Experts offer advice for coyote management

The last thing Chapel Hill resident Donna Goldstein expected to see on her afternoon run was a coyote.

“It looked like a big dog running towards me on the trail,” she said. “It must’ve come within four feet of me, but kept on going.”

Goldstein said this wasn’t the first time she’s seen a coyote in the area. Three years ago she had another encounter on a late night run, she said.

“I looked up and my Doberman was nose to nose with a coyote,” she said.

Goldstein said she threw sticks and rocks at it, but couldn’t frighten it away.

“I didn’t know what to do,” Goldstein said. “I was afraid that if I was aggressive I would provoke the coyote.”

But according to Lynsey White Dasher — Urban Wildlife Specialist at the Humane Society of the United States — people should respond aggressively to coyotes to reestablish their natural fear of humans.

Dasher spoke to a crowd of about 100 Orange County residents during a session Wednesday on how to manage the growing coyote problem in the area.

Bob Marotto, Orange County’s director of animal services, said coyotes have become habituated in urban areas, meaning they have lost their fear of people.

“The issue here in Orange County is that we have had several coyote sightings and some incidents of coyotes trailing people and their dogs which people have described as stalking,” Marotto said.

Coyotes, the third fastest animal in North America, are now found in every state except for Hawaii.

“They live everywhere, but people usually have no idea that they’re there,” Dasher said. “Coyotes generally go out of their way to avoid people.”

But when Dasher asked residents how many had a close-up experience with coyotes, nearly every hand in the room went up.

Dasher said unsecured garbage cans, compost piles, leaving pet food outside, small pets, vegetable gardens and intentionally feeding coyotes can attract them to a home.

Fruit, which makes up 25 percent of a coyote’s diet, can also attract the animal to yards where there are fruit trees, she said.

“We have to change our behavior and the coyotes’ behavior and that is the only way we are going to be successful,” Dasher said.

“If they learn they can go into a town and eat from a dumpster and nothing bad happens, then maybe next time they’ll go to your yard and then maybe your porch,” she said. “The good thing is we can reteach them to be afraid of us.”

And Dasher said coyotes won’t be leaving the area anytime soon.

“They’re going to stay in their home range no matter what, but we can teach them to stay away from us,” she said.

Contact the desk editor at city@dailytarheel.com.