Aug 22, 2016

Danville Coyote



Last week, WES received word about a coyote with a severe case of mange, roaming the streets of Danville, CA. WES' capture experts Duane Titus and Rebecca Dmytryk drove to Danville on Saturday to look for the animal and get a feel for the area. 

With help from residents and the Danville Police Department, they were able to locate the coyote and make a few live-trap sets, but there were too many people out enjoying the weekend for any capture attempts to be successful. They will try again this week.

In the meantime, a couple of locals have stepped up to help, monitoring a social media site called Nextdoor for posts about the coyote - when and where it's being observed. We're keeping track of sightings hoping to narrow in on a good spot to try and capture the wild dog.





For the most part, the community seems more concerned for the animal's welfare than anything else. The fear level is low, as it should be. This adult male coyote is not a threat to people and it has been observed walking by dogs and cats, showing little interest. 

However, free-roaming cats are always in danger of being killed by other animals or cars, so it's best to keep them inside or at least provide them with an outdoor enclosure like a catio. Owners of small dogs should also take precautions, making sure their yard is predator-proof, and, on walks, small dogs should be on short leads, no longer than 6 feet. Contact Humane Wildlife Control for help making your backyard coyote-proof.

Although coyotes do not see humans as prey - not even small children, they will follow people. They aren't stalking, but hoping the person leads to food they can scavenge - like jackals in Africa follow lions. 

While we rather people not frighten this particular coyote, in general, it is best to tell coyotes "No!" - to "Go Away!", so they don't get too comfortable around people. It's called hazing. Check out the instructional video, HERE.

This particular coyote is suffering from mange - a skin condition caused by mites that burrow into the skin. Although he looks horrible, he's treatable. We hope to capture him in the coming weeks and deliver him to one of the area's wildlife hospital where he can receive treatment and be returned to the wild. 

While the symptoms of mange in coyotes looks similar to what we see in bobcats with mange, the type of mite is different, and so may be the underlying cause. In bobcats, there seems to be a connection to the disease and exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides found in rat poison. After consuming bait, rodents die out in the open where predators and scavengers find them.

The secondary risk to wildlife is so great, the Environmental Protection Agency restricted availability of these poisons to the general public, but they are still widely used by the pest control industry. More on how these poisons impact wildlife, HERE. The only wildlife-safe rodenticide is RatX.

It's not clear, yet, if exposure to poisons or pollutants is related to mange in coyotes, but it is treatable. Help us track down this coyote by reporting sightings to your Nextdoor page or contact the Danville Police Department, or you can email rebecca (at) wildlifeservices (dot) org. Thank you!

Check out the video from Saturday.


2 comments:

Unknown said...

Nexgard chewable tablets are not FDA approved but have been shown to be very effective on both demodex and sarcoptic mange . Don't trap him just bury tablet in raw meat every two weeks for four to eight treatments .. Problem would be hopefully solved

Rebecca Dmytryk said...

Thank you for your comment, Dannielle. Yes, this is something we might consider doing if further attempts to capture him fail, so long as the Department of Fish and Wildlife approves.

There are benefits to capturing him that outweigh field treatments, though - the coyote is removed from the neighborhood; it will receive proper dosage and full treatment; it will provide valuable samples to ongoing research; when set free, he will have regained his fear of humans. Treating him in the field - tracking him and making sure he gets the right dose would be extremely time consuming and so many things could go wrong. As his health improved, he would be harder to track.

Thanks again for your suggestion. Rebecca