coyotes in austin (Cool: home, live, dangerous)

[b. frank]

Originally Posted by AGA

Just for those who keep up with this sort of thing, I spotted one crossing Brodie just south of Davis at about midnight tonight!

All by his lonsome though...did not see any friends with him (or her)!

That's how they get you, though (at least if you are a dog or something stronger than a solitary coyote). They lead victims back to a pack.

And, yes, there are coyotes in city limits. My neighborhood is bordered by a part of Williamson Creek, and coyotes live there near the water sometimes.

My neighborhood association has warned everybody about it this month, so I suspect there are some in the neighborhood now. I have heard some vicious sounding cat fights in the last couple months as well.

My next door neighbor suspects that his Golden Retreiver was killed by coyotes years ago - it was an old dog who escaped the yard one night and didn't return. Her carcass was found near the creek.

[theaustinegalitarian]

I will tell you there are vicious gangs on the East Side so that you will stay away. In fact, there are vicious gangs all over Austin, ok? Will that make you stay away?

I have friends in the East Side. They are being pushed out. The vicious gangs are developers with West Coast money in their accounts and the newcomers are yuppies with plastic instead of brains their skulls.

And the coyotes are well fed. I have yet to see a single stray cat, even in the restaurant district that has dumpsters, this is true! There is one cat who has been to my bird feeder once, and I have no clue if its owner took it in or if there is a coyote also watching the bird feeder for lunch....

[gfelicia]

saw a coyote run across Howard lane/35...bout 2am

[owlman]

I've seen several foxes, but never a coyote.

I think in the last Westlake Hills newsletter they mentioned the city is considering hiring a coyote trapper at $4000/month or something ridiculous. Like they have an overabundance of coyotes but perfectly reasonable populations of other animals *cough*deer*cough*

[verybadgnome]

A bunch of ignorant, NIMBYs in Lakeway judging from the following:

"West Lake Hills resident Wesley Hook said he has had three coyote-related incidents near his house on Rocky River Road since March. He heard coyotes surround and kill an animal next to his house and saw a coyote run along a creek near his house, he said."

So what? That is what they do. Little does he realize that Canis Latrans has been in Lakeway and Texas about 1.8 million years longer than Homo Sapiens.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by owlman

I've seen several foxes, but never a coyote.

I think in the last Westlake Hills newsletter they mentioned the city is considering hiring a coyote trapper at $4000/month or something ridiculous. Like they have an overabundance of coyotes but perfectly reasonable populations of other animals *cough*deer*cough*

Trying to control the population of coyotes is a useless enterprise. They are self regulating for the amount of food they can get. The alpha pair in a pack are the only ones that reproduce, and they are the two that are out finding food sources (and the ones we see most). If you kill them, one or more pairs in the pack will start reproducing instead (new alphas.) Studies have shown that efforts to reduce the population often result in increases in reproduction, resulting in a higher population. That is why they are such survivors; other species of predators are much less able to adapt to population losses. Coyotes do sometimes hunt in packs, but mostly, they are lone hunters, and see their packs when they come back to take care of pups, rest, etc. Their favorite food is rodents, but cats are definitely on the menu. They seldom go after deer, but if the drought conditions of the last year have resulted in a low population of rodents this year, they may shift their eating habits. They are very adaptable and smart, and will change their lifestyles to fit human environments. The best thing to do when living around coyotes is to cut your risks by not putting food out (including pets) and not trying to approach them. Coyotes are almost never dangerous to people, and the only humans who have been hurt by coyotes (on record) are children from families that were actually feeding them. If they start thinking of your yard (and you) as a food source, then you have a problem. Peoples' "outside cats" are at risk, no doubt, not only from coyotes, but from foxes, raccoons, and in some areas, bobcats.

[Aquitaine]

And after they hire the guy for $4000/mo, they're going to have to hire somebody else to kill all the critters that the coyotes had been killing and that are now running around people's garages.

Or they could just let the coyotes do their thing.

[thomajf0]

My cat, smokey, was taken by a coyote a few years back. This was in Tarrytown. Never really cared much for the cat.

[twange]

Originally Posted by b. frank

That's how they get you, though (at least if you are a dog or something stronger than a solitary coyote). They lead victims back to a pack.

And, yes, there are coyotes in city limits. My neighborhood is bordered by a part of Williamson Creek, and coyotes live there near the water sometimes.

My neighborhood association has warned everybody about it this month, so I suspect there are some in the neighborhood now. I have heard some vicious sounding cat fights in the last couple months as well.

My next door neighbor suspects that his Golden Retreiver was killed by coyotes years ago - it was an old dog who escaped the yard one night and didn't return. Her carcass was found near the creek.

Howdy neighbor - I moved to BB Springs a year ago and hear them regularly (about monthly) in the greenbelt behind my house. I never leave my older dog unsupervised (we have a fence but coyotes are clever) but one of my cats does go out. He usually returns around dark. There's just nothing I can do about that. We found him as an outdoor cat and that's the only way he's happy. I accept the fact that he may not come home some night. Quality over quantity I think.

Even so, I love the fact that I hear them back there. Along with the owls, whippoorwills, hawks, deer, raccoon, fox, possums, armadillos, rattlesnakes, scorpions and bats, it's a healthy slice of wild right in the city.

[BevoLJ]

We have seen coyotes around my house. But for cats I think the big owls kill more cats than the coyotes do. Unless the cat is really young or really old. We've also been seeing lots of hawks dive down to my bird feeders and scare off all the other birds recently. We can never tell if they catch anything or not because they fly in so fast and it is like a huge explosion of birds fleeing every which way and then the hawk is gone before I can figure out where it went. I imagine they could take a cat if they wanted. I'm pretty sure they are catching the squirrels that feed off the seeds that fall off my feeders.

Those hawks that dive down to my feeders are very fast. It is truly amazing to witness.