The giant coyotes.

[sophie]

(A bit of a rant sorry)
Where my family and I currently live we have a slight issues with coyotes the size of a female german shepherd.
And for some reason people think they are harmless, or they don't believe me! Iam not the only person that has seen these.
I have along with my husband and step-kids. I have a friend who's a sheep rancher about ~30 miles from here, one day his youngest son(about 14 or 15)was herding the sheep in winter(winter here is insanely cold with ice storms) he ran into the house for less than 2 minutes, when he came back 1 sheep had already been taken the coyote was still on it. Anyway my friend runs out after his son screams and is forced to shoot the coyote who ends up weighing over 50lbs. They tried donkeys ,dogs,and llamas to defend the herd but they get attacked too.

Our house is built over the garage and laundry area and my father-in-law has a workshop in the back (we rent the house from the in laws) so sometimes he'll leave the door open. One day in late fall(already dark) my father in law go's back home(next door) for dinner but forgets to close the door the whole way and the wind blows it open. I go down stairs to do the laundry not noticing the door open. As I'm getting stuff out of the dryer I turn my head and see the front half of a whiteish coyote running in. I screamed and ran upstairs, I think my scream scared him off.

They also sit outside the house and howl . It's summer and they live in dens by the river but once it gets to mid-August they'll move back near the house. My poor yorkie won't even be able to go outside. Like the bobcats and raccoons aren't bad enough.

[anakhouri]

They do indeed exist. They are probably coydogs, coyote/dog hybrids, which accounts for their size.

They're definitely not friendly pups. As you said coydogs that size can take down larger animals, much bigger than regular coyotes. And coyotes are pack hunters. You're right to be wary.

My in-laws are country people and at night you can hear their distinctive howl; I have even seen some of the larger ones. They've lost many, many barn cats to them.

If they're walking into your house, that's a huge problem. Can you contact local government about it? I don't know if they could institute a culling program or something of the sort.

[sophie]

The local government can't even fix a pothole. They'll be no help. And some of the people around here let their preschoolers and toddlers play outside alone after dark. They might as well ring a dinner bell.

[AccountingDrone]

When Rob was growing up in Kerman CA, they lived with his mothers family on a grape farm along the river. He actually used a small 13 foot camping trailer as his bedroom, and used to step out to piss carrying a gun because of dog and coyote packs roaming the area. In a good month he would shoot 10 to 15 dogs/coyotes, in a bad month 20+.

You might simply have to get a gun and start shooting the damned things. I have shot and we still shoot roaming dogs around the farm here in CT, and we have also spotted coyotes and coydogs here.

[sophie]

We're technically within city limits so firing a gun means a fine or if it's repeat offensive even jail time. But I do have a taser and my husband has few other things just in case.

[NecCat]

The county I used to live in has a bounty on coyote. If you bring a dead coyote to the MNR, you get $. The amount varies depending on the year, if they are less of a problem the price goes down, more the price goes up. It's never been more than about $60, but enough of an incentive for people who are seeing them anyways to try. They kill sheep, calves, dogs, goats, chickens and do lots of damage to properties.

I think the insurance companies were key to starting the bounty. Enough insurance claims for dead livestock, and the local insurance companies (who have a louder voice with the government than individual citizens) went to MNR about the policy.

Even though you are in the city limits, doesn't mean that's where the coyote predominately live or hunt. If you can find they are hurting someone with a loud enough voice, they may be able to get the governments attention, and a legislated start to a solution to the problem.

[sophie]

People have tried but the city, county and state dont care. The county even claims that coyotes were eradicated here years ago. :rollseyes:
I normally look forward autumn but that howling scares the crap out of me every time .

[BlaqueKatt]

(A bit of a rant sorry)
Where my family and I currently live we have a slight issues with coyotes the size of a female german shepherd.
And for some reason people think they are harmless, or they don't believe me!

Eastern coyotes

The Eastern coyote (Canis latrans "var."), also known as the New England canid or tweed wolf, is a wild canid of mixed eastern wolf-coyote parentage with mild influences from gray wolves present in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Newfoundland and Labrador. It was first noticed during the 1930s and 40s, and likely originated in the aftermath of the extermination of the eastern wolves in the northeast and both populations of gray wolves in the maritime and hybrids between gray and eastern wolves in the western Great Lake regions, thus allowing coyotes to colonize former eastern wolf ranges and mix with the remnant wolf populations.

Can you contact local government about it? I don't know if they could institute a culling program or something of the sort.

Wolf culling is what created them. Culling more could cause worse.

[Greenday]

People have tried but the city, county and state dont care. The county even claims that coyotes were eradicated here years ago. :rollseyes:
I normally look forward autumn but that howling scares the crap out of me every time .

I'm pretty sure a dead carcass would prove them wrong. There's gotta be some loophole allowing people to defend themselves. If not, that's pretty criminal of the government.

[Aethian]

I just recently (last weekend) lost two of my dogs and my surviving two are in serious conditions due to these damn coyotes.

I am proud of my dogs, it was a pack of eight coyotes...my dogs killed three in the pen, one didn't make it off the property, and one was killed by a shot gun blast from my 72 year old mother.

I just wish I could go hold my remaining two but they are quarantined....and I can't take the risk of transmitting to the dogs I meet on my routes.

[s_stabeler]

People have tried but the city, county and state dont care. The county even claims that coyotes were eradicated here years ago. :rollseyes:
I normally look forward autumn but that howling scares the crap out of me every time .

bet you that when a coyote attacks the pet of a councilman that changes PDQ.

[sophie]

I just recently (last weekend) lost two of my dogs and my surviving two are in serious conditions due to these damn .

I'm sorry about your dogs, I hope your other two pull through.

People call me cruel for not letting mine out by himself, he's tiny he wouldn't survive. Dogs are like family.

[siead_lietrathua]

Eastern coyotes

ty for posting that. i was gonna say 'aren't coyotes the same size as a shep normally?' since i see them that size all the time.

and yes, wolf-culls basically fucked people over for a coyote boom. and if you cull the coyotes like they did up here, you get a deer boom. and if you cull the deer you get a hippie-boom of people pissed off that the cute deer are getting culled. (:P)

we had our local wolf die of old age a year or so ago. the coyotes have been turf-expanding ever since. (not that i blame them. it's their nature. but they are not the best species to have in the alpha-predator slot)

[sophie]

Just a clarification, we are in city limits but we aren't in the city it's self , ie. it'll take you at least half an hour to get to work(if you work in suburbia) without traffic and about 1hour 45 mins to the edge of the city with traffic.

Last night something got into the trash cans, and what ever it was weighed more than a raccoon.

[siead_lietrathua]

Last night something got into the trash cans, and what ever it was weighed more than a raccoon.

you sure? coons can be destructive little motherfuckers that'll do their best to wreck a trashcan open if they can smell food inside.