Coyotes in Travis Heights

[riaelise]

Originally Posted by verybadgnome

Two fatalities is a lot less than some breeds of dogs which still makes me think this whole thing is an overreaction from a neighborhood that is acting more like Lakeway every day.

I have no comment on the article or the event one way or another. My post was only directed at G Grasshopper's post about humans being attacked or killed by coyotes. The two known incidents weren't feeding related. One case involved a child that was attacked within her home. Another case involved a folk singer who was hiking and approached by two coyotes behaving aggressively. Neither involved feeding.

[ScoPro]

Wildlife in urban Austin?

Wow!

Driving eastbound on Ben White this afternoon, I saw a dead deer under the Manchaca bridge overpass.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by ScoPro

Driving eastbound on Ben White this afternoon, I saw a dead deer under the Manchaca bridge overpass.

I support deer population management by hunting. Their social structure is not like that of coyotes, and killing deer does not stimulate more breeding; they don't need any stimulation to breed. We have mostly killed the predators that used to manage the deer herds, so culling them is appropriate in my estimation. Too many deer results in poor health for the deer as well as danger to humans. A managed hunt is good. Now with those wild hogs (not the native peccaries, but feral hogs) the more we can kill, the better. As long as the method doesn't poison the environment, killing feral hogs is nothing but good.

[centralaustinite]

FWIW, the neighborhood wasn't clamoring for it! The process was set in motion by 311 calls that were analyzed over time and showed a pattern of increasingly "dangerous" behavior. Many in Travis Heights were horrified and worked hard to get the program stopped or slowed. There is now a neighborhood effort to educate about coyotes and proper behavior around them. They have made flyers, walked door to door, and spoken to elderly neighbors who may have been feeding them (either deliberately or inadvertently through pet food left outside).

South Austin may be changing but we are still FAR away from anything like Lakeway (shudder)!!

[ScoPro]

Originally Posted by G Grasshopper

I support deer population management by hunting. Their social structure is not like that of coyotes, and killing deer does not stimulate more breeding; they don't need any stimulation to breed. We have mostly killed the predators that used to manage the deer herds, so culling them is appropriate in my estimation. Too many deer results in poor health for the deer as well as danger to humans. A managed hunt is good. Now with those wild hogs (not the native peccaries, but feral hogs) the more we can kill, the better. As long as the method doesn't poison the environment, killing feral hogs is nothing but good.

Correct.

My relatives do their fair share of culling the Whitetail herds, and any feral hogs they come across. Those nasty things are worse than skeeters.

[migol84]

i was walking to a party in Travis Heights and i ran into a pack of coyotes one winter night about 3 years ago. they were at a distance but it was a little scary. they all saw me but i was like maybe one hundred feet away(?). i walked back the other direction and didn't see them again. i didn't know what they were at first but now i'm convinced they were coyotes.

[G Grasshopper]

Originally Posted by migol84

i was walking to a party in Travis Heights and i ran into a pack of coyotes one winter night about 3 years ago. they were at a distance but it was a little scary. they all saw me but i was like maybe one hundred feet away(?). i walked back the other direction and didn't see them again. i didn't know what they were at first but now i'm convinced they were coyotes.

It is likely that if you had yelled or clapped, they would have run away. But it is always good to remove yourself from a scary situation, so that's fine, too. We don't have wolves around here, so any pack of dog-like animals (if it wasn't actually dogs) has to be coyotes. Foxes are solitary, and are smaller.

[GreenPlastic]

More and more coyotes in Tarrytown lately. Please keep your pets inside at night...lots more missing cat and dog notices.

[G Grasshopper]

If coyotes are moving into a populated area from which they were formerly expurged, they are doing so because food is available. This may be cats and small dogs, pet food left out, people feeding them, garbage that is accessible, or lots of rodents (studies of coyotes in wilderness areas show that their #1 food is rodents.) So the way to deal with the problem, and to prevent further spreading, is to eliminate those food sources. That includes keeping pets indoors, especially at night.