With wolf DNA in their genes, Eastern Coyotes may be taking on more ‘wolf-like’ traits

PATRICK WHITTLE

Associated Press

Coyotes have lived in the East since the 1930s, and recent genetic tests have shown they are actually a mixture of coyote, wolf and dog. That’s why Eastern coyotes tend to be bigger than their Western cousins, and how they may be growing increasingly similar to wolves.

The hybrid carnivore has expanded its territory and thrived over the past eight decades, and increasingly wolf-like traits are making it a larger, more adaptable animal equipped for survival on the East Coast, scientists say. The growing wolf-like characteristics mean humans must learn to better coexist with the adaptable predators, scientists and wildlife advocates said.

“We now have a novel, large canid to take over that new role,” said Robert Crabtree, chief scientist of the Yellowstone Ecological Research Center in Montana. “The right size is going to be selected for us by biological evolution itself.”

It’s especially bad news for deer. In becoming more wolf-like the coyotes might become more effective predators, scientists said. The genetic changes bode well for their ability to keep thriving in highly populated areas including Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and New York City, as well as deer-rich woodlands. And it could ultimately mean the coyotes graduate to top predator on the East Coast — a role played by wolves long ago but which is no longer occupied by a single dominant species.

The Eastern coyote is one of 19 subspecies of coyote -- adaptable predators that live everywhere from the streets of Los Angeles to Florida swamps. Canis latrans, the Eastern variety, ranges as far west as Ohio. It is thought to have evolved quickly in lower Ontario and Quebec when Western coyotes mated with stressed Eastern timber wolves around the turn of the 20th century. Hybridization with wolves gave Eastern coyotes their size and weight -- they average about 35 pounds compared to the 25 pounds of the Western subspecies.

Coyotes expanded their range into the American Northeast some 80 years ago, sweeping southward through the Appalachians. Eastern coyotes no longer overlap with wolves, which are long gone from the East save for the rare and endangered red wolf of the Deep South. But the coyotes remain 8 to 25 percent wolf genetically, said Roland Kays, a leading coyote biologist with the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences. They are also about 8 to 11 percent dog due to past interbreeding with feral dogs, he said. The Eastern coyote remains capable of having pups with dogs, but it’s not common in part because their breeding cycles don’t neatly overlap.

Scientists see evidence that the wolf DNA is increasingly helping the Eastern coyotes survive, Kays said. And in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, they’re growing in number. Population estimates of Eastern coyotes are hard to come by, but Kays said there are likely more than a million.

Reports about coyotes living in urban areas from Boston to New York’s Central Park have accelerated in recent years. Unconfirmed glimpses have been reported in many of Pittsburgh’s 90 distinct neighborhoods, and the state Game Commission says the animals are likely to live in or near most city parks, and are confirmed in all Allegheny County parks.

In 2008 a woman walking her dog off-trail in North Park was terrified when a family of coyotes attacked the pet. In 2010 a coyote was shot on Mount Washington -- a legal kill by Game Commission standards but frowned upon at the time by Pittsburgh police. Municipal officials in the North Hills get routine coyote complaints, and in 2015 Ross held a community forum to discuss increased coyote sightings.

Just 25 pet deaths attributed to coyotes were confirmed in Pennsylvania in 2012, but a Game Commission source said the actual number is probably extremely high. In 2014 a state legislator attempted to create a $25-per-pelt coyote bounty after neighbors complained their outside pets weren’t making it back home. The losses were blamed on coyote predation.

But fears that coyotes could become a bigger threat, especially to people, are largely unfounded, said Camilla Fox, executive director of California-based Project Coyote. The animals are generally timid around humans -- the only documented fatal Eastern coyote attack occurred in 2009 in Nova Scotia when a 19-year-old Canadian man was mauled by coyotes.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has reported that the numbers of sheep and lambs killed by coyotes nationwide has actually tracked downward. Coyotes were responsible for nearly 59 percent of predator kills of sheep in 1994 and about 54 percent in 2014, the agency reported.

“If we leave them alone, they will self-regulate,” Fox said.

