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by Beth Parks between western and eastern coyotes oc- curs along the Mississippi River. Others limit the eastern coyotes' range to the northeastern states and southeastern Can- Did they come out of theWest? ada. We do know that the largest num- bers are in the northeastern states. No And do they deserve the complaints one can produce a good estimate of just how many, yet they seem to be spreading of sheep and deer hunters? slowly, much like an ink stain on a blotter. formers Unlike their grayish western kin, east- ern coyotes come in myriad shades ol blond, red, brown, grizzled gray, and near-black. Bands of color encircle each guard hair and help to variegate the fur YankeeCcyotes under the dappled light of forests and fields. Ginny Mott, a young Maine farmer who has raised three eastern coyotes and photographed them in the woods, can lTl barely discern her charges in their leafy "God's I ue N,rv,uoS called ir dog." holds that the animals moved eastward backgrounds. She marvels at the superb I But Herbert Foster. octogenarian from southern Canada, interbreeding with camouflage-value of those colorful, com- Maine trapper, claims it is "the evil in- small Ontario wolves along the way. An- plex coats. carnate in the animal kingdom." And other says they were in the Northeast all She and her husband, Gordon, a re- Donald Kenyon, veteran Adirondack along but were confused with wolves. Still search forester, know that those same woodsman, simply labels it "a damned others suggest interbreeding with feral rich, full coats make coyotes look much nuisance." dogs, or a rapid evolutionary change in- bigger than they really are. Only the late What kind of animal is this that triggers stead of hybridization. As one result of spring molt reveals the animal's true ap- such a range of attitudes? In an effort to this confusion, the animal is variously pearance: a thin, narrow-chested individ- establish the facts, I focused my master's called coyote, coydog, coywolf , new wolf, ual with long, spindly legs. Eastern coy- research at the University of Maine on brush wolf, and barking bush dog, not to otes are larger than foxes but considerably the eastern coyote. I bred and raised mention a host of unprintable expletives. smaller than most wolves. (They outweigh these controversial canids in captivity, Dr. John George, professor of wildlife their western counterparts by about 10 tracked them in the wild, searched for management at Pennsylvania State Uni- pounds.) Adult males average about 35 their dens, inspected their kills, and ex- versity, postulates that the geographic split pounds, females about 25. Even so, local amined their carcasses in the lab. Equipped with the results of these studies and with a trio of captive-born coyotes, I presented scores of educational programs to eager listeners throughout the Northeast. My aim was to counter common misconcep- tions about these intriguing animals. Yet true to form, the eastern coyote is still generating controversy. Nothing about the species escapes debate-not its an- cestry, not its eating habits, not its role in the ecosystem. When coyotes began to attract notice in the Northeast some 60 years ago, they appeared to be hybrids-bur of what. no one seemed sure. Some scientific studies described animals strictly coyote-like in appearance and behavior. Other studies reported some traits associated with wolves and even dogs. One theory-the most popular one-

The male coyote pup at right, one of the family group on page 4, was photo- graphed in a Massachusetts pasfure in October, l979.The adult male on the facing page sired many pups raised by the author for her University of Maine coyote proiect. Bill Byrne 2 legends hold that eastern coyotes are huge. Forest "Toby" Hart, an internationally recognized taxidermist, chuckles when he hears about 80-pound coyotes. "They shrink awful fast when they get on the scale," he quips. Yet heavier coyotes apparently do exist, at least in some areas. New York biologist Mark Brown claims common the &v" rj that 50-pounders are in .::'..t..w:w.; Adirondacks, with some individuals weigh- ing even more. Brown notes that the larger animals tend to look like wolves. Whatever their heritage, eastern coy- otes breed true and produce offspring that closely resemble their parents. They mature sexually in their second winter and mate each year in February or early March. After about nine weeks of gesta- tion, five or six pups on the average arrive in April or early May. Both the male and female make excel- lent parents. Unlike male dogs, the male ., :.:.', coyote feeds and defends his pups, then :.:itit ;;.'., helps teach them to hunt. Some young :"Ww.- coyotes strike out on their own in late summer or early autumn. Others may Beth Parks

