I just returned from the family place today. Anyway, last night I was taking one of the dachshunds out for the last time and he was dawdling more than usual. I looked up and a coyote was right at the end of the drive! (Its NOT a long driveway.)
It didnt take much to realize he was thinking "Dachshund, it's what's for dinner"....
I scooped the little dog up and backed up to the porch door, went inside.
This morning there were coyote tracks all over.
I guess its been a hard winter for wildlife, my parents have deer coming up to the house and eating bird seed as well.
I was really surprised. I mean, you HEAR of people's pets getting taken by coyotes but we have NEVER had them get up close to the buildings.
Believe it or not, in central Arkansas, North Little Rock specifically, there have been several instances of coyote snatchings, and we don't have the snow that causes food to be scarce. I live in Maumelle (adjacent to Little Rock/North Little Rock) and deer in the yard is commonplace. Vultures are quite abundant as well. I had one on my front porch one afternoon, surprising the hell out of me. Quite a bit larger than I thought, but when I looked out the blinds, I was only a foot or two away.
A vulture???? We have them around here but I have never seen one close up. And we have tons of bald eagles.
Honestly,there werent coyotes around the family place the entire time I was growing up. Then I came back from Atlanta,GA and there were plenty of them!
I cant remember where I saw it, but there was a death from a pack of coyotes, an adult human at that.
I have heard they are brave in packs but not so much alone. Still....this one didnt look scared!
My neighbor had to shoot a coyote just yesterday. It was on her front porch eating her dog. ( sorry kinda gross, but true.) The local wildlife officer said it was a very old coyote and that a small dog was the only prey it most likely could catch. I live out in the country and know that they are out here, but it just not something you think could happen.
I live in SoCal like twenty minutes from Disneyland and I was shocked when I saw two coyotes trotting down the street at like 3 in the morning. We live near one of those river drain cement creek things (major brain fart) that they apparently travel down so they avoid the suburbs. I have an outdoor cat who LOVES dogs and getting attacked by a coyote was the last thing I thought would happen but after that I've made sure he has plenty of places to hide and dont leave extra food out anymore.
Don't know if it's true, but someone told us that coyotes in the midwest supposedly have been cross-breeding more often with feral domestic dogs making them less timid around humans and as a result they are supposedly developing more pack-style hunting behaviors rather than hunting in pairs as used to be more common.
We don't have coyotes here in Forida (at least I don't *think* we do) but we do have gators and they pose the same threat to pets and sometimes children. Not only do they live in the ponds and lakes that pepper the state, but in mating season they like to go for long walks in their search. It's not unheard of to find a stray gator in your yard. My sister had a 10 foot gator stopped dead in it's tracks by the corner of her fence a few years back. Quite a show watching animal rescue come and wrestle him into a truck.
It's possible that all the above is true and they are becoming more bold. Possible also that it's we who are infringing on *their* homes. So much so that they are a) becoming more brave because of proximity and b) their food sources are becoming more scarce.
Groomporter, I believe that's the case. I had read that most are really just cydogs. Packs of dogs became a problem a few years back in Little Rock, and got into the zoo, and killed a number of animals. SInce then, there has been a concerted effort to stop the packs, by all means necessary.
Coyotes have been captured in New York City as recently as this year. The only state that coyotes do not live is Hawaii (maybe the gators eat most of them, Anna!).
Quote from: Anna Iram on January 31, 2011, 12:03:26 AM
We don't have coyotes here in Forida (at least I don't *think* we do)
Anna, we do have them in Florida...they have problems with going after peoples pets in Pinellas County of all places...and have seen 2 or 3 dead ones by the road side in Oldsmar!
Really? Hmm...seen all kinds of wildlife, never a coyote. Perhaps Merlin in right and they got et.
Want me to send you a box of baby alligators Mairte? ;D
Animals go where the food is. And there is a LOT more food in sub/urban areas than in the wild. In MN, we have a lot of wildlife on the edge of the burbs with infractions to the big city along the river.
Quote from: NoBill Lurker on January 31, 2011, 07:10:49 AM
Quote from: Anna Iram on January 31, 2011, 12:03:26 AM
We don't have coyotes here in Forida (at least I don't *think* we do)
Anna, we do have them in Florida...they have problems with going after peoples pets in Pinellas County of all places...and have seen 2 or 3 dead ones by the road side in Oldsmar!
http://www.pinellascounty.org/animalservices/coyote-map.html
Yeah, Coyotes are bad here in Pinelas. I won't take my kitten out for a walk anywhere but in the gated quad of the complex I live in. Why coyotes are here, I'll never quite understand.
