Saturday, March 18, 2000
'More coyotes than ever' reported in Hamilton Co.
BY JIM HANNAH
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County's coyote population is thriving, as evidenced by the number of farm animals reported killed by coyotes last year.
In 1999, there were six livestock claims for losses due to coyote attacks filed with the Ohio Department of Agriculture's Division of Animal Control, compared with three in 1998, state officials said Wednesday.
“There are more coyotes than ever,” said Don Minges, one of three people who farm 100 acres in the western Hamilton County community of Peach Grove. “They are pretty bad back here, but we are cleaning them out.”
Although no coyote has attacked or killed any of his about 20 cows, he trapped and killed three coyotes a month ago.Hamilton County game warden Mike Serio said coyotes have co-existed with county residents for years. But the animals went relatively unseen until their population increased in the last decade, forcing them to more urban habitats, a trend officials say should cause little worry.
Mr. Serio said he has seen six dead coyotes on county roadways since December, the most recent March 2 on Interstate 275 near Exit 39 in Forest Park.
Flooding a month ago may have displaced coyotes, a cousin of the wolf, from their natural habitat in the river valleys into more populated highlands, said Jim Farfsing, nature education manager with the Cincinnati Park Board.
Rob Robison, 42, of East Price Hill was recently walking his 7-month-old Chesapeake Bay retriever, Rocket, in Mount Airy Forest when a coyote chased Rocket.
Although neither was attacked by the coyote, Mr. Robison is concerned about parents leaving their small children unattended in Mount Airy Forest with coyotes on the prowl.
Wildlife experts say people have little to fear. “I have never seen an aggressive coyote,” Mr. Farfsing said. “It is not like the big bad wolf sitting at the edge of the woods ready to pounce on your dog.”
He said coyotes often travel in packs, and the animal is notoriously shy.
“If you see one and don't want it around,” Mr. Farfsing said, “clap your hands and make a bit of noise.”
In the wild, a coyote's diet is mainly rodents, such as field mice. They are opportunists, so in an urban area they will eat dog or cat food and garbage. To keep coyotes out of your yard, Mr. Farfsing said, don't feed your dogs and cats outside and secure garbage in sealed trash cans.
Mr. Farfsing said a a coyote, which resembles a German shepherd, is rarely larger than 50 pounds.
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