frighten them away, Hall tried to start the Reported attacks on humans are rare, machine but failed" Panicky, he hurled the saw at the advancing animals and but cq)otes donT make good pets dashed for his car. As he jumped on the hood, he felt a gentle tug on his pants leg. He looked around and saw the smallest John Harvey of Alexandria, Maine, once their habitat. Spacing helps to assure coyote growling at him from about ten told the Bangor Daily News that a "pack adequate food for both the parents and feet away. of coyotes" tried to attack him while he their young. lgnore this aggression and Hall asserts that when he climbed into was hunting deer. Harvey claimed to have you're in for trouble. his car and slapped the side noisily, three been sitting in a small group of jackfirs Maine game warden Rodney Sirois chose of the animals "sneaked off." The smallest when he bent his head down to light a to disregard the heightened aggression his coyote paused, retreated about ten feet, cigarette. He looked up to see a female "pets" displayed as their breeding season then growled and showed its teeth. Hall coyote, "lips peeled back and fangs approached. Sirois' coyotes were intensely shot it. Later, Hall maintained that a showing. . . running straight at him from possessive of his wife, but repeatedly had fragment of cloth from his pants leg was about 30 yards away." He shot the animal rebuffed the warden and the couple's two found in the animal's mouth. in the head. young sons. One day the boys, as usual, State biologists who examined the re- How explain John Harvey's experience? followed their mother into the pen during mains of the coyote determined that it Quite possibly, the female along with feeding time. The coyotes growled a warn- was an 18-pound male about four months her family was chasing prey that was un- ing, then grabbed and shook the children old. The youngster's belly was packed seen by the hunter. She may never have much as they would their own errant with chokecherries, a normal coyote sum- seen the seated Harvey, nor known offspring. Frantic and furious, Sirois dis- mer food. The pup's body was "loaded whence came the bullet that took her life. patched both coyotes with his rifle. with fat" and seemed in excellent condi- Even captive coyotes friendly to hu- Currently, controversy over another in- tion. No cloth fibers were seen in the mans remain skittish and shy. Parent- cident is reaching a fever pitch in Maine. animal's teeth. The pup did not appear to raised pups will often run and hide at the A North Amity man, Hazen Hall, claims be rabid. However, no test was performed slightest hint of a human's approach. Coy- to have been approached by four coyotes because of delay in bringing the carcass otes simply cannot be compared with as he crossed a field to cut wood in mid- to authorities and because Hall's rifle domestic dogs. Anyone who assumes the August. According to Hall, the coyotes- bullet had smashed the pup's brain and responsibility for raising coyotes must three small ones and a larger one that skull. realize that the animals retain their wild "looked like it had something wrong with We may never know the full story traits. For example, rising aggression its fur"-slowly advanced toward him behind this unwitnessed "attack." With- among coyotes during their breeding sea- with their heads held low. out more facts, any attempt to explain the son serves to space the animals throughout Thinking the sound of a chainsaw would incident would be pure guesswork. *,8.P. remain with their parents until the next only the sick and weak animals? The tolerating mistakes from neither prey nor breeding season begins. Many people question is difficult to answer, and many predator. mistakenly call these family units "packs." sportsmen believe otherwise. Says Wayne Let's also not forget that dogs wreak How often crossbreeding occurs in the Dwyer, who has hunted and trapped in havoc on deer in every state, yet coyotes wild is a matter of conjecture. Given a Maine for more than20 years, "Take the often take the blame. Mark Brown esti- choice, coyotes will probably mate with biggest buck deer in the state, put him in mates that in the Adirondacks, "60 per- their own kind. Still, coyote-dog hybrid- three and a half to five feet of snow... and cent of the 'killer coyotes' turn out to be izations sometimes take place-with rather he's a sick, weak deer." There's an ele- dogs." None of us wants to believe that interesting results. If a male dog mates ment of truth in Dwyer's observation. old Shep will chase deer. But given half a with a female coyote, the most common Coyotes trot with relative ease over snow chance, he will. Shep doesn't need to combination, the dog assumes no respon- crusts that fail to support their