Assistant Editor

LONDON, Ohio — Thousands of coyotes roam territories across the Midwest and many farmers, rightfully so, worry that the safety of their livestock is at risk.

“Coyotes are the No. 1 predator on sheep, lambs and calves,” said Stan Gehrt, an assistant professor with the School of Envi-ronmental and Natural Resour-ces at the Ohio State University. “They are a big threat to livestock, but it doesn’t occur as often as people think.”

According to Gehrt, 300 lambs were lost to predatory coyotes in the state of Ohio last year, alone. In additional 90-100 production animals were also reported killed in 2006.

“Coyotes will defend their territory and kill animals that they feel threatened by, or animals they compete with for food,” Gehrt explained during a presentation at the Farm Science Review in central Ohio last week. “That’s actually one of the main reasons they attack domestic dogs. They eat similar types of food and leave similar feces. It’s rare, but there are reports of coyotes attacking and even killing dogs.”

In addition to preying on livestock, Gehrt said that coyotes eat berries, rodents, rabbits, free-range cats and young deer or fawn. “For most of our game animals, such as pheasants and deer, their impact is often over-estimated,” he added. “Since they mostly attack young deer, they barely impact the deer population.”

Gerht said coyotes can influence the Ohio deer population as few as 10 percent and as much as 90 percent.

And the only documented case of a coyote killing a human occurred two years ago in Cleveland when a rampant coyote attacked and killed a man on a bike.

“Nationally one to three people a year are attacked by coyotes,” Gehrt added.

Family life

Gehrt noted that hunting is a way of survival for the often misrepresented predators.

“Family life is very important to coyotes, they defend their territory and protect their young,” he said.

Traveling in packs of five to six animals, including the alpha male, Gehrt said coyotes generally stay within their territory, a five to six square mile area.

“The alpha definitely defends more on the edge of the territory,” he said.

“They leave their mark, their scat, to let others (coyotes) know the lines of their territory.”

According to Gehrt, scat is the feces left behind by coyotes, often used to communicate within packs.

“Coyotes definitely use it to communicate, they really care about where they leave their poop, he said, adding that most coyotes will leave their scat on trails. “They don’t hide it or cover it up. They leave it out there for all to see.”

“That’s actually a really good indicator to tell if you have coyotes on your property,” Gehrt said. “If you see a lot, you know you have at least one pack.”

In addition to family groups, there are also solitary animals that travel across Ohio and throughout the Midwest.

“They are not territorial, they have a much larger range,” he admitted. “Solitary animals will travel 20-60 miles regularly.” Looking for a vacancy within a pack, solitary animals will wait until an alpha male passes away, and then slide into the pack to serve as the new alpha, said Gehrt.

“In addition to scat, howling is another great indicator if you have coyotes on your property,” he mentioned. “They don’t sound like wolves, who have a long melodic howl. Coyotes have a much more chaotic, short yipping howl.”

Coyotes use howling to communicate with neighboring packs to “stay away” and to communicate within the pack to “help them come together as a group,” according to Gehrt.

A woman in the audience during Gehrt’s presentation asked why coyotes howl during an emergency siren.

“A town siren is the same frequency as a coyote howl. In a study a student of mine was conducting, she found that every third Monday, a pack of coyotes would respond to the emergency test siren every time it was played,” he laughed.

Additionally, Gehrt said that tracks are another great indicator of the presence of coyotes.

“The primary misconception is that coyotes and dogs leave the same type of tracks, actually that’s not the case,” he said. “In fact, the size of tracks and nail type is very different between dogs and coyotes.”

Describing the details, Gehrt said coyotes leave the imprint of their four toes and four claws in an oval shape, while dogs leave an imprint of their foot pad and toes, only, in a more circular shape.

“In the snow you can really see what they’re up to,” he laughed. “Look at their path, have you ever seen a dog walk in a straight line, no, they’re all over the place. You can tell when it’s a coyote because they walk in a nice straight line, because they know their territory and don’t follow their smell as much as dogs do.” Although, Gerht said it’s pretty difficult to find where coyotes live on your property.

“They live in much more hidden areas, places you wouldn’t even think about,” he said. “What’s garbage to you and me, is a great place to live for coyotes. We once found a family of coyotes living deep inside a large compost pile, where it was nice and warm.”