Coyote Interactions
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Now that you’ve brushed up on how to identify a coyote, what should you do when you actually see one?
Coyotes generally stay hidden and are wary of people, but sometimes they become used to being around people (habituated). The most important thing to do when you see a coyote in your neighborhood is to reinforce its natural fear of humans. |
Sammy Prugsamatz
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Are Coyotes Dangerous?
Coyote attacks are rare. In most cases, people are able to scare coyotes away by yelling or throwing objects. Often, coyote attacks occur in areas where coyotes have been fed by humans. To prevent attacks, it’s important that we all know what to do to live near coyotes successfully.
Serious attacks on humans from coyotes are exceedingly rare. There have been two human deaths attributed to coyotes in total. To put that in perspective, there are 30-50 fatal dog attacks in the United States per year. Wild black bears killed 63 people across North America during the 20th century. The point here is not to make you fear dog and bear attacks (though reasonable caution is always good), but instead, to demonstrate how safe it is to live around coyotes.
For more detailed information about coyote attacks, visit Coyote Conflicts: A Research Perspective by the Cook County Coyote Project. You can also read more about dog attacks and bear attacks.
Serious attacks on humans from coyotes are exceedingly rare. There have been two human deaths attributed to coyotes in total. To put that in perspective, there are 30-50 fatal dog attacks in the United States per year. Wild black bears killed 63 people across North America during the 20th century. The point here is not to make you fear dog and bear attacks (though reasonable caution is always good), but instead, to demonstrate how safe it is to live around coyotes.
For more detailed information about coyote attacks, visit Coyote Conflicts: A Research Perspective by the Cook County Coyote Project. You can also read more about dog attacks and bear attacks.
Coyotes and Pets
Although attacks on humans are rare, coyotes are opportunistic and will prey upon free-roaming cats and small dogs. The best prevention is to keep pets supervised, indoors, or on a leash.
The thought of losing a pet for any reason is awful. Keeping them supervised and safe has benefits beyond protection from coyotes. Pets are also vulnerable to cars, toxins/poisons, and free-roaming dogs and cats.
The thought of losing a pet for any reason is awful. Keeping them supervised and safe has benefits beyond protection from coyotes. Pets are also vulnerable to cars, toxins/poisons, and free-roaming dogs and cats.
PUCP Director's Dog on a Leash
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PUCP Director's Cat in a Catio
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Cats
The number one thing you can do to keep your cat safe is to keep them indoors. Catios (a cat patio) are a great option to allow your cat to get fresh air and watch wildlife without being at risk (or putting other wildlife at risk). Cats Safe at Home has great resources on how to build a catio.
Any cat that lives outside is at risk of having an encounter with a coyote. However, there are steps you can take to reduce risk.
Any cat that lives outside is at risk of having an encounter with a coyote. However, there are steps you can take to reduce risk.
- Support spay/neuter programs to prevent litters.
- Find homes for friendly cats.
- Feed outdoor cats on a schedule.
- Remove food and dishes when cats are done eating.
- Pick up scraps and keep the feeding area tidy.
- Learn more about keeping cats safe from the Feral Cat Coalition of Oregon.
Dogs
Small dogs can be at a similar risk from coyotes as cats. Be sure to keep them on a leash and supervised. Before letting your dog out, give your yard a quick scan—especially if you have seen coyotes in your area.
Larger dogs and coyotes may interact—especially in the spring and summer while coyotes are protecting their pups. Never let your dog play with a coyote. While it can look harmless (or even cute), that canine curiosity can quickly get confused and turn defensive/aggressive.¹
If you come across a coyote while walking your dog:
1. Think about how playful-looking behavior between two dogs can sometimes escalate quickly and terribly and imagine how much more difficult communication is when it is a dog and coyote—they are speaking slightly different languages.
Larger dogs and coyotes may interact—especially in the spring and summer while coyotes are protecting their pups. Never let your dog play with a coyote. While it can look harmless (or even cute), that canine curiosity can quickly get confused and turn defensive/aggressive.¹
If you come across a coyote while walking your dog:
- Let the coyote run away if it wants to.
