Coyotes remain an issue in Corrales

Published November 21st, 2024 at 1:48 pm, Last Updated November 21st, 2024 at 2:22 pm

Coyotes have been a persistent problem for residents of Corrales for years with reports of coyotes killing pets, chickens and even llamas being common.

Corrales Animal Services has long implemented a coyote management plan that outlines how officers should handle coyote-related incidents. Control methods include trapping, snaring, shooting, removing pups from dens and harassment. 

“The purpose of this plan is to minimize pet and livestock losses due to coyote predation and minimize the impact on the coyotes,” Mayor Jim Fahey said. “This is a comprehensive plan integrating various methods of education and control that will benefit both the citizens of the village and the coyotes.”

Some Corrales residents spoke about the coyote problems in the Village at the Nov. 12 council meeting.

Phil Clark praised Animal Control for being responsive and offering advice but said coyotes are becoming more common in vacant lots.

“This past spring, we noticed several mothers leading pups, and we noticed that they’ve been a little more brazen and a little less fearful around bikes and around our two daughters,” Clark said. “I just wanted to bring up the the fact that just in our little quarter mile radius around our home, there are about six vacant pieces of land, some with buildings in various states of disrepair that don’t have frequent visits from property owners. Some are manufactured. Some have crawl spaces that coyotes can easily access under fences that aren’t kept up. I just wanted to put a concern out there, because there are several children under two-years-old in the area and if they can get our chickens and get our neighbor’s small dog, there’s nothing stopping them from getting a small child one of these days.”

Fahey said that as coyotes have expanded their range across North America, encounters with people have increased, alarming people who fear for the safety of their pets and children. 

“To allay this fear, communities might feel that they need to pay for wide-scale programs to remove coyotes from the population. However, these killing programs are inhumane—and they don’t work,” Fahey said. “Better solutions exist. Research suggests that when coyote populations are controlled aggressively, the remaining coyotes often experience a reproductive boom by breeding at earlier ages, having larger litters and experiencing a higher survival rate among the young. Therefore, coyote populations bounce back quickly, even when up to 70% of their numbers are removed.”

According to Fahey, efforts to kill or relocate coyotes in the past 100 years have been unsuccessful throughout the U.S. and Canada. 

“Although it may seem like a more humane alternative, in most cases relocating a coyote is a death sentence for that animal. Coyotes are very territorial and occupy large home ranges, in some cases up to 40 square miles,” Fahey said. “After being relocated, they will do just about anything to get back home and will undoubtedly face many challenges along the way. Unfamiliar with their new terrain, they are often killed while crossing roads and highways. They may also be injured or killed during territorial disputes with coyotes who are already established in the area where they’re released. In addition, state wildlife laws, such as in New Mexico, usually prohibit the relocation of coyotes.”

Now a new program is emerging as the most humane way to resolve conflicts with coyotes. Fahey said the program uses education to teach residents to remove food that lures coyotes into communities and how to properly protect pets. Hazing, a method that makes use of deterrents to move an animal out of an area or discourage an undesirable behavior or activity, changes the behavior of problem coyotes by teaching them to avoid people and pets.

According to The Humane Society of The United States, a variety of different hazing tools can be used to prevent coyotes from getting used to “redundant or single stimulus devices, sounds and actions,” including yelling and waving your arms while approaching the coyote, noisemakers like your voice, whistles, air horns, bells, “shaker” cans full of marbles or pennies, pots, lid or pie pans banged together or projectiles like sticks, small rocks, cans, tennis balls or rubber balls.

“People can coexist peacefully with coyotes by keeping cats indoors, removing bird seed and pet food from backyards and “hazing” animals who become too familiar with humans — driving them away through nonlethal means such as shouting and spraying water,” Fahey said. “Unless human-caused deaths disrupt their social systems, only alpha male and female coyotes breed. Younger, less dominant animals in packs and transient coyotes outside packs do not breed, limiting coyote numbers naturally.”