Eastern coyotes take a large number of white-tailed fawns in spring, but it’s believed their ability to take down mature deer is limited to the old, injured and snowbound. Coyotes will have a greater chance of survival if they gain greater access to the deer, said scientists. Abundant large food sources such as deer would give offspring a better chance of survival, leading to healthy new generations of large, wolf-like coyotes, Kays said.

“Are they going to get a little bigger? Maybe,” he said.

The wolf-like appearance of Eastern coyotes has motivated some people to dub them “coywolves.” Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research of Cape Cod, Massachusetts, wants them to be recognized as a separate species. But Gerry Lavigne, a retired state wildlife biologist in Maine, says Eastern coyotes are not genetically distinct enough to constitute their own species, although they have wolf genes and are very adaptable. And Kays, the North Carolina coyote researcher, said so-called coywolves are “not a thing.”

Pennsylvania’s liberal coyote hunting regulations include a year-round open season and no harvest limits. The 2017-18 coyote steel trap season extends from Oct. 22 through Feb. 18 with no limit, and the cable restraint season runs Dec. 26 through Feb. 18, no limit.

But coyote management through legal hunting doesn’t work. Few hunters target coyotes except during organized coyote derbies, usually held in January and February. The number of trappers continues to drop and the market for Eastern coyote pelts is fluxuates from $30 down to just $6. Game Commission furtaker biologist Tom Hardisky said in 2016 the coyote's density and range were "almost maxed out," adding, "They're everywhere. We're at the point where there's nothing we can do to change the number of coyotes out there."

Wildlife authorities are interested in finding what additional wolf-like traits will mean for the future of coyotes, said Wally Jakubas, mammal group leader for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

“Whether these wolf genes are conferring some kind of advantage to these coyotes,” he said, “that’s where it really gets interesting.”

Rabies, coyotes and ticks, oh my! Perils abound in the backyard this summer

By Linda Wilson Fuoco / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Heidi Meyers watched in horror as a coyote near her rural Washington County home chased her 14-pound miniature dachshund, Rusty, who ran as fast as he could with his tail between his legs.

“The coyote got within 3 feet of Rusty and seemed to hesitate because I was screaming,” Ms. Meyers said. “I ran toward the coyote before it backed off ” and ran away. 

Coyotes, deer, hawks, raccoons and other wildlife are out there, along with insects and other creatures large and small. In spring and summer, people and their pets are outdoors more, increasing the chance of close and sometimes dangerous encounters.

In suburban and urban settings, wildlife is bountiful and becoming increasingly accustomed to living near humans and domesticated animals. Wild animals lose their fear of people and have begun to encroach on backyards. 

Tips for a safe summer outdoors

Here are tips from experts on how you and your pets can deal with wild animals, insect diseases and other outdoor summertime dangers:

• Coyotes: Yell, stomp your feet, shake a jacket or noisemaker, pop an umbrella, flash a flashlight or toss a rock; www.urbancoyoteproject.com.

• Rabid animals: When picking up a dead animal for testing, wear gloves, use a shovel to pick it up, put it in a box and double bag it. For testing: 412-687-2243.

• Fawns: Keep pets and children away from young deer because does are aggressively protective.

• Ticks, fleas on pets: Pet owners should consult their veterinarian about the wide array of products and prescriptions. DEET is a recommended insect repellent.

• Lyme disease: Many vets recommend a yearly blood test to check for Lyme disease because it can be difficult to see tiny ticks.

• No pets unattended: This rule is a good protection against deer and hawks and also is a safeguard against raccoons and groundhogs that can be aggressive when sick with distemper.

• Deer feces: It’s smelly and unattractive but generally not lethal if eaten by pets.

• Ticks on people: Remove ticks immediately, check clothing and skin, take a shower and wash and dry clothing. Wear light-colored clothes to more easily see the blacklegged ticks. Wear a hat to keep ticks out of hair. Tuck socks into shoes or boots. Outdoor clothing should be treated with permethrin, a synthetic chemical that repels insects.

The attraction is the food humans provide, such as plants in gardens and yards, leftovers tossed into garbage cans and bowls of pet food left outdoors and feeder stations.

Deer have kicked and stomped dogs. They pose danger by jumping through glass windows of homes, businesses and offices and they leave piles of feces that often are eaten by pets.

Hawks have attacked small dogs; coyotes kill and eat small mammals, and they’re a threat to cats and small pets.