- Haze the coyote away if it doesn't run on its own.
- Pick up your dog from ground level if you can.
- Leave the area if you feel your dog is at risk, or if the coyote keeps following you.
- Consider an alternate dog walking route in the short term if coyote activity in the area is high (especially during spring and early summer—when coyotes have young pups).
1. Think about how playful-looking behavior between two dogs can sometimes escalate quickly and terribly and imagine how much more difficult communication is when it is a dog and coyote—they are speaking slightly different languages.
Chickens and Other Outdoor Animals
Protect chickens, rabbits, and other outdoor animals by:
*These tips will also protect your outdoor animals from other predators such as raccoons, dogs, and cats.*
- Using predator-proof fencing.
- Chicken wire is not effective for predator-proofing. Chicken wire keeps chickens in but doesn't keep predators out. Use ½ - ¼" hardware cloth (welded wire mesh).
- Secure the bottom of the enclosure.
- The safest option is to enclose the whole floor of the enclosure with hardware cloth (bury it so that the animals are not walking on wire). You can also create a hardware cloth "skirt" on the outside of the enclosure—attach L-shaped hardware cloth from the sides of the enclosure and extend it two feet outward on the ground.
- Secure the top of the enclosure.
- Be sure to enclose the top of the enclosure for full protection.
- Secure your animals in a smaller, predator-proof hutch or coop within the run at night.
*These tips will also protect your outdoor animals from other predators such as raccoons, dogs, and cats.*
Learn more about coyote-proofing outdoor enclosures from the Open Sanctuary Project and Sonoma County Wildlife Rescue.
Will a Coyote Attack Me?
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If you are out and about and see a coyote, it is highly unlikely that the coyote will attack you. What is most likely is that the coyote will run away. It might also be curious and stop and stare. In rarer circumstances, it may follow you from a distance. In all of these cases, the risk of danger is very low.
The best thing to do is to scare the coyote away. You do the coyote a favor by keeping it wary of humans and you keep yourself safe from the unlikely chance of conflict with the coyote. How do you scare away a coyote? By making loud noises, yelling, or by throwing small objects near the coyote. You help coyotes and humans by doing this—coyotes that stay away from humans keep everyone safe. |
Angela Calabrese
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Hazing Coyotes
Hazing is another word for scaring away an animal to maintain or re-instill it's natural wariness of people. Habituated coyotes—those that have become comfortable around people—are especially critical to haze. No matter how you feel about coyotes, hazing bold coyotes is important—it's something that everyone in the community can and should do to keep coyotes, pets, and people safe.
To haze coyotes:
- Act unapproachable: Open your jacket and wave your arms to appear large and scary.
- Make loud noises: Clap, shout, blow a whistle, or use an air horn.
- If needed, use deterrents: Throw sticks, pebbles, or carry pepper spray.
Check out this three-minute video from the Presidio in San Francisco to see how a demonstration of hazing.
Keep these tips from the Humane Society of the United States in mind when hazing coyotes:
- Hazing is most effective when an individual coyote is hazed by a variety of people using a variety of tools and techniques
- The coyote being hazed must be able to recognize that the potential threat is coming from a person. Therefore, hiding behind a bush and throwing rocks or hazing from inside a car or house (for example) isn’t effective.
- When hazed for the first time, a coyote may not respond at first or may run a short distance away. If this happens, it is important to continue hazing (and intensify the hazing if possible) until the coyote leaves the area. Otherwise, the coyote will learn to wait until the person gives up. Inconsistent hazing will create an animal more resistant to hazing instead of reinforcing the notion that “people are scary.”
- Make sure to provide an escape route for the coyote. Do not corner the coyote or chase the animal in the direction of traffic or other people.
- A group of coyotes should be hazed in the same manner as a single coyote. In a group, there will always be a dominant coyote who will respond first, and once he runs away, the others will follow.
- Hazing efforts should be exaggerated at the beginning of a hazing program, but less effort will be needed as coyotes learn to avoid people and neighborhoods. Coyotes learn quickly, and their family members and pups will emulate their behavior, leading to a ripple effect throughout the local coyote population.