The coyote/dog breeding sounds very plausable!
i hate going outside afterdark with S80 i'm always got my eyes peeled if i hear russling in the leaves i start scooting her toward the house i think i'm gonna locate the golf club that was in the closet and start taking it out with me again.
It was funny as I was leaving work tonight, I saw a Pinellas County Sheriffs car with his lights going along the side Race Track Road in Oldsmar. And what did I see but a 8-9 foot Gator taking a walk down the sidewalk, and thought to myself...Only in Florida! ::) :D
Only in Florida, indeed!
LOL, I guess there ARE worse things than coyotes!! :D
Of course it's not the predators I worry about so much as the aliens... ::)
Aliens....hmmmm....SO not going to go there. :D
Another interesting thing. I was dumping out compost before it snowed here. I had a rabbit I was feeding but apparently the rabbit has become supper for something else.(Chain of life I guess.Sigh.) I saw where whatever this was had chased it around for a good while before catching it.
I was curious about the tracks because they were so large, I was thinking canine but they didnt look like any dog tracks I ever saw.
Someone said a wolf but I wasnt aware we had them down here?
Did the tracks look like these?
http://jmichaelms.tripod.com/HIS/
Quote from: Anna Iram on February 02, 2011, 10:34:39 AM
Did the tracks look like these?
http://jmichaelms.tripod.com/HIS/
hehehe...I think every state must have its own "monster." If I'm not mistaken, there are two or three here in Arkansas (not counting me).
Most Arkies are unaware of the fact that mountain lions (cougars [No, damn it! I'm not talking about
that kind of cougar!]) exist within our borders (Wiki seems to be unaware as well). They have also been confirmed in Missouri, Iowa, and Minnesota. In these central states, it appears to be very small populations, but I know of numerous hunters, mountain bikers, and hikers that have either seen the signs, or actually seen the animals in the Ouachita Mountains just west of Little Rock.
Since black bear were reintroduced to Arkansas several decades ago, they occasionally wander into Little Rock.
The predator that I'm the most fearful of, however, walks upright and carries a cell-phone.
We have our own legendary 'monster'.
May I present 'The Mystery Monkey of Tampa Bay'...
(http://blog.newenglandbirdhouse.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/Mystery-Monkey-Tampa-Bay.jpg)
He is very fond of throwing his excrement at Vernon Yates, a wildlife trapper here.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/bizarre/st-petersburgs-mystery-monkey-swings-into-pool-cage-falls-in-pool-escapes/1081779
He even has his own song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BANoPqYTqwE
Here in New Jersey, our monster is the Jersey Devil:
http://theshadowlands.net/jd.htm
Fortunately, it stays in the Pine Barrens down south, so I don't have to worry too much about an encounter.
I dont think this was any sort of "monster". Just an animal. :) A canine something or other.
A few years ago a woman around here heard her dog barking, she went out to check and there was a cougar stalking the dog.
There is a lot more wildlife than people are aware of, thats for sure.
Wowza, there were two more coyotes by my house today, well actually they had crossed a major street to a more populated area. They looked scared to death. Mind you that may have been from me freaking out like a nut (I wasnt expecting it.) ::)
Yeah, when you arent expecting them, it can be a bit of a shock!!
I was sleeping in my van in the MNRF parking lot a couple years back and awoke to some yipping. I looked outside and there were about a dozen coyotes eating the garbage left out there.
Yeah we saw one crossing the back road, over by the horse ranch as we were leaving one night
Here in S.E. Texas, you have all the wonderful critters, that could make a meal out of you, that you could want! Gators, wild hogs, 'yotes, a few cougars/pumas, black bear... as well as Copperheads, Water Moccasins, Canebreak Rattlesnakes, Alligator Snapping Turtles and a couple of Wooley Boogers.... ;D
LOL, what FUN. I lived in west texas for six years....kind of miss it sometimes. I dont miss the scorpions, tarantulas, sand fleas, ticks or feral dog packs!!!
That's why i don't go into the Big Thicket with out a "hiking buddy"... Usually in .45 caliber. ;) It won't stop a Wooley Booger but will drop most anything else.