But perhaps the most dangerous outdoor threat is posed by the blacklegged tick, suggests Tom Fazi, education supervisor for the Pennsylvania Game Commission southwest region.
Ticks, which are classified as arachnids, along with spiders and scorpions, have four pairs of legs and carry the Borrelia burgdorferi bacteria that cause Lyme disease in humans and dogs.

The ticks start at the size of a pencil point, said Bill Todaro, entomologist at the Allegheny County Health Department. As adults engorged with blood, they grow to the size of a sesame seed.

“Blacklegged ticks are in every county in Pennsylvania,” Mr. Todaro said. “Twenty years ago that was not true. Thirty to 60 percent of the ticks are now infected with the borrelia bacteria.”

The tiny creatures are sometimes called “deer ticks,” but that’s a bit of a misnomer. In the course of their lives, blacklegged ticks live and feed off a number of animals, including mice. They move on to larger animals, including deer, in the later stages of their lives.

A blood test confirmed that Mr. Fazi’s English setter had Lyme disease, though the dog had not shown any symptoms. Mr. Fazi’s dog was treated with antibiotics.

Ms. Meyers has three miniature dachshunds and she never lets them off leash on her 20-acre homestead. She has a good reason.

About three years after the scare with Rusty, she heard a growl in her yard where her three dogs were playing. About 20 yards from the house, she spotted a coyote a few feet away from Sydney, a 9-pound miniature dachshund. Once again, she screamed and the coyote ran.
Rusty’s coyote encounter was in the spring and Sydney’s was in late summer. Both were during the day, which caught Ms. Meyers off guard because her research showed that coyotes are most likely to hunt at dawn and dusk.

While the dachshund incidents were in a rural setting, Deborah Miller-Gurchak, who lives in a suburban Peters neighborhood, has seen two coyotes regularly in her yard and driveway.

“One ran right at me. It was frightening,” she said. “I’ve seen them very close to the house, staring at the windows.”

Ms. Miller-Gurchak has changed the way she cares for her four Shetland sheepdogs, each weighing 20-35 pounds. They’re never unattended in the yard. A professional dog trainer, she advises friends and clients to adopt the same policy.

Her family and neighbors scare coyotes away from their houses with loud noises such as those made by fog horns and by banging pots and pans together.

Coyotes are thought to be in every county in Pennsylvania, according to the game commission, including cities and densely populated suburbs.

In southwest Pennsylvania, there are occasional reports of coyotes killing small calves and young lambs, but Mr. Fazi says his office has no reports of pets being killed. However, as Ms. Meyers noted, there is no central reporting center that collects data on pets that are chased, attacked, injured or killed.

In Pennsylvania, coyotes can be hunted and trapped all year, but a state license is required to do so. Many local communities have laws that would prohibit discharging firearms. 

“Coyotes are smart and you really have to know your stuff” to shoot or trap one, Mr. Fazi said.
Deer and hawks also can pose dangers.

In the spring, does bed down their fawns and often leave them alone in yards for hours while they forage for food, said Paul D. Curtis, a wildlife biologist/ecologist and professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y.

“Last summer I had a fawn 15 feet from my door,” he said.

Several years ago, three dogs were chased and kicked or stomped by does in the Bethel Park and Mt. Lebanon areas, according to the emergency room staff at VCA Castle Shannon Animal Hospital.

In January, a 4-pound Yorkshire terrier in its backyard was picked up by a red-tailed hawk. When the owner screamed, the hawk dropped the dog some 15 feet to the ground. 

Does sometimes attack dogs that they think are threatening their fawns, Mr. Curtis said.

Deer running through windows are another matter. They’re usually bucks, Mr. Curtis said. “We think they see their reflection, think it’s another buck, so they attack.” Sometimes they’re just confused, like a buck that recently wandered close to a building on the Cornell University campus in Ithaca, N.Y.

“It ran into a bunch of people and it turned and bolted,” Mr. Curtis said. “Their eyesight isn’t that good and it ran through a window.”

It happens once or twice a year, on the campus that is home to about 100 wild deer. Mr. Curtis is called because he has a rifle with tranquilizer darts and he knows how to use them.