- Certain levels of hazing must always be maintained so that coyotes do not learn or return to unacceptable habits.
- Obviously sick or injured coyotes should not be hazed by the general public. In these cases, ODFW should be contacted.
- People should never run from or ignore a coyote. Running from a coyote can initiate a chasing instinct, while ignoring a coyote creates habituation and negates the positive effects of hazing.
- It is important to identify and remove possible coyote attractants in conjunction with hazing. Hazing will be less effective if food attractants are plentiful in a neighborhood.
Learn more about hazing from the Urban Coyote Research Project and the Humane Society of the United States
Do Coyotes Carry Rabies? Other Diseases?
Do coyotes carry rabies?
Generally speaking, no, you do not need to worry about coyotes carrying rabies. Rabies is very rarely present in the Pacific Northwest. Outside the Pacific Northwest, rabies is rare; when rabies is present, it is extremely rare for coyotes to be infected.
Are there any other diseases coyotes carry that I should be worried about?
Research into other diseases among urban coyote populations is emerging, but what we do know is that some urban coyotes carry heartworm (a heart parasite) and mange (a skin disease). Heartworm can be transmitted to domestic dogs; it is recommended that dogs receive preventative treatment for heartworm and treatments are widely available. Mange can also be transmitted to pets and people, but direct contact is required, so transmission is unlikely.
For more information on disease transmission, check out the Urban Coyote Research Project’s research on disease transmission in urban coyotes.
Generally speaking, no, you do not need to worry about coyotes carrying rabies. Rabies is very rarely present in the Pacific Northwest. Outside the Pacific Northwest, rabies is rare; when rabies is present, it is extremely rare for coyotes to be infected.
Are there any other diseases coyotes carry that I should be worried about?
Research into other diseases among urban coyote populations is emerging, but what we do know is that some urban coyotes carry heartworm (a heart parasite) and mange (a skin disease). Heartworm can be transmitted to domestic dogs; it is recommended that dogs receive preventative treatment for heartworm and treatments are widely available. Mange can also be transmitted to pets and people, but direct contact is required, so transmission is unlikely.
For more information on disease transmission, check out the Urban Coyote Research Project’s research on disease transmission in urban coyotes.
Coyote Habitat is Everywhere
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The amazing thing about coyotes is that coyote habitat is almost anywhere, coyote diet includes almost anything, and coyote schedules can be any time. This makes them adaptable to mountains, grasslands, cities, farmland, deserts, forests, and everywhere in between. As a species, coyotes are doing splendidly. Since coyotes are doing so well, does that mean we should stop sharing our space with them? Definitely not.
Two reasons to share our space with coyotes:
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Sarah Chung
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Coexisting with Coyotes
Coyotes are here to stay in cities, so how do we coexist?
There are a few key things to remember to keep our coyote neighbors behaving like good neighbors:
There are a few key things to remember to keep our coyote neighbors behaving like good neighbors:
- Never feed a coyote. Even by accident.
- Coyotes that are fed by humans are more dangerous because they lose their fear of humans (they become habituated).
- Eliminate opportunities for rats in your yard (rats are a food source for coyotes). Secure garbage and compost. Remove fallen fruit from your yard. Do not leave food outdoors (like cat food).
- Don’t approach coyotes, instead haze them when you see them.
- If coyotes get too close to you or your house, scare them away by using hazing techniques. Hazing techniques, such as shouting, making noise, or waving your arms, help retrain coyotes to be wary of humans.
- Keep your pets safe.
- Allow only supervised access to the outdoors. Keep pets in from dusk to dawn.
Coyote Habituation Scale
You may be wondering, "How do I know when a coyote is habituated?" The following scale illustrates coyote behavior, sighting frequency, and habituation level.
As coyote habituation goes from low to high, the type of response should similarly increase. If coyotes are rarely seen and it’s generally at night, simply reducing attractants and taking reasonable precautions with pets is probably enough. If a coyote is being seen regularly during the day, an active and consistent effort to haze the animal is recommended. Effective, community-wide hazing can help prevent the need to lethally remove (kill) coyotes.
