We heard from Bilogist Jacqueline Frair in New York State yesterday............Today, we hear from Nova Scotia researcher Dimon Gadbois echoing Frair's commentary that killing coyotes ends up increasing their numbers..............That a dead coyote does not pass on fear of humans to other coyotes....................that hazing them in other ways to be afraid of us is the better long term behavior modification(social transmission) to minimize conflicts.................Ultimately, a degree of conditioning from being around people will cause some wildlife to lose their fear of us..............Instilling the fear, not the utilization of the "club" has to be our tool of choice in living side by side with all of natures creation

Coyote expert deplores 'cull'

Trapping will increase population, won't instil fear of humans, Dal researcher says

By CLARE MELLOR

All through the fall and winter, Simon Gadbois had a timer on his website counting down to March 31That date marked the end of Nova Scotia's trapping season, and with it, the end of a $20 government bounty for every coyote pelt. "I couldn't wait for it to be over," said the Dalhousie University researcher, who studies the behaviour of coyotes, foxes and dogs.

Gadbois has no issue with the killing of aggressive or problem coyotes, but he said a bounty to encourage widespread trapping of coyotes just didn't made sense scientifically.

The "cull," as Gadbois calls it, will mean larger numbers of coyotes a year or two down the road, chiefly because of more available food for the coyotes that are left. And despite claims made by the provincial Natural Resources Department, Gadbois said he believes that trapping does nothing to make coyotes fearful of humans. "The effect that we have on numbers is always only temporary. The best example of this is the fact that we tried this thing in the '80s and it didn't work. "I don't want to suggest (a cull) will make things worse in terms of animal-human interactions, but it will certainly make the environment better for new pups . . . so there will be more coyotes around."

The number of coyotes that have been killed under the pelt incentive program is not known yet, Mike Boudreau, a wildlife conflict biologist with the Natural Resources Department, told reporters at a recent news conference. The department has not yet decided if the pelt incentive will be continued during the next trapping season.

Gadbois said he theorizes that a lack of fear is at the root of recent conflicts between coyotes and humans.  He said he believes some coyotes have learned not to fear humans and have learned to connect humans with easy sources of food. On Oct. 27, 2009, visiting Ontario musician Taylor Mitchell, 19, died after a coyote attack on a hiking trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. Since then, there have been other reports of coyotes biting humans or acting aggressively toward them in various areas of the province.--note that biologists Stan Gehrt and Brent Patterson do not feel that food habituation was at place in the Taylor killing--blogger Rick

Coyotes need to relearn their fear of humans, Gadbois said, adding that "hazing" the animals in selected areas of the province, such as national parks, would be more effective than widespread trapping. "Hazing is basically harassing coyotes . . . by exposing them to humans with fearful, noxious, annoying but mostly fearful stimuli. It could be fireworks or anything like that. "Basically, you are scaring them."  The coyotes pass on this fear to others through what animal behaviourists call social transmission.

The Natural Resources Department considers trapping a form of hazing because coyotes learn to avoid humans when they see and hear another coyote caught in a trap, said Bruce Nunn, a department spokesman. But Gadbois said that idea isn't backed up by science. "If you are a good trapper, you will actually hide all of the stimuli, all of the signs that associate your trap with humans." Furthermore, if coyotes are killed, they cannot pass on the fear to others, he said.--note that biologist Jon Way has stated this exact finding--blogger Rick

After the 2009 fatal attack, there were a number of other reports of aggressive coyotes in Cape Breton Highlands National Park. In the summer of 2010, a girl camping outside her parents' tent was bitten on the head by coyotes. Visitors often feed wild animals in national parks. As well, a lot of food is available, whether it is left in the garbage or stored at camping sites, said Gadbois. "That is an extremely important part of the equation that a lot of people are forgetting about. What is going on in parks is different from what is going on elsewhere.

"To me, it is not a coincidence that Taylor Mitchell was attacked in late October. What happens in the fall is there are (fewer and fewer) visitors (to parks) . . . but the coyotes still remember that they were fed and they were around humans and finding food around humans during the summer. "They tend to follow humans, expecting that they are going to get something. When they don't, then they get frustrated and that is how things can actually quickly degenerate."

When asked her thoughts on the recent conflicts between coyotes and humans, renowned scientist Jane Goodall called it "very unusual." We need to learn more about the animals, Goodall said. "We're taking the homes of so many wild animals. Somehow, you know, we should be sharing the planet with these other animals and . . . learn (more) about their sensitivities, their amazingly complex social lives, their emotions, you know," she said in a telephone interview prior to her visit to Halifax this week. "Coyotes are like dogs and I suspect there's far more dog attacks than coyote attacks."

Negative interactions between humans and coyotes are nothing new, said Gadbois. But he concedes that the number of conflicts appears to be rising. "Are there more now? Maybe. Yes, I think maybe . . . but I don't think it as much as people think. "To be honest with you, the problem is now that people are so sensitive to what is going on with coyotes that they have a skewed perception," he said."To conclude that all coyotes everywhere are turning (into) man-eaters is just ridiculous."

Gadbois said he believes that scientific research may provide an answer.  "We need some real science done on this instead of propagating myths, anecdotes and hearsay." Gadbois, who on his own time has trained his dog Zyla to track coyotes, said that he soon hopes to embark on a research project with others that would involve training a number of dogs to track the animals. Dogs locate coyote scat that can be analyzed to determine a coyote's diet and hormone levels."It can give us a lot of information," he said.