heavier conserve his energy; he can come home sibility for caring for the young. If the prey. And as nature would have it, the at night for his evening meal. Nor does he pups survive despite this fact, some increased nutritional needs of pregnant need to make direct contact with a deer studies show, their mating season shifts coyotes coincide with the late-winter cri- to cause damage. A chased deer cannot backward about three months. This puts sis for white-tailed deer. feed. Exhausted, it may go into shock and them out of phase with breeding coyotes. On the other hand, coyotes live on die of pneumonia or other complications. When they are forced to breed with dogs, strict energy budgets. Tracking studies Sheep-growers are also concerned about their young are born in the dead of winter reveal that if they fail to make a kill coyotes. Reports of sheep and even calf and rarely survive. You might call this within a reasonable distance, they will losses are fairly common when coyote "Mother Nature's Simplified Scheme to pick up the trail of another animal. North- populations run high. Connecticut, New Control Coydogs." ern winters are cruel and unforgiving, Jersey, Pennsylvania, New Brunswick, No subject sparks more squabbles than the eastern coyote's food habits. This re- markably adaptable canid is an eager op- portunist, certainly no more predator than scavenger. He eats anything readily available, putting out the least possible energy to procure his meals. In tallying the contents of coyotes' stomachs, biolo- gists regularly find small rodents, vegeta- tion, insects, deer, snowshoe hares, wood- chucks, birds, fruit, garbage, and many other things. The last have included in- edibles such as paper, tinfoil, dogfood bags, and leather belts with the buckles still attached. The eastern coyote is hardly a connoisseur of fine foods. But just try telling a hunter that the coyote is no gourmet. Most sportsmen are fiercely possessive of "their" game animals and see each one lost to coyotes Beth Parks as one less available for their own tables. Biologists agree that coyotes kill some deer but see this as no threat to statewide populations. Biologist Mark Brown be- lieves the eastern coyote's impact on New York's deer herd'"greatly overrated." Ver- mont's Ben Day, New Hampshire's Joe Wiley, and Maine's Chet Banasiak all concur. All these states lie on the north- ern fringes of white-tailed deer habitat, t" and it is probable that, aside from )::.i4t). hunter ,i.,.'q:. kills, severe winters claim the greatest .t numbers of deer there. Coyotes do kill deer, but do they take 'e + ." 't;*^4' ;..7 Y',i3 - a ;*{. a*-s. -tu.b., '-,i{ Three of six coyotes of a family group, ; rTq&?A*; above, at dawn on a dairy farm in 't#,,.r.'\ "::::: ";* -A eqCW:;:;&K:3:"?,.8? central Massachusetts. Early mornings l'- :, :ryt were r.,:7 the only time they ventured url.,-' .$,rtt';;.:'.::::,.a,;' from cover to prey on rodents and

grasshoppers. Right, captive-born, ;t14.t,e%:W:. sleeping coyote pups. 7

House of Representatives. Active Defenders members in Mas- Defenders fiShts a Maine bounty sachusetts are pushing to have the Murphy bill passed before the coyote hunting season opens on November 1. and Massachusetts hunting season This year in Maine, Defenders' state chapter worked success- fully. to defeat three bills aimed at intensive control of coyotes. One bill would have established a $10 state-paid coyote bounty. As hunters, trappers, livestock farmers-and wildlife advo- Maine environmentalists and officials of the Department of cates-take sides, eastern coyotes are becoming political Inland Fisheries and Wildlife condemned the bill, which was animals, to be reckoned with by state legislatures and govern- killed in committee. The second bill, introduced on behatrf of ment officials throughout New England. the Maine Trappers Association, would have legalized public In two states, Massachusetts and Maine, what to do about use of wire neck-snares for coyote trapping. Now only permit- coyotes has already become a burning public question. Defenders ted to be used by state wardens, the snare is a wire noose which of Wildlife is playing a major part in that debare, by influencing strangles the animal as it struggles to free itself. The legislation decision-makers, expressing our views to the press, and testify- was withdrawn by its sponsors following a public hearing. The ing at public hearings. third bill, also killed in committee, would have set up a permit In Massachusetts, coyotes have been protected from hunting system allowing farmers or their agents to hunt and trap coyotes and trapping for years. Late last year, however, the Division of and other predators continuously and in an unlimited area Fisheries and Wildlife, stating that the coyote was "most