If a coyote is very difficult to scare away from you, is acting aggressively, or appears to be seriously injured or sick, please call the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife at 971-673-6000 or to report the coyote's behavior.
Figure adapted from the Urban Coyote Research Project and the Humane Society of the United States
If a coyote is very difficult to scare away from you, is acting aggressively, or appears to be seriously injured or sick, please call the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife at 971-673-6000 or to report the coyote's behavior.
Figure adapted from the Urban Coyote Research Project and the Humane Society of the United States
Can We Remove Coyotes From Cities?
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In short, no. Coyotes are here to stay.
Relocating coyotes does not work—being left in an unfamiliar place without their family often leads a coyote to roam, get into trouble, or even be killed by a car. For this reason, state wildlife laws prohibit the relocation of coyotes.¹ |
Molly Sultany
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Lethal Removal
It is extremely rare for habituation to get to the point in which lethal removal is appropriate. If a coyote has become so habituated that it's a threat to the community, the coyote may be killed (lethally removed). Lethal removal can be effective for eliminating individual troublesome coyotes, but it does not help reduce local populations. Lethal removal in urban areas is also a significant logistical and safety challenge. In addition, identifying and removing the specific coyote displaying worrisome behavior is generally very difficult. In Oregon, state wildlife officials promote sensible coexistence approaches to help keep the resident coyotes from ever getting to the extreme behavioral issues that would require lethal removal. (ODFW's recommendations)
Removing Coyotes from Cities
Some people may want all or many coyotes removed from an urban area, thinking that they don’t “belong” in a city or suburb. Coyotes generally pose a very low risk to people and behavioral issues can be managed by protecting pets, removing food sources, and hazing. Despite widespread efforts to reduce coyote numbers, coyotes have managed to survive and thrive among human populations. Killing coyotes disrupts population structure, and may cause more coyotes to breed and have larger litters. Other coyotes can and will quickly fill into vacated habitat from adjacent areas. A long-term campaign to continue to remove coyotes from urban areas would be costly, dangerous, and ultimately unsuccessful.
Learn more about why relocation and indiscriminate removal plans don't work here.
1. A special permit to relocate a coyote is theoretically possible, but would not be issued for a coyote that is habituated. It would be irresponsible to pass the buck and release this coyote elsewhere and the coyote would be likely to die in an unfamiliar place with established coyotes already present.
It is extremely rare for habituation to get to the point in which lethal removal is appropriate. If a coyote has become so habituated that it's a threat to the community, the coyote may be killed (lethally removed). Lethal removal can be effective for eliminating individual troublesome coyotes, but it does not help reduce local populations. Lethal removal in urban areas is also a significant logistical and safety challenge. In addition, identifying and removing the specific coyote displaying worrisome behavior is generally very difficult. In Oregon, state wildlife officials promote sensible coexistence approaches to help keep the resident coyotes from ever getting to the extreme behavioral issues that would require lethal removal. (ODFW's recommendations)
Removing Coyotes from Cities
Some people may want all or many coyotes removed from an urban area, thinking that they don’t “belong” in a city or suburb. Coyotes generally pose a very low risk to people and behavioral issues can be managed by protecting pets, removing food sources, and hazing. Despite widespread efforts to reduce coyote numbers, coyotes have managed to survive and thrive among human populations. Killing coyotes disrupts population structure, and may cause more coyotes to breed and have larger litters. Other coyotes can and will quickly fill into vacated habitat from adjacent areas. A long-term campaign to continue to remove coyotes from urban areas would be costly, dangerous, and ultimately unsuccessful.
Learn more about why relocation and indiscriminate removal plans don't work here.
1. A special permit to relocate a coyote is theoretically possible, but would not be issued for a coyote that is habituated. It would be irresponsible to pass the buck and release this coyote elsewhere and the coyote would be likely to die in an unfamiliar place with established coyotes already present.
Coyote Behavior by Season
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The season can tell you a lot about what coyotes are up to and how they might behave; our coyote observation reports follow a distinct seasonal pattern. Coyote behavioral patterns depend in large part on the age of their pups (we are sure many people can relate).
