animals

Day 2 of Coyote Awareness Week!

Meet Ricky Bobby

This little guy was adopted by another coyote named Weave. Ricky Bobby was most likely orphaned and Weave saved him.

The little coyote named Ricky Bobby eventually went back to the wild in late Sept 2024.

If you would to see more of Weave the coyote, head over to Timmy Mc.

Why killing coyotes doesn’t work

When coyotes are killed, especially adults, the remaining coyotes often increase their reproductive rates to compensate for the loss. Females may have more pups in the next breeding season, or the surviving pack members may breed earlier or more frequently. This “compensatory reproduction” is a well-documented phenomenon in many animal species when their numbers are reduced by hunting or trapping.

Coyotes live in complex social structures, with dominant alpha pairs leading packs. When these dominant members are killed, other members of the pack may step up to take their place, and in some cases, subdominant coyotes may breed more. This can lead to increased reproductive output and larger litters of pups.

Coyotes are territorial animals, and when one coyote is removed from an area, it creates a “vacuum” that other coyotes quickly fill. New coyotes moving into the area may breed quickly and produce more offspring to establish their territory. This territorial replacement can contribute to a rise in coyote numbers in a given region.

If coyotes are killed in one area, coyotes from nearby regions may migrate into the area to replace those lost. These newcomers may breed and repopulate the area even faster than the original population.

In nature, species like coyotes fulfill an important ecological role in regulating other populations (e.g., rodents, rabbits, etc.). Removing coyotes can upset this balance, potentially leading to overpopulation of prey species. The increased numbers of prey may, in turn, attract more coyotes from nearby areas, ultimately leading to no net reduction in the overall population.

Sustainable, non-lethal management methods are more effective in controlling coyote numbers.

“Queen of the Tetons:” Remembering Bear 399

Life as a grizzly bear in the Lower 48 isn’t easy, but for 28 years, Bear 399 rose to the challenge.

Dubbed “Queen of the Tetons,” this charismatic mother gained fame successfully rearing cubs year after year.

In 2020 she became just the 14th grizzly ever known to give birth to quadruplets. In 2023, she became the oldest bear to give birth to a cub in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.

But last October, Bear 399 gained a tragic title — she was the 51st grizzly struck and killed by a vehicle in the Greater Yellowstone area since 2009.

The life of 399 serves to illustrate both the achievements that have been made in grizzly bear rehabilitation in the Lower 48, and the long way we still have to go in learning how to coexist with these magnificent bears.

Not long ago, scientists feared the grizzly was doomed to extinction in the Lower 48. With as few as 300 left, grizzlies were granted protection under the Endangered Species Act in 1975. But by the mid-90s when Bear 399 was born, they were still struggling, with estimates placing the population around 400.

Over the course of Bear 399’s life, the population has expanded to an estimated 2,000 bears. Though still a far cry from the 50,000 bears that once traversed the western U.S. in the early 1800s, this remains an incredible achievement in species recovery, one that Bear 399 played a critical role in.

Bear 399 also served as an ambassador, revealing a softer side to a species written off by many as blood-thirsty brutes. In her leisurely strolls along roadways crowded with spectators, she demonstrated a lesser-known reality: like most wild animals, if given space and left alone, bears pose little threat to humans.

Of course, as humans continue to expand and move into grizzly habitat, space can become an issue. And more often than not, it’s the grizzlies who pay the price.

By one estimate, a heartbreaking 85% of all grizzly bears in the Lower 48 are killed because of humans before reaching old age.

Some bears are killed after hunting livestock, not understanding the differences between cows and wild elk. Some are poached illegally. Some bears are tempted by easy access to poorly-protected human food, and are euthanized in the interest of avoiding human-bear conflict down the road. Many are hit by cars.

Some of Bear 399’s cubs have suffered these fates.7 And in the end, Bear 399, too was killed by a human.

For too long, we have pitted bears against humans, either vying for the grizzly’s complete eradication, or allowing them to rebound while failing to address our own encroachment into their habitat.

It is time to forge an alternative path, one that gives bears the space to be bears, while also providing humans opportunities to appreciate these spectacular animals.

At Environmental Action, we’re advocating for the continued protection of grizzlies under the Endangered Species Act, working to increase wildlife crossings to limit animal collisions and supporting the preservation of wild areas where grizzlies can roam free.

So can humans and grizzlies coexist peacefully? If Bear 399’s life tells us anything, it’s that we can, but only so long as we’re willing to put in the work.

Thank you,

The Environmental Action team

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To learn more about the Environmental Action team and what they do. Go to https://environmental-action.org/

Eastern Coyote, Canis Latrans

When a plant or animal can easily manage to survive and share the ever-changing world around humans, we frequently assign it one of two titles. “Invasive” (see above), or “Pest”. But what other words should we consider? “Successful”? “Thriving”, now that’s a word that doesn’t apply to many species worldwide in this time of mass extinction. Maybe “Adaptable” or “Resilient”, just as many of us have learned to be over the past few years. 

The eastern coyote has been called all of these things. While they are indigenous to North America, their ancestors only moved into the northeast when colonists eradicated their biggest competition, wolves. With miles of forests, fields, and farmlands freshly available with no bigger predators to push them out, coyotes became very successful in the northeast. The subspecies that lives around us has genes from wolves and dogs too, but now for the most part they stick to groups of their own species. When big families get together they can get chatty (like a lot of human family gatherings, I’d say), and their yelping and howling can make an evening feel like it has just a bit more wildness than before. 

The eastern coyote is one of those animals that everyone is certain to be an expert in, even if maybe their facts are a bit exaggerated. That doesn’t mean there aren’t neat things to learn about this relatively common species!

Did you know that in addition to eating meat, coyotes spend their summers munching on insects, plants, and berries?

Did you know that the eastern coyote, while larger than the western subspecies, are still typically only 20 to 45 pounds? That’s about the size of a border collie or a cattle dog!

Did you know that in addition to farms and fields, coyotes have been known to live in the Bronx and Queens?

Did you know that coyotes help keep the ecosystem tidy and free of disease by eating roadkill and other carcasses?

Did you know that coyotes are monogamous and mate for life?

While they get blamed for all sorts of scary phenomenon and many people are nervous of all of our local predators, it’s important to remember that they are just doing what works well for them to survive. After all, we moved (and continue to move) into their spaces. But, coexisting with coyotes is possible!

https://wallkillvalleylt.org/2022/01/species-spotlight-coyote-and-mugwort/