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."
I think that's a riot. I live in a mostly-wooded, rural area in upstate NY, where we have all manner of wildlife running around (allegedly including coyotes).
I spent years as a wildlife rehabilitator, and I love pretty near all animals of all kinds, wild and domesticated. (Possums are pretty hard to love sometimes, but it can be done.)
If I put a dish of food outside, animals will come and eat it. No surprise there.
I let my cats outside, with the full knowledge that they have to hide, and run, and defend themselves when something goes after them. And that they may become some predator's dinner before they die of old age.
The only reason a coyote would not go after an outdoors cat would be if it though the cat was bait. Coyotes are pretty smart.
Live in nature, live with nature. If you don't like living with nature, live in a city.
German Shepards, 2
“... the cats ... deserve to be coyote kibble if their owners don’t look after them better than that.”
I don’t think the cats deserve that fate, but I have a few things in mind for their owners ...
I’ll take your word for it. Having lived on both coasts, I’ve never seen one bigger than an a large Beagle or a small Austrailian Shepherd.
We kept a few St. Bernards and Pyranees around because they were double or triple the size the largest coyote. They’re mere presence was enough to deter the coyotes from getting close to calves or sheep.
They usually won’t mess with anything their size that has the will to fight back. If they have a mature deer, it’s usually because wolves or a cougar killed it first.
A new housing development built a large lake North of Midland — not quite developed yet.
It has attracted all sorts of wildlife looking for a drink — including a large moutain lion — into the neighboring gated community.
Our homeowner’s group solution has been to bait it and kill it. Volunteer abound.
Here is a theory on the coyotes in PA:
http://www.westmorelandconservancy.org/CCWolfCoyote.html
Wolves are very sociable and survive only in packs. In the 19th and early 20th century wolves were persecuted wherever possible in the United States with the goal of exterminating them. As the wolves declined, the coyotes moved into their territory and encountered lone wolves from broken packs. Their mates gone, male wolves mated with the only breeding animals they could find - female coyotes. Mitochondrial DNA testing has shown this was the only way it occurred (male wolves to female coyotes) because female wolves would probably not tolerate the advances of the smaller male coyote. This hybridization likely took place in Ontario. Genetic tests on blood taken from radio collared Algonquin wolves showed hybridization had occurred in 16% of the samples. Minnesota wolves, being more remote and escaping the shooting, did not show any coyote contamination. Then the wolves were given full protection by the Endangered Species Act in the U.S. and in the parks of Canada. Once the packs were reformed and healthy, hybridization with the coyote stopped.
With the increasing deer herds in the mid-Atlantic States, the new coyotes with their wolf genes expanded out of Canada into New York and Pennsylvania where the population slowly increased. Breeding among themselves without the introduction of any more wolf genes, these animals evolved into today’s Eastern coyote, classified as a coyote by biologists, but different than the western variety. Today the eastern coyote is found in every county in the keystone state.
This relatively new animal is still evolving and adapting to the eastern habitat. In the Adirondacks Bill McKibben reports that coyotes are hunting deer in packs. This is typical wolf behavior. Are coyotes doing this in Pennsylvania? Thus far, the evidence for this type of behavior is very scanty. Pennsylvania coyotes are known to prey on fawns in the spring, but coyote-killed adult deer carcasses are rare.
We live in what - to most people - looks like a leafy suburban neighborhood, except that the river is behind all of the houses, including ours, on the back street. The river attracts all kinds of wildlife, including coyotes, beavers, deer, turtles the diameter of a manhole cover, geese, ducks, herons, etc. We occasionally see a giant hawk swoop down in the backyard and carry off a six- or seven-foot snake.
Our sixteen-year-old Siamese cat is now retired to the indoors. In her prime, however, she used to bring home small, dead or half-dead snakes, voles, and various other critters for the feline version of “show-and-tell.”
We got ‘em here in North Georgia...get small dogs and cats all the time....
A former neighbor raised sheep for show and really had trouble with coyotes, particularly during lambing season. I moved in next door with my Irish Wolfhound and the coyotes completely vacated.
“We have coyotes that were bred to Alaskan Huskies and then let loose in the wild when the humane society tried to seize them.
You would swear that you had seen a wolf.”
Is that Alaska, Eva? Our coyotes in the Pac NW are like the photo just above your post. Little guys, but they can cause multitudes of problems. We have always known to keep our cats in at night. Fair trade, the coyotes were here before me.
I’ve been trying to figure out something this morning. I have a terraced yard and one part the rocks, cement, dirt was all moved and dug out like something ‘big’ was after something. My cat, or any cat could not have moved those rocks, and the only thing under the cement is lizards. I though coyote first, but I’ve never seen them go after a lizard that voraciously. Anyway, it was inside my fenced yard. More likely one of our little bob cats.(who like to go after domestic cats too.)
> Our sixteen-year-old Siamese cat is now retired to the indoors. In her prime, however, she used to bring home small, dead or half-dead snakes, voles, and various other critters for the feline version of “show-and-tell.”
Yep, my cats bag-n-bring a couple of critters each week -- lord knows how many remain out in the fields -- and of course they're very proud. They're also younger, about 6- years old. They were originally feral, and eventually became indoor/outdoor cats, curling up by the fire in winter, and raising cain amongst the outdoor wildlife.
I'd say your Siamese has earned her retirement -- at 16 she would probably become too-easy prey outdoors. If mine reach that age, they'll probably come in to stay also, although for now they won't tolerate the confinement.
Living with nature is -so- much more interesting than living in the city. I lived in Philadelphia for a while years ago, and frankly I prefer the non-human predators here, to the human predators there.
“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. “
Exactly. Around here, that’s just understood. Sounds like city folk who should have stayed in the city. I wonder if they let their cat out in traffic there?
How do your dogs know the difference between a stray cat and someone’s (perhaps a child)beloved pet? Tell you what, if I saw your dog killing my child’s cat, or anyone’s pet, I’d bust a cap in his head without a second thought.
“Oops, pinged the wrong list.”
I was wonderin’ how this related to Israel, the Middle East, Judaism, or whatever.
;-)
sitetest
Just to be a contrarian here (which I love being), it IS possible to over-romanticize the merits of nature. I spend a lot of time in some of the most remote places on the continent, and I've witnessed scenes of startling brutality. But don't get me wrong. I feel privileged to bear witness to such spectacle, but it's always nice to return to the safety of one's bed. Yes, even if it's in the city.
Enjoyed your posts.
A collar. If no one cares enough about it to put a collar on it, it's a stray.
We live in the country.....way out in the country.
If it's some childs beloved pet then it was abandoned by some SOB out on our county road in hopes that we'd take care of it.
Kibble for the dogs.
Good old Carolina Ping for the Carolina Dog!! (I’m in SC) I once read an article stating the Carolina Dog and Dingos from Australia had very common DNA characteristics.
......the Carolina Dog.....
My cross the street neighbor has one she got from the pound. I saw a thread here about the Carolina Dog /dingo.... it is a dead ringer for the dingo.
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