Posted on 06/25/2008 9:34:41 AM PDT by Daffynition
KEYSTONE — One afternoon in mid April, Cindy Adams heard rustling.
She knew there was a swamp nearby, so she didn't pay the noise any mind.
Then about 4:30 p.m., she looked up and saw what she initially thought were two big German shepherds.
A closer look revealed something else. Something unshaven. Something with big ears and a furry tail.
"It was the coyotes," she said.
Adams didn't know if she should stand still, run or scream.
"They just totally ignored me, went off the back end of the property and left," she said.
It wasn't Adams the coyotes wanted. It was Kissy, her now deceased Russian blue cat. And Bonnie, Christine Nance's dead black and white one. And Oscar, David von Thaden's late orange and white feline.
By the neighborhood's own count, at least three cats have died since April, when neighbors first spotted coyotes in this rural area. And at least one more is recovering after an encounter with the howling predator. Now, folks are packing up their cats, dogs and food and locking everything inside their homes and businesses before dusk.
"We're having to lock up every durn cat in the neighborhood, which is a hassle," said Mark Adams, a foreman at L&D Farms on Crescent Road. "That's the only time they like to get out and prowl around. Now they're sleeping during the day and trapped in the building at night. It's not really fair, but it's either that or they're gonna get killed."
On Tuesday, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission couldn't confirm the number of missing or dead cats, but spokesman Gary Morse said "these incidents with depredation on free-ranging pets and livestock are not uncommon."
According to Morse, coyotes have been documented in every county in the state.
There's not much the commission can do about them, so folks in Keystone are starting to take matters into their own hands.
Every morning, Mark Adams hops in his golf cart and checks for coyote prints. After multiple coyote sightings were reported, he built a rack on his golf cart and slid a loaded .30-30 Marlin rifle inside.
"I'm going to have one of their heads on my golf cart one of these days," he said.
Two weeks ago, Tom Peterson, a hunter who has lived in Keystone for 30 years, used an electronic calling device that sounded like a distressed rabbit to lure the coyotes into shooting range.
"But they're smart," said Peterson, whose encounters with coyotes in Keystone dates back six or seven years. "They're very wary of humans."
The last time anyone saw a coyote was Father's Day, when Peterson spotted one crossing Tarpon Springs and Blake roads.
It's not that Peterson and Adams have anything against wildlife. Adams said he loves the deer, wild turkeys and pigs that roam through Keystone.
But "we don't love the coyotes," he said.
"If they want to live out here and leave everybody else alone, more power to 'em. But they're not going to come over here and start killing all the stuff that we like. Somebody's going to have to pay."
Eastern coyotes are hybrids between Eastern Timber wolves and western coyotes. They are much larger than western coyotes. I’ve seen them on my old farm. They very easily could be mistaken for a farm style German Shepherd.
Any idea what breed of dog they are using to create this hybrid?
Beautiful critters! Thanks for the link.
I read an article a couple years ago from the New Hampshire Dept of Nat. Resources that said genetic studies show that eastern coyotes are a cross between Eastern Timber wolves and western coyotes. There was no evidence at that time of any dog genes in the eastern coyote gene pool.
I have.
Yes, we have quiet a few coyote’s that are seen going from one end of the corn field to the other to get to the den’s. They certainly are as big as a German Shepard, just not as fat..They have a rather skinny body but from a distance they look just like a German Shepard.
They ain’t “gorgeous” when they interbreed with a dumped pit or rot, they also ain’t gorgeous when the interbreed with wolves...
Or a red heeler:
They're both about the right size, and wouldn't introduce any drop-eared genes, which would ruin the appearance.
What kind of dogs and how many?
Reminds me of my Aunt Mable.
The Eastern Coyote did not move in from the mid-west, it came down from Canada. The Eastern Coyote is a hybrid, but not of dog and coyote, but Algonquin wolves and coyotes. The algonquin wolves are similar to the red wolves which live in a very small range in North Carolina. Either way, they are not as big as grey or timber wolves, but bigger than western coyotes. Google “eastern coyote wolf genes” and you will get alot of information on the topic.
Why are the cats let loose to roam free in the neighborhood anyway? They deserve to be coyote kibble if their owners don't look after them better than that.
Actually Red Wolves are themselves wolf/coyote crosses so are more similar to the new Eastern Coyote. Genus Canis seems to also speciate by hybridization so I’m guessing that the Eastern Coyote will become a new species.
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Hell I live 40 miles west of Chicago smack in the burbs and their picking off Fluffy like crazy around here.
They aren't near as big as a German Sheperd, but they're big enough. L
Oops, pinged the wrong list.
No they don't. Their owners deserve to be the kibble.
I had heard that Pennsylvania’s coyotes had moved in originally from Michigan, but I didn’t want to pass that specific information along so I said “midwest”. I think I got that off a discussion thread on the PA Fish & Game Commission or some hunting related forum, not what you would consider an official source.
I had a coyote bound up on my deer blind in southcentral PA one Fall a few years back. I would estimate it at 35 - 40 lbs. He got within 10 ft. & it was early afternoon, so I got a very good look.
I would lean toward the conclusion that these ARE Red Wolves & that they never became extinct — just knocked down to a very small population in a localized niche. Hybrids are possible, but the viability of hybrid offspring is a tricky thing. If the genetics point towards that who am I to argue?
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