By Bonnie Culverhouse
(Editor’s note: a recent coyote attack on a small dog within Minden city limits prompted a Webster Parish Journal Facebook post that resulted in more than 80 comments from all over Webster Parish and leading to this story.)
Coyotes are like deer in one way, they have become almost accustomed to living in the city limits of towns all over the state – including cities such as New Orleans. Like deer, they are born into city, and their fear of humans is almost nonexistent. However, that’s where the similarity ends.
According to Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist Zane LeBlanc, coyotes in populated areas will become even more prominent as the weather gets colder.
“It’s a matter of prey availability,” LeBlanc said. “They are looking for small animals, rodents and trash that’s been left outside.”
Many of the Facebook comments were from owners of missing or injured cats and small dogs.
“It’s a good idea to feed your animals inside,” he said. “Bigger dogs, like Labrador Retrievers and such can usually handle themselves. But when you feed your animals outside, that often attracts rodents, which in turn attracts coyotes.”
LeBlanc said coyotes are no longer isolated to rural areas of the state and are now very common in urban and suburban areas as well as city storm drains.
“Major changes in our landscape, habitat loss and fragmentation due to human expansion and development, increased food availability, easily accessible food sources, such as garbage, gardens, loss of predators and available shelter have led to an increase in coyote-human sightings and interactions,” he said.
Coyotes are a species with a complex social structure involving both resident and transient individuals which makes control measures particularly difficult, he added.
However, there are ways to “attempt” to control the numbers.
“They are not an endangered species,” LeBlanc said of coyotes. “That means, if you are not under a city ordinance prohibiting firearms, you can legally shoot them.”
In the case of municipalities, most – including Minden and Springhill – have laws prohibiting the shooting of firearms within the city limits.
“In those cases, coyotes can be trapped by persons with a trapping license for nuisance animals,” he said. “Several highly-experienced individuals are available in the Webster Parish area to assist homeowners in dealing with nuisance wildlife.”
The direct web link for the permitted trappers can be found at: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/page/nuisance-wildlife-control-operator-list. This list can be sorted by both parish and animal of concern.
The best long-term solution for residents, said LeBlanc, will be to utilize nuisance wildlife prevention techniques around their homes which include measures such as:
1) Not leaving any pet food, bird feeders, or unsecured trash outdoors during the nighttime hours as this practice will often attract coyotes, rodents, opossums, raccoon, and other wildlife.
2) Remove any unnecessary structures, shrubbery, brush piles, and or other items near homes that could serve as a place for coyotes and/or their prey to seek shelter.
3) Keep outdoor pets such as cats or dogs within a protective kennel or indoors during early morning, late evening and nighttime hours when coyotes are most active.
Once the neighborhood is free of these items that can potentially serve as food and sheltering areas for nuisance animals, coyotes will naturally begin to spend less time near the home sites and will revert back to areas of natural cover and resources.
Some additional information can be found on the Living with Coyotes Brochure: https://www.wlf.louisiana.gov/assets/Resources/Publications/Landowner_Assistance/Living_with_Coyotes_low-res.pdf .
All things urban coyote can be found at: https://urbancoyoteresearch.com/coyote-info .