What deer leave behind also can be a hazard. Feces is smelly and is an unattractive nuisance, but whether it is harmful if eaten by dogs and other pets remains to be determined. Justin Brown, who has a doctorate in veterinary pathology, said more research is needed. Mr. Brown is a wildlife veterinarian for the state game commission’s Bureau of Wildlife Management.

Deer and other wildlife often have intestinal parasites or what some would call “worms.” The worms and their larvae can be excreted in feces, but dogs, cats and people will not get worms from the feces of deer and other wildlife, he said. 

Another common summer concern is rabies.

The Allegheny County Health Department tested 819 dead animals for rabies in 2014 and found 14 that had the disease.  Of the 217 animals checked for rabies so far this year, three tested positive, said Sharon Silvestri, chief of the health department’s infectious disease program.

It “varies widely” whether local police departments or animal control agencies are willing and able to help with a potentially rabid animal, she said, especially if the animal is alive and acting aggressively.

Linda Wilson Fuoco is  the Post-Gazette’s Pet Tales columnist. lfuoco@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1953.

Coyotes Proliferate Despite Year-Round Hunting

By Bob Frye

There was no controversy here, deep in rural Clearfield County.

Mosquito Creek Sportsmen's Association recently held its 24th annual coyote hunt. Almost 4,000 hunters registered to compete for nearly $40,000 in prize money.

It's the oldest and biggest of the 20 or so such contests held across Pennsylvania each winter.

The hunts are not universally loved. Within the past year, hunts elsewhere spawned lawsuits, regulatory changes and protests.

But at Mosquito Creek, the mood was festive.

With an hour to go before final weigh-ins — the heaviest coyotes earn the largest cash prizes — the club parking lot was overflowing. Trucks and SUVs stretched out single-file along the entry road.

Hunters — mostly men, but a few women, too — were lined up outside the musky check station, coyotes at their feet. Many of the hunters were still dressed in their woodland and snow camo.

A young spectator with bright pink highlights in her blond hair pointed excitedly at each new coyote, saying, “I hope I get to touch one.” Little boys eating icicles played hide and seek. Families squeezed in and out of the packed clubhouse where food, drinks and souvenir hats, patches and T-shirts were being sold.

In the end, 162 coyotes — the most since 2011 — were registered.

“When you're here looking at them, that seems like a lot. But if you go by how many are probably out there, this isn't making a dent,” said club spokesman Frank Josefik. “It's a grain of sand.”

‘Maxed out everywhere'

Experts say Josefik is probably right.

Licensed hunters and trappers killed 1,810 coyotes across Pennsylvania in 1990. In 2013, the total was a record 40,956.

But coyotes are thriving, here and across the Northeast, said Tom Hardisky, a biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

“They're pretty much maxed out everywhere,” he said.

That's a testament to their versatility, said Jon Kligo, a wildlife research biologist with the U.S. Forest Service Southern Research Station in South Carolina. They eat everything from rabbits and squirrels to insects, fruit and nuts.

They also prey on white-tailed deer fawns. They're not the only predator to do so, but they are among the best, he said.

“When it comes to predation on deer, it's really variable, depending on where you are, the predator community, whether you've got bears or bobcats, or even domestic dogs in cases,” Kligo said. “The relative importance of each species can vary.

“The one thing that's most consistent is coyotes are always at the top of the list or near the top of the list everywhere.”

A very open season

A desire by hunters to protect deer sparked a lot of the organized coyote hunts.

They're likely not accomplishing much, despite incredibly flexible rules.

Trappers in Pennsylvania can pursue coyotes for 120 days, and hunters can shoot them 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

That's unique: There's no other species for which it is legal to hunt even when adults are raising young, Hardisky said.

The same rules apply in Connecticut, Maryland, New Hampshire, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia. New York and New Jersey prohibit hunting from May through September.

But no one's ever been able to significantly decrease the number of coyotes, said Duane Diefenbach, director of the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research. They're too resilient.

“They control their own destiny,” Diefenbach said.

Contests challenged ...

That has not stopped people — mostly animal welfare groups — from condemning the hunts.

In July, an Animal Legal Defense Fund lawsuit in Oregon ended an 8-year coyote hunting contest. The suit claimed the contest violated state gambling laws.

