Just about everyone agrees that living in Lake County is residing next to nature, which means wild animals are all around us, even if we live within the city limits.
Deer, mountain lions, bear and coyotes are common throughout the county. Several times within the past two years mountain lions have been spotted near downtown Lakeport. In fact it was just last week when Mandy Feder, the news editor at the Record-Bee, spotted a mountain lion standing in the middle of the street on South Main in Lakeport. Last year a mountain lion was seen walking across the Kmart parking lot in Lakeport and just about everyone has heard about the mountain lion that chased a woman”s pet dog in a mobile home park in Lakeport.
What many people don”t know is that a large number of coyotes have taken up residence next to homes. The coyote is mostly a nocturnal animal and rarely seen. Residents in the Riviera have often reported hearing coyotes howling at night. I live just outside the city limits of Lakeport and there has been a family of coyotes in my area for years.
Coyotes have attacked people. A study done by Robert Timm of the University of California Hopland Research Station showed there were 41 recorded coyote attacks on humans from 1998 to 2003 in California. Most of the attacks took place in Southern California and involved bites and scratches. Of the 41 attacks, 22 were on children younger than age 8. A coyote killed one child, a 3-year-old from Glendale, in 1981. There have been no recorded attacks on humans in Lake County. Timm said coyotes have even pulled infants from strollers and tried to drag them into the brush. Fortunately the parents drove them off.
According to Timm, the reason coyotes have moved into the suburban areas is because of the constant food source. There is an abundance of dog and cat food as well as cats and small dogs. A few years ago the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) released a study done on stomach contents taken from mountain lions and coyotes that had to be put down because they posed a threat to local residents. In 90 percent of the stomachs studied there were traces of either domestic cat or dog hair.
A few years ago I had a memorable experience with a coyote. It was after dark and I let out my little 10-pound dog to do her business. She disappeared into the darkness and within a few minutes I heard a sharp yelp and my little dog came running to me and leapt into my arms. Right on her heels was a large coyote. He didn”t see me until the last moment and then skidded to a stop just a few feet away.
Coyotes can weigh up to 50 pounds and the largest on record weighed 75 pounds. They normally hunt in pairs or small packs. In the wild they will eat just about anything from insects to deer. Young fawns are easy prey for a coyote. According to Timm at the Hopland Field Station, the biologists can tell when the fawns are being born in the spring because the coyotes stop preying on the domestic sheep. As soon as the fawns grow big enough to escape the coyotes the predation on the sheep continues.
Coyotes are classed as a “varmint” by the DFG and can be legally hunted year around and there is no daily limit. Hunters often use special calls that imitate the call of a rabbit in distress. When the coyote comes within range they shoot it. Several times I have had a coyote approach me when I have been hunting wild turkeys and making a call. At one time ranchers controlled the coyote population by either trapping them or using poison guns. A bait would be attached to the end of the gun and when the coyote licked the bait it would set off the gun, which fired a burst of the poison into the coyote”s face. Death was nearly instantaneous. Twenty years ago the state outlawed all leg hold traps and poison guns. The result is that the coyote population has exploded in many areas.
Timm said coyotes are considered the smartest of all the members of canine family, including dogs. They can thrive in suburban areas and have even been seen in major cities. In fact, a few years ago a coyote family lived in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco.
Most of the experts say coyotes are nearly impossible to exterminate and, as one biologist remarked, “In all likelihood the last two critters to survive on earth will be the cockroach and the coyote.”
