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Keep pets safe from coyote predators

January 15, 2021   ·   0 Comments

During the winter months, you are likely to hear more stories about coyotes stalking and killing cats and small dogs.

This time of year, a coyote’s preferred prey, rodents and rabbits, become scarce and the animals start looking at small household pets as dinner.

While some people advocate trapping or killing coyotes, the practice can actually make it more dangerous for household pets. As social animals with a family pack type of structure, killing one member of a coyote family upsets the balance of the whole community.

If an experienced adult is killed, pups who are just beginning to seek independence will become hungry and desperate. The killing of an adult male will also bring in more male coyotes searching out its mate, and this can attract more male coyotes to an area.

“Coyotes are everywhere, they’re beautiful animals.” said Procyon Wildlife Centre director, Debra Spilar. “It’s not like they attack a cat on purpose. It’s a small prey animal. To them, it’s just a small prey animal that can be eaten. To protect them, just don’t let them outside. You take your chances when you have an outdoor cat. Your cat might be well fed, but wildlife isn’t, so they have to forage and they think your cat is part of the food chain.”

There are many humane ways to keep your pets safe from coyotes.

For cats, not letting them roam free is the first step to keeping them safe. Small dogs are best kept on a leash or closely supervised when outdoors.

You can also discourage coyotes from coming to close to your house by keeping trash cans secured and never leaving pet food outside.

Coyotes are all around us, and while not a danger to humans, your small pets are in danger if allowed to roam around at will.

By Brock Weir


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