around farms. appropriately regulated as a fur-bearing resource," proposed Defenders is working on the eastern coyote's behalf through- that a four-month coyote-shooting season be opened this fall. out New England. Wildlife supporters can play a significant role Eight major environmental and humane organizations (in- in shaping long-range state policies and public attitudes on cluding Defenders, the Massachusetts Audubon Society, and coyotes. Issues facing state legislatures, regulatory agencies, the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to and citizens include: Animals) opposed the move, and more than 400 letters of r Whether to allow coyote hunting and trapping, and if so protest, against fewer than 50 in support, were received by how and when. officials in a matter of weeks. Nonetheless, in April the Fisher- . Whether to resort to bounties and poisons for "coyote ies and Wildlife Board approved the new season on coyotes by a control." vote of 4-3. . Who should be responsible for protecting livestock, and Now wildlife advocates are pinning their hopes on the how. Massachusetts legislature, where a bill (H 2914 introduced by Defenders wants to be a voice for people who not only accept Democrat John E. Murphy of Peabody) to protect the coyote the coyote's presence in New England but welcome it. permanently as a nongame species has been taken up in the - Teresa Nelson, Defenders East Coast Representative

Quebec, and Nova Scotia have all re- Maine, only about a dozen reported dep- Daily News quoted State Representative ported isolated incidents of coyote preda- redations. And of those, only four ap- George Carroll, sponsor of a coyote bounty tion on sheep. In each instance, the af- peared to have serious problems." bill, as saying, "Get rid of them any way fected farmer registered a strong sense of Like most others involved with live- you can. I don't care how. Just get rid panic. stock, Gramlich and Swayze see improved of them." Carroll, with fervent hyperbole, In an effort to determine the extent of husbandry practices, such as wise characterized the species as "the greatest coyote depredations in Vermont, the state positioning of pastures, increased use of criminal the forest has ever had." Fish and Game Department sent ques- fencing, and prompt removal of carcasses Lee Perry of Maine's Department of tionnaires to members of the Vermont that would serve to attract coyotes, as Inland Fisheries and Wildlife countered, Sheep Breeders Association. About a necessary anti-predation measures. They "Hunting and trapping are not controlling third of those who responded reported believe that widespread coyote con- the numbers of coyotes. They may, in some kind of predation, with dogs blamed trol-meaning eradication-is neither fact, stimulate a higher reproductive level for over 57 percent of all sheep killed or warranted nor desirable and that control than would otherwise be expressed." Perry maimed and coyotes for 34 percent. Ver- should be limited to depredating animals. was referring to the well-known fact that mont biologists, aware that some breeders Swayze believes the answer lies in the coyotes respond to population pressures may pad the reports, take these statistics currently outlawed 1080 toxic collar. by varying their litter sizes, producing with a grain of salt. Henry Swayze, a Ver- "Wholesale poisoning, boqnties, or other larger litters in the fat seasons and cutting mont sheep-grower, points out that some methods aimed at cutting\back popula- back when times are tough. (It is worth towns reimburse sheep-growers for dog tions just won't work," he says with noting, however, that even under the most damage but not for coyote predation. certainty. And it is true that traps, guns, favorable conditions no more than half "When just you pay for dog damage," and even the Ee,t-approved M-44 de- the young coyotes are likely to survive agrees Frank Gramlich, his voice tinged vices have not taken much of a toll on their first year.) with irony,"coyotes will stop eating sheep." "problem" coyotes. Years of costly federal programs show Gramlich, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Serv- Self-styled vigilantes mock the efforts that bounties simply do not work. They ice officer in charge of Maine's animal of those who seek sound management are both ineffective and conducive to damage control program, attributed 100 methods. Coyote-bounty talk festers among fraud. Stories abound of trappers who sheep kills in his state last year to coy- them every winter and sometimes bursts bring in carcasses from other states; of otes. "But," he hastens to point out, forth in a bona fide proposal in early men who raise the animals, then kill off "of the hundreds of sheep-growers in spring. This year, on March 19, the Bangor