Cats becoming prey to coyotes
'“We try to encourage people to keep their cats inside,” says Dennis Tabella of Defenders of Animals, an animal advocacy group. “Too many people are letting their cats out at night. Some people just don’t get it.” ... Lund says studies show that indoor cats live an average of 17 years or so, while outdoor cats average just 3 to 4 years. Outdoor cats may also be harmed by dogs, cars, people and other cats, she said.'
September 8, 2009
By Peter B. Lord, Journal Environment Writer plord@projo.com or 401-277-8036
The Providence Journal
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This summer, posters for missing cats have become nearly as common in some suburban neighborhoods as “For Sale” signs in front of houses.
Despite the news reports for several years now that coyotes -- and more recently, fisher cats -- have become commonplace in Rhode Island, people continue to let their cats out at night and wonder why they don’t return in the morning.
“We try to encourage people to keep their cats inside,” says Dennis Tabella of Defenders of Animals, an animal advocacy group. “Too many people are letting their cats out at night. Some people just don’t get it.”
Cathy Lund, owner of City Kitty Veterinary Care, a cat-only veterinary office, says she strongly encourages her pet owners to keep their cats inside. She estimates about 90 percent do.
She can recall only one cat in her practice surviving a coyote attack. “The mortality rate is pretty high,” she said. “Most cats are domesticated, overweight and a little sedentary.”
Charlie Brown, a wildlife biologist at the state Department of Environmental Management, says he fields several hundred calls annually from people who are concerned about coyotes, and often their concerns begin with their pets.
He tries to make it clear: coyotes are now in every community in Rhode Island, except for Block Island.
“The average adult coyote is 35 to 40 pounds. The cat is a perfect size for them to go after. If coyotes get ahold of cats, they are gone.”
The experts who work at the intersection of the cat-coyote interactions insist the problem has been commonplace for several years, but many people just don’t want to accept the facts, or feel they can’t control their cats. The result is that cats continue to disappear at a fairly consistent rate. This is the most active period for coyotes because many are feeding young that were born in the spring.
Brown says coyotes began showing up in New England in the 1930s as forests reclaimed abandoned farmland. Rhode Island was the last state in New England to confirm their presence in 1969. (Apparently, coyotes were never part of the New England fauna because wolves kept them away before Europeans arrived and killed the wolves.)
“For ten years, they were sparse,” Brown said. “Now they are ubiquitous.”
Coyotes make their homes in cemeteries, river corridors, parks and small patches of woods. They gather to sleep and venture out alone at dawn or dusk to hunt. The biggest part of their diets is small mammals such as mice and squirrels. But they’ll also eat berries, trash, roadkill, compost, pet food and pets.
“They are pretty resourceful,” says Brown. “That’s the reason for their success.”
Fisher cats, small, bulky predators that are bigger than minks and smaller than river otters, returned to Rhode Island a few years ago, and they take some cats, too, Brown said. Fishers are native to New England and were extirpated by European hunters. But more often than not, he said, if a cat is missing, it’s because of coyotes.
When people call with concerns about coyotes, Brown advises them that 9 times out of 10, they can keep coyotes away by eliminating possible food sources such as trash, pet foods left outdoors — and pets left outdoors.
Several years ago, Warwick residents became alarmed about frequent sightings of coyotes in Warwick Neck. Brown, an adviser to the city, recalls the problem boiled down to people putting food out for the coyotes.
After that stopped, he said, “Miraculously, the coyotes disappeared.”
A special Coyote Commission in Warwick concluded in 2005 that the best way to manage coyotes was not to shoot or trap them. It was to educate the public about their behavior and feeding patterns so that people would stop leaving food out for them.
In Newport, Brown said, two coyotes became a nuisance after the coyotes became acclimated to the handouts. They wouldn’t go away, so they were euthanized.
Three years ago, the DEM established a coyote management policy that allows people to hunt coyotes at any time of year. But it also concluded that public education was the best solution for “negative interactions between coyotes and humans.”
There is a regulated trapping season for fishers, too, and property owners may shoot them if they threaten livestock, pets or crops. The carcass must be turned over to the DEM. There have been no recent complaints about fishers, according to the DEM.
Lund says studies show that indoor cats live an average of 17 years or so, while outdoor cats average just 3 to 4 years. Outdoor cats may also be harmed by dogs, cars, people and other cats, she said.
It may take a month to convert an outdoor cat to living indoors, she said. The key is to never give in. And, try starting in the winter when cats are less eager to go outside.
Tabella, of Defenders of Animals, recalls a cat in his neighborhood that was out all the time. A neighbor took it in and kept it in.
“He’s adjusted very well,” said Tabella. “But it takes some time.”
For more information on coyotes go to:
http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatres/fishwild/pdf/coyotes.pdf
For state coyote management policies, go to:
http://www.dem.ri.gov/programs/bnatres/fishwild/pdf/coyotpol.pdf
People with concerns about coyotes are encouraged to call the DEM at 401-789-0281.
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Copyright 2009, The Providence Journal.
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