Yeah. We have those Wooley Boogers up here too, whatever anyone says. But thats another whole conversation!!
Must have some awful big rabbits...
http://www.wooleyboogers.com/
Quote from: groomporter on February 07, 2011, 10:14:44 AM
Must have some awful big rabbits...
http://www.wooleyboogers.com/
Wooley Booger... *see Sasquatch/Bigfoot/Fouke Monster/Swamp Ape/Skunk Ape.* ;) ;D
This conversation is starting to remind me of Monty Python's killer rabbit. :)
LOL, now Anna, dont you believe in killer rabbits???? :D ;D
Killer Rabbits? Tell that to my friend who had a HUGE rabbit take a chunk out of his middle finger knuckle when he was trying to feed the thing. The Doc said he was luck that no tendons were severed. The Doc had seen some bad accidents with Rabbits doing QUITE some dammage. :(
When I was 4 or 5 I came face to face with a fox when I was out playing in my grandparents back yard. I don't know who were more freaked, me or the fox?
Quote from: Anna Iram on February 07, 2011, 11:18:53 AM
This conversation is starting to remind me of Monty Python's killer rabbit. :)
"Prepare the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch"
Back to topic--
Really when their space is getting crowded out by urban sprawl, are they really predators?
Or just trying to survive the best way they can.
For most of these, predation is their nature, even when not being crowded. It's part of the self-sustaining natural order (if left to work). Personally, I think we need to be a lot more careful of how we continue to spread out. When we finally destroy all the trees, we will die along with the rest of the animal kingdom. When we kill off the natural predators, we will be overrun by the herbivores, until the trees are gone.
Well, Welsh Wench, a predator is simply an animal that eats other animal. We are predators too, by the nature of that definition. So, of course it is their nature to hunt for meat. We've just learned to get others to do our hunting for us in many cases. Some of us have become herbavores and eat a vegetarian diet, though that in itself may not temper our nature to want to hunt. Someone made the case on the previous page that our proximity merely provides coyotes, etc, with an easier meal that they might find hunting in the wild. A poodle probably makes an easier target than a wild hare.
Sir Ironhead. :D
..and just because I think it's so darned funny. Mairte, won't mind I hope.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcxKIJTb3Hg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_of_Caerbannog
That is a very good point, Merlin.
Really what is needed is education so humans and wildlife can coexist peacefully.
LOL...yeah...but first we're gonna have to teach the coyotes and gators how to read.... :D
People
Eatting
Tasty
Animals
Most of us don't consider that whenever we hike into the deep forest, swim in the ocean or visit otherwise remote locals, we willingly take one step down the food chain... even if we are armed. I've tracked mountain lions and had them track me....
Yeah,lol, a Brit friend of mine was bragging on how we are "top of the food chain!!!". I told him to come and camp out in the woods here for a month and see if he STILL thinks that!!!!!!!
I agree we are encrouching too far into some areas. It makes you wonder what is next on the extinct list. :-\
Quote from: Anna Iram on February 07, 2011, 10:04:50 PM
We've just learned to get others to do our hunting for us in many cases.
I saw that on a National Geographic special on TV.
The male lion lays around while the female lions go get dinner.
Far be it from me to mess with the natural order of things.
Ferret :)
Quote from: Mairte on February 08, 2011, 11:05:38 AM
Yeah,lol, a Brit friend of mine was bragging on how we are "top of the food chain!!!". I told him to come and camp out in the woods here for a month and see if he STILL thinks that!!!!!!!
I agree we are encrouching too far into some areas. It makes you wonder what is next on the extinct list. :-\
If the world keeps going the way it is... it may be US.
How true THAT is!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :-\
Even education won't help if the uncontrolled expansion into wilderness areas continues. Because of over-population, urban and suburban areas expand at an ever increasing rate every year, leaving no habitat for wild animals, and giving them no choice but to seek food where they are able.
When I lived in Boulder it was an accepted fact that there were whole herds of deer who lived their entire lives within the city limits, hiding in small thickets and open spaces during the day and coming out to graze at night. There were also frequent mountain lion sightings in the open space greenbelt that surrounded the city, and several attacks on hikers who weren't paying attention, as well. People in the foothills just know better than to let their little dogs run around outside without supervision, because if a lion doesn't get it, then a hawk or eagle is likely to!
Thats the way it is here too. We have a LOT of bald eagles along the river.
Its why I always use a leash when I let the little dogs out.