all but their breeding stock; of others who tures, coyotes do suffer from parasites and cryote origins diseases. But the diseases are primarily The search for eastern density-dependent mechanisms that help Modern canids, along with bears and now agree, is simply a modified larger to trim population numbers back to the raccoons, very likely descended from a version of its western counterpart. Tax- carrying capacity of the land. And while common ancestor. Wolves probably gave onomists contend that the differences are mange and distemper often run high in rise to many of our modern dogs. Even too slight to warrant calling it other than dense canid populations, incidents of ra- today, wolves and coyotes remain close a subspecies. So in scientific circles the bies in coyotes are exceedingly rare. cousins. Scientists believe that western eastern coyote is known as Canis latrans Sometimes even healthy coyotes are coyoles engendered the newer eastern var. Canis is Latin for dog, latrans means accused of being rabid. An interesting variety, but that wolves and dogs may barking, and the "var." stands for variety. incident is recounted in an eastern coyote have played some role. Mark Brown, wildlife biologist with fact sheet published by the Vermont Fish Why don't we know for sure? Scientific New York State's Department of Environ- and Game Department. It happened in studies have failed to produce a definitive mental Conservation, points out that as Sudbury, Vermont, in 1964. "A farmer answer. Henry Hilton's research at the wolf reports dwindled during the early spied a young coyote acting strangely in University of Maine revealed that eastern 1900s, sightings of coyotes began to in- the middle of a pasture behind his barn. coyote skull characteristics tend to fall crease. It is possible that coyotes were en- The animal was running erratically, jump- between those of wolves and western tering habitat vacated by the retreating ing in the air, and snapping its jaws. coyotes, but closer to the latter. Helenette wolves. This would tie in with other evi- Thinking the coyote must be rabid, the and Walter Silver, formerly of New Hamp- dence suggesting that coyotes arrived in the farmer grabbed a rifle and shot it. The shire's Fish and Game Department, noted Northeast about 60 years ago. Yet some carcass was given to department biolo- wolf traits in their study animals but did not older records suggest that coyotes may gists for examination. The coyote's discount the possibility of dog influence. have been resident in the region much stomach was packed full of red-legged Gary Moore, University of Western On- earlier but confused with wolves. In New grasshoppers. This often-maligned pred- tario graduate student, reports that some York's Oswego County on Lake Ontario, ator had only been having a good time skulls appear very "coyote{ike" and others bounty records from the Revolutionary and was actually helping the farmer when "very dog/wolf-like." My own pups period refer to "big wolves" and "little he met his demise." seemed identical to western coyotes in wolves." Says biologist Brown: "We're Tales like this are becoming increas- both their physical and behavioral devel- taking a look at some of those old reports ingly common throughout the eastern opment. and specimens. Maybe some of those coyote's range. It sometimes seems that The eastern coyote, most biologists little wolves were actually coyotes."-8.P. no matter what problem arises, the coy- ote is a handy scapegoat. But we know this much about the eastern coyote. It is elusive, adaptable, use single pelts to manufacture ears or bite many people each year, attacks on clever, and resilient. Regardless of the other parts required for the collection of humans by wild eastern coyotes are ex- pressures placed on its populations, it will fees. A few enterprising individuals make tremely rare. In Maine, for example, only probably survive and thrive in proximity out quite nicely at state or federal ex- two such encounters have been reported to man. As long as suitable habitat exists, pense. But coyote controi? Forget it. to date. In both unwitnessed incidents, the eastern coyote is here to stay-and to Others who call for bounties worry that the men involved say they shot and killed cause continuing controversy. coyotes may pose a threat to people. the offending animal before it could in- They fear that it may no longer be safe to flict any wound. Beth Parks, a biologist who lives in Old walk in the woods or even along the Bounty proponents also claim that coy- Town in Maine, is well-known for her street in town. Actually, although dogs otes carry dread diseases. Like other crea- research on eastern covotes.

Although much discussed, wild eastern coyotes-like this one-are seldom seen. Bill Bt rne