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Spring
From March to May, litters of coyote pups are being born across the Portland metro area. Coyote parents will be extra hungry and extra wary during this time, so be sure to give them extra space. They tend to be more territorial during this time of year than other times. If a coyote appears to be standing its ground in a particular area during the spring months, be sure to give it space and keep your dogs close to you. During this time, coyotes are also more likely to "escort" you away from their den—this is normal; they may follow you from a distance to make sure you aren't a threat to their pups. If you can, give coyotes extra grace and space in the late spring and early summer.
From March to May, litters of coyote pups are being born across the Portland metro area. Coyote parents will be extra hungry and extra wary during this time, so be sure to give them extra space. They tend to be more territorial during this time of year than other times. If a coyote appears to be standing its ground in a particular area during the spring months, be sure to give it space and keep your dogs close to you. During this time, coyotes are also more likely to "escort" you away from their den—this is normal; they may follow you from a distance to make sure you aren't a threat to their pups. If you can, give coyotes extra grace and space in the late spring and early summer.
Summer
Our reports are generally lowest in summer, but that doesn't mean coyotes aren't out and about. Coyote pups are growing, weaning, and timidly venturing out of the den. Once coyote pups are weaned, coyote families no longer need to live in a den. Instead, they may move on to more temporary sleeping areas around their home range.
Coyotes, being the opportunistic omnivores that they are, will be happy to relieve you of your tomatoes, berries, fruits, and other garden delights. Be sure to secure your yard and garden by removing attractants such as compost and fallen fruit and by adding fencing if necessary.
Our reports are generally lowest in summer, but that doesn't mean coyotes aren't out and about. Coyote pups are growing, weaning, and timidly venturing out of the den. Once coyote pups are weaned, coyote families no longer need to live in a den. Instead, they may move on to more temporary sleeping areas around their home range.
Coyotes, being the opportunistic omnivores that they are, will be happy to relieve you of your tomatoes, berries, fruits, and other garden delights. Be sure to secure your yard and garden by removing attractants such as compost and fallen fruit and by adding fencing if necessary.
Fall and Winter
While conflict can be high during pupping season, when coyotes are most territorial and protective, most sightings occur during the fall and winter months.
We think that more sightings are reported during fall and winter because of increased visibility—less tree cover means less ability to hide or blend in quickly. Young coyotes are also starting to venture out on their own, which means they are still figuring out their routines and how to interact with the world around them.
Fall and winter are great times to make sure you are helping adolescent coyotes develop safe habits by keeping compost, fallen fruit, and other tempting treats away from areas frequented by people. This is also the perfect time to make sure you are hazing bold coyotes. These young coyotes are impressionable and can easily become habituated if their natural fear of humans isn’t reinforced. Coyotes, people, and pets are safest if coyotes keep their distance and stay wary.
While conflict can be high during pupping season, when coyotes are most territorial and protective, most sightings occur during the fall and winter months.
We think that more sightings are reported during fall and winter because of increased visibility—less tree cover means less ability to hide or blend in quickly. Young coyotes are also starting to venture out on their own, which means they are still figuring out their routines and how to interact with the world around them.
Fall and winter are great times to make sure you are helping adolescent coyotes develop safe habits by keeping compost, fallen fruit, and other tempting treats away from areas frequented by people. This is also the perfect time to make sure you are hazing bold coyotes. These young coyotes are impressionable and can easily become habituated if their natural fear of humans isn’t reinforced. Coyotes, people, and pets are safest if coyotes keep their distance and stay wary.
Hazing: Make a Rattle Can
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As we've discussed, hazing coyotes is key to keeping everyone safe. One of the best ways to haze coyotes is to scare them away with loud noises. A simple coffee can with change or rocks in it will often do the trick!
To make a rattle can:
Printable instructions |
https://unsplash.com/@pedrotheartist
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Coyotes Live Here
Norman Edelen
Hopefully, what you've learned in this section will put your mind at ease. When you think of living among coyotes, or think of the phrase "coyotes live here," remember these simple guidelines:
- Remove coyote attractants
- Supervise your pets
- If you see a coyote, scare it away!
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