tend to eat the organs fi rst and then the fl ank or behind the ribs.
Smaller lambs and those born to young, old, or crippled ewes are more
commonly victims than those of middle-aged and healthy ewes. Researchers
have found that coyotes are more likely to take the smallest lamb from a set of
twins or triplets than to take a larger, single lamb. If a coyote is preying on a
which are too wily to be caught. State wildlife offi cers may supply
live traps for bears or wildcats that are repeat offenders.
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Use propane exploders (which produce loud explosions), radios,
and other noisemaking devices to provide temporary relief, though
predators generally lose their fear of these unless their place-
ment, volume, and timing are changed often
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Use a combination strobe light and siren. This device has been
developed and tested by the USDA and seems to signifi cantly
reduce predation.
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Remove the carcasses of animals that have died from an area
where living animals are kept to reduce scavenging, which can
evolve into predation
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Schedule lambing later in the season if you lamb outdoors on pas-
ture. In early spring, most predators are hungry after a long winter
and are also feeding their own demanding offspring, yet other feed
may still be scarce. By late spring and early summer, other prey
(deer and elk, rabbits and rodents, and so on) are more abundant,
so the predators aren't as frantic in their efforts to feed.
