Coyote sights and sounds — yipping and howling at night, the occasional attack on a beloved pet — is spreading fear in some metro Atlanta communities that is showing up on social media sites.
It’s coyote mating season, and some are turning up in residential communities to establish territory before going into their dens for the birth of new pups around mid-March, said Chris Mowry, co-founder of the Atlanta Coyote Project.
Coyotes, while dangerous, tend to be cautious of humans, wildlife experts say.
“During the winter, vegetation that they’re used to eating goes away and their food sources change,” said Brandon Sanders of Sanders Wildlife, who receives frequent calls from residents about coyotes. “That does push them into more urban (areas) where they will go after rats.”
“They’re adapting to urban areas to survive.”
A family dog in Dunwoody was injured in an attack by coyotes in a fenced backyard in December. Dan Mikesell said he was standing inside his doorway late at night while his dog, Dillon, ran briefly into the yard before bedtime.
“I heard the coyotes and it was a very, very distinct sound of the yipping and (Dillon) crying,” Miksell said. “I yelled as loud as I possibly could and fortunately Dillon came running back to me. When he got in the house he ran immediately to his bed and tracked blood everywhere.”
The incident took place in a corner of the yard that Mikesell said prevented him from seeing how many coyotes were attacking the dog.
“Two coyotes can sound like one,” he said. “We hear the yipping all the time.”
Dillon has recovered from a puncture wound to his leg after being rushed to the emergency animal hospital that night.
Georgia Coyote Population
The overall coyote population is staying static, according to the Atlanta Coyote Project and the Georgia Department of Natural Resources.
Trappers are required by law to kill a captured coyote on site, unless the location has an ordinance against the discharge of a gun.
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@
The DNR’s most recent data from 2018 shows an estimated 116,000 coyotes in Georgia were targeted and captured by hunters that year. And another estimated 125,000 coyotes were killed incidentally by deer hunters.
Similar to humans, coyotes are family-oriented. After entering their dens between now and March, the parent coyotes will stay inside until June nurturing their pups, Mowry said, a professor of biology at Berry College where the coyote project is based.
When leaving the den, the animals travel together as a small family group.
Typically, the female coyote will produce a small number of pups during a season and could have another brood the following year, Mowry said.
“When the family group is intact, there could be pups from previous years staying with their parents,” he said. “The parents are inhibiting (the older offspring) from breeding. They are there to help raise the (new) pups.
“If they get caught by trappers, now all bets are off.”
That’s when you might see a younger lone coyote that will potentially breed with an older male from outside the pack. Through nature, it means more coyote litter needing to hunt for more food.
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Coyote prey
Dogs and cats are not on coyotes’ menu, Mowry said.
“They did not evolve to eat these animals,” he said.
Squirrels, chipmunks, rats and mice are what the predators normally turn to, but house pets get targeted when that food is scarce, Mowry said.
“The targeting of pets typically happens when coyotes have come to associate human areas with food,” he added.
The Atlanta Coyote Project has installed cameras capturing coyotes’ activities at Piedmont Park, East Lake Golf Club and on private residential property across metro Atlanta. The nonprofit is part of the Urban Wildlife Information Network in Chicago, Illinois study coyote behavior.
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Credit: Natrice Miller / Natrice.Miller@ajc.com
Milder Coyotes
In 2020, the coyote project and Sanders partnered to capture a friendly black coyote known as Carmine. He was seen walking throughout the metro area, sometimes stopping in yards to play with family dogs. Carmine eventually made his way through East Cobb, Vinings and Smyrna, Mowry said.
Sanders was able to catch Carmine using dog food and toys.
“There could be a very good chance that Carmine was raised as a dog when he was younger ...” Sanders said. “But he is a wild animal.”
The coyote project received permission from the DNR to take Carmine to Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary in Lilburn. The 26-acre park has 130 animals. The only other coyote is a female named Wiley who was raised as a pet in South Carolina and came to the sanctuary in 2019.
“They’re together and it’s a really great match,” Zoological Curator Clinton Murphy said. “They’re both spayed and neutered so we’re not going to have any more coyotes.”
Atlanta Coyote Project Research
Coyotes became prevalent in Georgia in the late 1990s. The DNR’s most recent data from 2018 shows an estimated 116,000 coyotes in Georgia were targeted and captured by hunters that year. And another estimated 125,000 coyotes were killed incidentally by deer hunters.
The coyote project learned of 1,672 coyote sightings in Atlanta from 2015-2018. A total of 196 respondents said they encountered a coyote at close range. More than half of those said a pet was nearby.
More research can be found on the Atlanta Coyote Project website.
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