Feral cats avoid urban coyotes, are surprisingly healthy
click here to read the full study
http://phys.org/news/2013-11-feral-cats-urban-coyotes-surprisingly.html
Thursday, November 14, 2013
Stan Gehrt of Ohio State who has conducted the longest running urban Coyote Study in the USA(Chicago) has just released additional information pointing to John Laundre and Bill Ripple"s Landscape of Fear Paradigm at work as it relates to urban Chicago Coyotes keeping feral Cats at the peripheral of Coyote territories in the Windy City.............The Coyotes tend to have core territories that include the greenspaces in and around Chicago and due to this, feral Cats have taken to crfeating their own core territories in closer to human dominated inner city neighborhoods------on the periphery of Coyote hunting grounds............The result is that there are now healthier populations of small mammals and birds in the green spaces as the Cats no longer hunt there,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and the Cats themselves are living longer and staying healthier as they have "gotten out of Dodge" to avoid being eaten by the Coyotes.............Top down Carnivores make our systems healthier by keeping prey animals vigilant, on the move and thus not able to devastate plant and other animal populations as they do when they are able to dine in an area unafraid and undisturbed by predators-----------read more by clicking on the link below
Feral cats avoid urban coyotes, are surprisingly healthy
click here to read the full study
http://phys.org/news/2013-11-feral-cats-urban-coyotes-surprisingly.html
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Although I have gotten in discussions with people that don't think coyotes have had much impact on feral cats(these are always, in my experience, vehement cat-haters that want to paint feral cats in as negative a picture as they can--in that they are overunning the world and must all be destroyed--pets AND ferals-- sort of viewpoint!)these people I've discussed it with have always had little actual experience monitoring cats in various areas--they are usually deeply urban and not perzackly "woods savvy". I have roamed various wild and farmland and suburban areas widely over my several decades existence(yes, I am an incorrigible tresspasser), and I have noted a BLATANT abscence of feral cats--since the arrival of coyotes here in the Southeast where I reside, where there formerly were NO coyotes--in areas where I COMMONLY encountered cat sign before(especially obvious were always tracks in the snow), and regular treeing of such by the dogs I usually have with me on my rambles. Now I virtually NEVER see either signs or sightings of cats except close to human habitations, and apparently from incidents related by cat owners, even there, these cats had better be on their guard! This cat control(and don't get me wrong, I am personally very fond of kitties), as well as controlling mid-size wild predators like foxes and raccoons, that were becoming far too unhealthily overpopulated, is one of THE BEST aspects of the coyote expansion to all 49 U. S. states, in my opinion! And yes, some stowaways WILL undoubtedley reach the 50th--Hawaii--one of these days!....L.B.
LB
hope you are in the woods observing and taking in all the "signs" this weekend..thanks for checking in
You can count on it! Although my movements are rather restricted this time of year(Deer Gun Season), as I don't wish I or my dogs to get shot! Or piss off any deer hunters messing up their "hunt"! I think the local coyotes actually look forward to deer season here--lots of gutpiles for the taking! One local hunter I got in a conversation with once told me of a deer he had killed some years ago, which he left for about an hour to retrieve one of those wheeled "travois"-type contraptions they have nowadays to haul carcasses out with. Despite being gone only an hour or so, when he got back, a coyote had already found his kill and eaten a nice chunk out of it! All the more reason to heft those deer carcasses up in a tree till you can tend to them, even if your neighbors start suspecting introduced leopards are in the vicinity!....L.B.
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