First it was foxes, skunks and raccoons. Now coyotes are setting up shop in increasing numbers within urban settings in North America. Are larger carnivores next?
A professor of wildlife ecology at Ohio State University says urban coyotes, the largest of the mid-size carnivores, may be setting the stage for their larger brethren to start migrating to cities.
Ecologist Stan Gehrt suggests that animals like bears, wolves and mountain lions may be the next carnivores to move into cities.Ecologist Stan Gehrt suggests that animals like bears, wolves and mountain lions may be the next carnivores to move into cities. (Nathan Denette/Canadian Press)"They're the ones that are kind of pushing the envelope right now," Stan Gehrt said, suggesting animals like bears, wolves and mountain lions may be next.
"It used to be rural areas where we would have this challenge of co-existence versus conflict with carnivores," said Gehrt, who gave a talk on the topic Friday at a conference in Columbus, Ohio.
"In the future, and I would say currently, it's cities where we're going to have this intersection between people and carnivores."
In an interview earlier this week, Gehrt suggested cities probably evolved because it was safer for people to live in mass settlements. When people lived in a dispersed fashion "we were prey," he said.
But that freedom from predation also works to the advantage of wild animals, which are pushing into cities in huge numbers. Gehrt described Toronto's raccoon population, for instance, as "humongous" — a description no Torontonian would argue with.

Coyotes on the rise in North American cities

While pet owners and home owners in cities have been tussling with skunks and raccoons for years, coyotes have recently made appearances in urban centres far from the open range with which people associate them. "They don't have any predators in the cities," he explained.
Greater Chicago, with a population of nine million people, is home to at least 2,000 coyotes, said Gehrt, who has been studying the animals in Chicago for the past 12 years. "That's minimum. That's a really conservative estimate," he said.
'It goes both ways. Are we in their territory? Are they in our territory?'—Emily Jenkins, University of Saskatchewan
He and colleagues even found a pack of coyotes living about eight kilometres from O'Hare International Airport, one of the world's busiest airports. The animals live in the smallest coyote territory ever observed, less than half a kilometre.
As the animals have lived at the site for years, the environment must be meeting all their needs, Gehrt said, adding that what scientists are learning about urban coyotes defies much of what was thought about the animals in the past.
Canadian cities and towns are seeing coyotes with increasing frequency as well. Calgary has a large population of the animals; some people estimate as many as 600 to 700 live in the city.
They are also seen in Saskatoon, said Dr. Emily Jenkins, a professor in the University of Saskatchewan's department of veterinary microbiology and school of public health.
While those cities might not seem so far off the beaten track for the animals, Toronto certainly is — and yet coyotes are seen in the city from time to time. And recently in New Waterford, N.S., wildlife officials killed four of the animals after a teen girl was attacked by a coyote.

Reasons for migration

Why are carnivores encroaching on urban centres? Gehrt said the reasons are complex, and may differ from species to species.
Easy access to garbage is also a draw for some carnivores, such as bears. \Easy access to garbage is also a draw for some carnivores, such as bears. "They're just big raccoons," says Gehrt. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press)The ranks of coyotes has swelled in recent years, with fewer people hunting and trapping the animals. But the animals are territorial and can only tolerate so many members in a pack. When numbers get too large, young males are expelled and have to find new territory for themselves, Gehrt said. In some cases, cities have filled that need.
Jenkins said the easy access to garbage is also a draw for some carnivores, such as bears. "They're just big raccoons," Gehrt agreed.
The plentiful supply of raccoons and the occasional house pet may be a draw for mountain lions, which don't eat garbage, he said.
With new animals may come new health challenges for people. Jenkins has been involved in research tracking the presence of a dangerous tapeworm in urban coyotes, Echinococcus multilocularis.
But Gehrt noted that if larger carnivores prey on urban raccoons, the risk from raccoon roundworm might actually decline.

