Using Coyotes for rats (Chicago, Pekin: 2013, house, fence)

[mag32gie]

Just heard about this. They have collars on them and have them by the river to eat rats! Am I the only one who didn't know? I wonder how they keep them out of traffic and away from all of the people walking around.
Pretty scary if you own a small dog, even a high fence will not keep them out.

[Golden Camel]

OK, I admit I was somewhat doubtful. But apparently the project started in the year 2000.
Read about it here, it's actually quite interesting:
60 Wild Coyotes Patrol Chicago (And Occasionally Stop At Convenience Stores) : Krulwich Wonders... : NPR

They hunt mostly at night, avoid contact with people, and usually run away from barking dogs, even teeny ones. Stan Gehrt says he's seen small Pekinese house dogs chase coyotes away. Every so often, a coyote has killed a dog or cat, but this is still rare. They like to roam golf courses, municipal parks, public land and their dens are always hidden, often (as you see below) in trees.

[Golden Camel]

Just to clarify: They are not importing coyotes and letting them loose in the city.
They caught a mating pair, fitted them with radio collars and microchipped them. Then they let them go back where they found them. They repeated this with their offspring. They did not move coyotes from place to place.

[jonnynonos]

The coyotes are there to be studied and while its nice they eat a few rats this would have almost no effect at all on the rat population. There is virtually nothing you can do to curb a rat population other than cut off the food supply. Killing them piecemeal just makes room for new ones.

[mag32gie]

Originally Posted by Golden Camel

OK, I admit I was somewhat doubtful. But apparently the project started in the year 2000.
Read about it here, it's actually quite interesting:
60 Wild Coyotes Patrol Chicago (And Occasionally Stop At Convenience Stores) : Krulwich Wonders... : NPR

Coyotes Break Door Trying To Attack Illinois Dogs: Owner Saves His Pups (VIDEO)

Hope this works

[BRU67]

Originally Posted by mag32gie

Coyotes Break Door Trying To Attack Illinois Dogs: Owner Saves His Pups (VIDEO)

Hope this works

I have serious doubts about the veracity of this story. This behavior simply isn't common among coyotes. They rarely even let humans see them, much less act like Jack Nicholson's character in "The Shining." I have no evidence one way or other and neither does that homeowner, other than a broken door.

[mag32gie]

I started reading up on them when my son in law saw one in their fenced in back yard out in Elmwood Park. I was to blame I think because I babysit for my grandchildren and we always use to feed the birds and squirrels. The coyote must have climbed the 4 ft fence and came in to catch a squirrel.
From what I have read, they eat vegetation in the summer usually but mate in the winter and hunt together, they do attack dogs and cats, especially when there is more then one. I don't think it is a good idea to have coyotes in downtown Chicago and have read articles to never let your small dogs out in the yard alone.
My daughter just got a very small dog for the kids and this is freaking me out.

[BRU67]

The media's mission is thus accomplished. Target might have some anti-coyote spray, just in case!

[rparz]

Originally Posted by jonnynonos

The coyotes are there to be studied and while its nice they eat a few rats this would have almost no effect at all on the rat population. There is virtually nothing you can do to curb a rat population other than cut off the food supply. Killing them piecemeal just makes room for new ones.

Even though it's highly illegal, I heard cat food with antifreeze near the entrance to a rat hole works great.

[jonnynonos]

You can kill a lot of rats through a lot of ways but even if you killed, say, half of them, even more would come back in extremely short time. Their population is dictated by access to food and water. There is a very interesting book on the subject called Rats that discusses all the way NYers have tried to get rid of them over the decades.