Sightings of coyotes are not unusual

Dan Eaton has trapped coyotes in some unlikely places.

"We've even caught them in downtown Atlanta," he said. "They're anywhere you can think of."

Closer to home, the president of CSRA Trapping Services has removed the secretive predators from urban locales along Washington Road and the creeks that zig-zag through Augusta.

"Creeks are natural highways," he said. "Lots of coyotes live right here in town."

If you see them at all, it's usually by accident. But the mostly nocturnal coyote that thrives in all 159 Georgia counties might also be your next-door neighbor.

In fast-growing Columbia County, where suburban subdivisions often jut into previously undeveloped wilderness, coyote sightings have been common for years, said Emergency Services Director Pam Tucker.

"We get calls from people who spot coyotes and are startled to see a 'wild animal' such as this in Columbia County," she said. "More than anything, they panic and want to know why they are in Columbia County. It's an animal that people don't expect to see here."

Most complaints are in rural areas, she said, but coyotes turn up on urban streets, too.

"A citizen off Flowing Wells Road recently called and requested that the county send someone to shoot several coyotes that she had spotted behind her home. Of course, we explained that we cannot do that and that it's not necessary."

At night, when the elusive "song dogs" are most active, they can be heard yipping and yowling at police sirens and train whistles. But to most homeowners, the only evidence of their existence are tracks, droppings and occasional damage to vegetable gardens, where they will feed.

"They do move in the daytime, but they can figure out how not to let anyone see them," said U.S. Forest Service research biologist John Kilgo, who has studied coyotes in South Carolina for many years.

"They'll eat about anything they can find, and they are opportunistic hunters," he said. "There's plenty of reference in scientific literature about eating watermelons out of farmers' fields -- and vegetables from people's gardens -- and they are also known to eat pet food, and even pets."

Melissa Cummings of Georgia's Department of Natural Resources said attacks on pets are rare but not unheard of. A DNR fact sheet on suburban coyotes recommends keeping small pets inside at night if coyotes are suspected to be nearby and to avoid keeping pet food outside.

Coyotes are widely known and respected for their adaptability, Ms. Cummings said, and have spread from 23 Georgia counties in 1970 to all 159 counties today.

Georgia hunters killed an estimated 34,516 coyotes in the 2005-06 hunting season, the most recent year for which a complete estimate is available, she said. That number excludes coyotes taken by nuisance trappers.

In South Carolina, hunters report killing about 22,000 coyotes each hunting season, according to surveys conducted by the state's Department of Natural Resources.

Although coyotes are known to kill whitetail fawns in the spring, they are often blamed for other attacks on livestock and pets. Biologists say much of that blame is unfounded and that stray dogs account for many such attacks.

There are benefits to suburban coyote populations in that they prey on destructive rodents and squirrels. Coyotes are also known to prey on Canada goose nests and have been deemed helpful in controlling goose populations in areas with insufficient hunting pressure.

"We have never received a report of a coyote hurting a person, but we have had reports of a few baby goats and chickens that were attacked by coyotes, but that's it," Mrs. Tucker said.

Reach Rob Pavey at 868-1222, ext. 119 or rob.pavey@augustachronicle.com.