Co-existing with carnivores

Jenkins didn't necessarily agree that coyotes would serve as ice-breakers for larger carnivores.
But she suggested the design of cities may be drawing the animals into closer contact with people, with ravines and green belts and river valleys acting as virtual highways for animals trying to traverse territories fragmented by urban sprawl.
"It's not uncommon to hear about cougars and moose coming through town because they've just sort of naturally funnelled into the river valley and then pop out at a really bad place — like 8th Street in the middle of Saskatoon, which we've had happen," she said.
"It goes both ways. Are we in their territory? Are they in our territory? It's kind of a moot point when we all just have to figure out if we're going to co-exist or if we're going to try and fight these battles as we traditionally have with bullets and trapping and poison."
Municipal planners need to keep these kinds of issues in mind and should consult with wildlife ecologists, Jenkins said. Gehrt said it is difficult to predict how this convergence of cities and wildlife will turn out.
"Basically it's an uncontrolled experiment that's going," he said. "It's hard to say for sure exactly what's going to happen."

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Coyotes may be start of larger urban carnivore trend

I live in Northern California on the coast. In the area where I live sightings of cougars (Mountain Lions) and coyotes and desert and red foxes is not unusual. Raccoons come out at night from out of large water drains that streets empty into  where they sleep during the day. Deer often share the road with me as I drive and I have to especially watch out for them at night not jumping out in front of me when I'm driving.

Last week when I was hiking in a valley near my home in a County park hiking area people kept saying to me, "Did you see the Coyotes?" and then said, "Keep your dogs close to you as some people are getting their dogs taken away by coyotes." The next time I hiked there was a sign, "Be careful of Mountain Lions as there have been sightings lately." Coyotes are usually more dangerous to small dogs than anything else. A Coyote in temperament is sort of if you mixed a wolf with a Fox you would wind up with something like a coyote in action and temperament. But, since Coyotes are often the size of a German Shepard only lighter in build they are something you want to be careful of too. Because if you back them into a corner they are wild after all and very smart. They prefer to sneak away like a fox but a big enough to be dangerous too if you corner them or they feel threatened. Also, you don't want to be bit by one because you don't know what diseases they might be carrying as well there in the wilds.

Mountain lions are a different story. You don't want them up on an oak limb behind you because when they attack someone jogging or on a bicycle they go for the back of the neck or head. So, when you don't see them you are in danger. If you see one face them and look as big as you can and try to throw rocks at them or something to get them to go away. But, if they are up on a big oak branch the best thing likely to do would be to back away if they aren't threatening you in some way looking at you like you, your kids or your dogs like they were potential food. Don't ever run away if you don't want to become a meal because remember they attack from behind to the neck and head to make their prey go quickly unconscious. The last thing they want to do is to fight with you. If you make it scary or difficult without directly threatening their lives likely they will leave you alone if you just slowly back away from them while watching them carefully. If they get injured they know they likely will die out in the wilds. So, they want a kill without them getting injured. So, make them know you are too scary while backing away.

The fact that coyotes are adapting to humans so they can live in cities is not a good thing for people with outdoor pets. Because poodles and other small dogs not raised in the wilds would be instantly gone and likely not even see the coyote or raccoon before they are dead. All you might hear is an extreme yelp or something like that and they would be gone.

Another thing about a mountain lion so you have respect for what one can actually do. Near where I live a Mountain lion grabbed a 100 pound German Shepard dog and jumped over a 7 foot fence. The dog was found hung the other side of the fence because he was on a line attached to his collar and that is as far as he could go. But, unfortunately even though the lion lost it's meal the dog was dead.

So, this is just how strong a mountain lion is to jump a 7 foot fence with a 100 pound dog in his mouth. 

Lastly, about 7 years ago now we had an older corgi-Jack Russell Mix. The babysitter didn't bring in the dogs at dark and so when raccoons went for our trash cans Maggie May (our corgi Jack Russell) attacked the raccoon and was bit in the chest and gave as good as she got. Which means likely the raccoon was mortally wounded too. She didn't die of the wound in her chest but of kidney failure a month later. We had no choice but to put her to sleep. My daughter whose dog this was was not a happy camper. So, soon we bought a corgi puppy for her when she was 9 years old who we still have today along with my older dog which is an Australian Shepard and Long Hair German Shepard mix.

  Much later: January 27th 2014:

Within the last week I saw a coyote slinking along the trees next to a golf course near where I live within a block of the beach in Northern California. I think he snacks on Go Downs (a fat coastal ground squirrel) that like people to feed them along the ocean that lives under rocks there or in little caves and burrows it digs underground along the ocean where I live. 

This is what they look like when people feed them: 

 


The Coyote on the left looks like the one I saw. The one on the right has a winter coat for a much colder climate than we have along the Northern California coast.