In December, Project Coyote persuaded the California Fish and Game Commission to ban coyote contests statewide.

In January, protesters in Arizona picketed a predator hunter convention. The hunters were there only because officials in their previous host city in New Mexico passed a resolution opposing organized coyote hunts.

Last month, the New Mexico state Senate approved a bill prohibiting coyote contests.

Jon Way, founder of Eastern Coyote/Coywolf Research, expects challenges to arise in more places.

Way, author of “the world's first carnivore conservation act,” which he has proposed in Massachusetts, said wildlife agencies cater almost solely to hunters, treating predators such as coyotes “like trash.”

“There's a minority of people who casually kill them, and they're basically given the green light to do whatever they want year-round,” he said. “Predator management needs to be more inclusive.”

... and defended

Dave Putnam, president of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, said he has not received any complaints about coyote hunts, nor does he expect any.

“Pennsylvania will be one of the last states to go that way, just because we have so many hunters,” Putnam said.

Adam Fabian of Ohiopyle, who runs the hunt for the Laurel Highlands Coon Hunters Club, said the contests simply mirror the growing popularity of predator hunting as a sport.

Hunts offer an opportunity for camaraderie, noted Peter Cupari of Fallowfield, who runs the Charleroi Sportsmen's Association hunt.

“It's just a good time to sit around and talk about coyotes, raffle off a few guns and have some good food and drinks,” he said.

If anything, coyote hunts have earned the animals some admiration, said Steve Miner of Grove City, who checked in three coyotes at Mosquito Creek.

“I hunt everything. But I real-ly love coyote hunting because they're smart — really one of the smartest animals I've ever seen,” he said. “That's what makes it so fun.”

Fur bearer harvests

Pennsylvania coyote harvests have been trending upward. Here's a look at how the take compared with that of other species in 2013.

Raccoon: 197,380

Muskrat: 83,880

Red fox: 61,392

Opossum: 57,138

Coyote: 40,956

Gray fox: 15,700

Beaver: 15,134

Bob Frye is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. Reach him at bfrye@tribweb.com or via Twitter @bobfryeoutdoors.

Pennsylvania Hunters Could Cash In On Coyotes

By Brad Pedersen Pittsburgh Tribune Review

A coyote photographed in Pennsylvania by
Randy Quinn of Armstrong County

Pending legislation could make controlling the coyote population lucrative for hunters across Pennsylvania.

The State House approved a bill on Wednesday in a 111-78 vote, which would allow the Pennsylvania Game Commission to place a $25 bounty on coyotes. The bill proposes to use $700,000 for coyote control, meaning the state could pay bounties for up to 28,000 coyotes per year.

The bill needs to be approved by the State Senate before it becomes a law. The senate reconvenes on Jan. 7.

If it gets approval from the Senate, the Pennsylvania Game Commission plans to conduct a study on the state's coyote population and complaints, to determine if a bounty is necessary, according to game commission press secretary Travis Lau.

“Right now, the Game Commission's stance is we need to wait and see what happens in the Senate,” Lau said.

The game commission does not keep estimates on the coyote population in Pennsylvania, but loosely bases the number of animals on game surveys and harvest reports, Lau said.

According to a report from the Game Commission, the number of coyotes harvested across Pennsylvania quadrupled from 10,160 in 2000 to 40,109 in 2012.

Cliff Chestnut, a local hunter and hunter safety course instructor from North Buffalo, said although coyotes have taken residence in Armstrong County, the region is not overrun with them.

Although he has never gone hunting for coyotes specifically, Chestnut said he has encountered the animals in the wild.

“Most hunters, especially archers, see them out around October,” Chestnut said. “In certain areas, there are a lot of coyotes, but I don't think Armstrong County has a problem with them.

“Even with a bounty, I don't think you'll ever eradicate the coyotes here. They have a foothold.”

The Game Commission's last bounty program was in the 1950s, in an attempt to control the state's red fox population, Lau said.

“Historically, bounties were used in Pennsylvania for wolves, cougars, the red fox and predators,” Lau said. “The bounties are meant to thin the population of predators, hunters blamed for killing too many game animals or that generated a safety concern or general fear for the public.”

