Coyote Beautiful

young female coyote in my neighbor's yard

I’ve heard stories that coyotes can be aggressive and I know to be wary of them, but I’ve always been one of those people who give wild animals the benefit of the doubt. Of course I do own a maniacal dog that is part dingo, maybe this is why I feel such kinship with coyotes.

Proof that wild animals can live side by side with humans

My dog even looks like a coyote–see?

 
coyote

                maniacal dingo-dog

I live in the country just outside suburbia, which is an ideal place for the coyotes. But did you know that coyotes do very well in suburban areas. Did you know that coyotes eat mostly rodents and scavenge roadkill? Which means they keep the rodent population down and they act like hairy street sweepers.

Yes, they have been know to nosh on beloved family pets like cats but, excuse me cat lovers, cats aren’t indigenous. As a matter of fact they have been know to wreak havoc on the environment. Please don’t send me any hate mail, just keep your cats in at night if you love them.

Even though coyotes have been known to attack humans, attacks are rare. For one thing coyotes are about the same size as my dog. She weighs about 42 pounds soaking wet after eating a large bean burrito. Of course a coyote may weigh a little more because of the whole tail thing.

Did you know that coyotes sometimes mate with wolves and some of the coyotes that live in the Northeast and Canada are a hybrid of the two?

Did you know that coyotes have been known to mate with dogs and that the resulting offspring are known as coydogs? Personally, I prefer the term dogotes. I think this name is catchier and that if I market the dogote. I could ask $1,000 apiece. It would be right up there with Labradoodles. Hey, what about a poodle and a coyote? The Coyoodle. Just remember, you heard it here first.

The problem with coyotes is that attacks on people have been on the rise lately. As in most problems of this nature, the blame lies with us. Yes humans, I know, what a surprise.

You see, we do several things to exacerbate the problem of coyote vs. man. First we encroach on their neighborhoods. Then we raise farm animals and pen them up. Just imagine being really hungry and having big platters of delicious food run by you on a conveyor belt. This is what a coyote sees when he looks at a flock of sheep.

We also keep cats and dogs and feed them outside, leaving dishes full of food. This attracts everybody in the neighborhood. Coyotes are opportunistic and if they are hungry they wont hesitate to eat cat food, cats, small dogs, rats, mice, voles, moles, rabbits, carrion and garbage.

Then there are the bleeding hearts, eh-hem, like me. Sometimes these people even feed the coyotes. Then coyotes lose their fear of humans, and start to equate humans with food.

Next, some poor toddler is running around her backyard carrying a Twinkie, and along comes Wylie. Wylie just wants the Twinkie but that little pudgy hand has a death grip on it and well, we all know what happens next.

If you care about the indigenous mammalian wildlife in your area (namely the coyote) and your kids, here are some ways to help keep coyotes from becoming harmful to humans, and therefore, themselves.

1. Don’t leave pet food outside.
2. Keep your pets inside at night.
3. Don’t be nice to coyotes.

An explanation of number 3. We don’t want coyotes to feel all warm and fuzzy when they see humans. We want them to be afraid of us so they don’t want to be around us.

How do we do this? If you see a coyote, make a loud noise to scare it off, spray it with a garden hose, throw something like a rock at it. You want to make the coyote see humans as things to avoid.

Don’t make a mistake and throw a T-bone steak at it—or your daughter’s Twinkie.

Coyotes are good, they help keep the rodent population down and clean up by eating roadkill and other carrion.

They fill a very important niche in our ecosystem.

Stumble It!

Comments

[Jacqueline]

Great photos! I love the juxtaposition of photos of coyote and maniacal dingo-dog. I think "Dogote" is a million times better than "Coydog." You will be rich!

Now I am wondering if the product of a wolf/coyote hookup can breed. Are they fertile, or are they the mules of the canine world? I bet they're viable....

Anyhoo, miss you, girl!

[Sarah]

Great photos! All the facts about coyotes were very interesting. It made me think of the foxes that come to our backyard every year, have babies, and then move on until the next year. They pretty much stay in the brush/woods but every so often we catch a glimpse of the babies. (They drive our dog crazy!)
Thanks for sharing.

[crystal]

Hello- great pictures and nice writing. Coyoodles is an actual word (in around Louisiana), but we also use it here on Cape Cod, where we have a large coyote (and poodle)population. I think they would make a nice mix.

[Shelley Lowell]

Hi,
Very interesting article. Enjoyed reading it. Love your dingo dog. Thank you for sharing and for the great photos. I was searching the internet for"coyotes hybrid" and found your blog. A coyote-type dog took a walk through my backyard the other day. It looked every bit like a coyote except that its tail was curled up like a pigs tail with furry short hair. It was so weird. My home backs to woods. This animal walked diagonally through my backyard into the woods.

[chigiy]

Hi Shelley,
Thank you for the comment. Coyotes can breed with dogs. They don't because, well, they would probably rather eat a dog than mate with one. They are just way different socially. However, that being said, it can happen, so maybe what you saw was a coyote that had mated with a type of dog with a curly tail, like a husky. I am not an expert. But you never know. BTW, what part of the country do you live?