Lovelorn Coyotes Are Looking For Action — And Your Puppy
Original article patch.com
By: Lorraine Swanson
COOK COUNTY, IL — Love is in the air, and sightings of coyotes sauntering down the street have surged in recent weeks as mating season gets into full swing. Coyote breeding typically peaks in late February and early March, with the gestation period averaging 58 to 63 days.
Another explanation for the increased sightings may be because more people are home during the day due to the pandemic.
"Some people are feeding coyotes directly or throwing food out in general because they want to see wildlife. Instead, they end up attracting coyotes," said Chris Anchor, a wildlife biologist for the Forest Preserves of Cook County. "An increase in cat colonies is another attraction. It's an alignment of the planets."
A neighborhood resident reported on social media that she heard a howling pack by the Cal-Sag "probably after a kill." Another resident said there five coyotes were sitting by her gate in the late evening when she took her leashed dog out in the backyard as if casing her house.
"The coyote is not casing your house but monitoring their territory," Anchor said. "A coyote will sit on a high spot to survey his territory. If your neighbors are putting food out it will appear that your house is being cased. They learn pretty quick."
Urban Coyote Research Project estimates 2,000 to 4,000 coyotes are residing in Cook County, living in sidewalk cracks, golf courses, viaducts, railroad tracks, cemeteries, and forested areas. While Anchor hesitates to assign a number, he has handled over 2,000 coyote pups in the spring, taking blood and tissue samples and microchipping them to track the progression of any diseases that may show up in Chicagoland's urban and suburban coyote populations.
Coyotes have become so comfortable in the city and suburbs, Anchor said one could pass a human on the sidewalk, and the person would mistake the coyote for a dog.
"We think over the past decade there hasn't been as much of a population increase, but a behavioral change," he added. "Coyotes are very intelligent. They don't stay as elusive as they are in Winnebago, Ogle or Dekalb Counties where they're being hunted or tracked. They don't equate danger in Cook County."
During mating season, coyotes are incredibly protective of their familiar territory. In January 2020 in Lincoln Park, a 5-year-old boy was bitten by a coyote about the head near the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum. During the same period, a 32-year-old man walking down a sidewalk in Streeterville was bitten from behind by a different coyote. Both attacks in Chicago were the first reported in over a decade.
"We can document one coyote attack a year in North America where over 3 million people a year are bitten by dogs," Anchor said. "Most coyote attacks usually revolve around food."
In 2018, an Orland Park man claimed a coyote attacked his service dog at night near his garage. The man was also bitten. What some people believe are coyote attacks usually turn out to be dogs.
"We did a deep dive and were able to run DNA on the man's clothing, but it turned out to be a dog," Anchor said.
While coyotes always pose a risk to dogs and other small pets, male coyotes can become more aggressive during mating season. Generally, if your dog is on a leash you won't have a problem.
"During the breeding season, they become more protective of their territory and view other canines as interlopers," Anchor said. "The size of the dog doesn't matter. Coyotes are out there scrapping every day. I know many rottweilers and pit bulls ripped to shreds. They won't get killed, but you may end up with $3,000 or $4,000 in vet bills."
Most coyote conflicts in suburban neighborhoods are caused by aggressive human feeders, so whatever you do, don't feed them overtly or covertly by leaving food out for other wildlife.
"A fed coyote is a dead coyote," he said. "When the first kid gets attacked that's our nightmare. It will become more bold and need to be removed and euthanized."