Hunters can harvest coyotes all year, as long as they have a general hunting license, Lau said.

The Game Commission limits coyote hunting during the rifle deer hunting season, Lau said. Although it permits hunters to hunt coyote, they must also have a deer-hunting license, he said.

“We do it as a way to keep people from deer hunting without a license,” Lau said.

Today (Saturday) marks the final day of rifle deer hunting season, he added.

The Game Commission regulates coyote trapping by setting a statewide trapping season from Oct. 27 to Feb. 23, Lau said. Trappers using a cable restraint trap can begin coyote trapping on Dec. 26, he added.

“The harvest is high, so people are going out there to find and hunt coyotes,” Lau said. “Coyotes can be elusive and a true challenge to find and hunt because they do a lot of their moving at night, when they're harder to see.”

Chestnut said a $700,000 per year allotment for coyote bounties may be too steep. Instead, he said the game commission could explore other ways to spend the money.

In addition, coyote pelts sell for $75 to $100 each, depending upon the fur market, which is more than the bounty program could offer, Chestnut said.

“Wherever you see deer populations, you'll probably find coyotes,” Chestnut said. “It's a beautiful animal, but I think around here, we have them under control, and they're not a problem.”

Brad Pedersen is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. 

Sportsmen’s Clubs Make Changes To Coyote Hunting

By Bob Frye Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Things are changing in Penn‘s Woods again.

There was a time — 20 years ago — when the state had few, if any, coyotes. But when they moved in and ultimately spread all across the state, sportsmen‘s clubs were quick to take advantage. They began organizing coyote hunts on which hunters paid an entrance fee and competed for thousands of dollars in prize money, often for the biggest or most animals.

But that caught on too well. So many hunts popped up that the competition grew intense.

Clubs are trying new things now.

Some, like Tubmill Trout Club and Sinnemahoning Sportsmen‘s Association, are holding multi-state contests. Hunters can enter not only animals from Pennsylvania, but also New York, Ohio, Maryland and West Virginia. The idea is to draw more hunters and more entry fees.

Tubmill is taking things a step further by awarding $10,500 in prize money not to those who have taken the biggest coyote but to six hunters, chosen in a random drawing, from among those who checked in a coyote.

There still will be prize money for the heaviest male and female coyotes, but the move gives everyone a chance to win.

That‘s the direction the Charleroi Sportsmen‘s Association, Pennsylvania State Hunters Organization and others are moving. They‘re going to split their prize money equally among every hunter who brings in one or more coyotes.

Cresson Sportsmen‘s Association, meanwhile, is offering a mix of prizes. There will be $5,000 minimum guaranteed in cash for those who place when it comes to turning in coyotes. But there will be another $5,000 in prizes given away by drawing, with everyone who enters the contest eligible, regardless of whether they bag an animal.

It‘s all part of how things have changed, again, in the state‘s woods.

Coyote hunts

• Cresson Sportsmen‘s Association, Feb. 8-10. Hunters can hunt coyotes and foxes anywhere in Pennsylvania. Call 814-886-7727 or visit www.cressonsportsmans.com.

• Mosquito Creek Sportsmen‘s Association, Feb. 15-17. It paid out more than $39,000 in prizes last year. Call 814-263-4510 or visit www.mosquitocreeksportsmen.com.

• St. Marys Sportsmen‘s Club, Feb. 15-17. Hunters can hunt anywhere in Pennsylvania. Call 814-834-4375 or visit www.stmaryssportsmen.org.

• Sigel Sportsmen‘s Club, Feb. 15-17. Hunters can enter animals already registered in the St. Marys and Mosquito Creek hunts, so long as entry fees in each are paid. Call 814-752-2485 or visit www.sigelsportsmensclub.com.

• Sinnemahoning Sportsmen‘s Club, Feb. 15-17. Call 814-263-4418 or visit www.sinnemahoning-sportsmen.org.

• Tubmill Trout Club, eastern coyote championship big dog hunt, Feb. 22-24. Call 724-235-9798 or visit www.tubmilltroutclub.org.

• Charleroi Sportsmen‘s Association, Feb. 23-March 9. There will be a free party on the last day. Call 724-640-6555 or visit www.charleroisportsmen.com.