On the drive to work this morning i observed a coyote near the intersection to my community.I can still count on one hand the number of coyotes i have seen. Biologist here have it termed the eastern coyote (Canis latrans) and it most likely arrived in Newfoundland by crossing pack ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The first coyote sighting occurred on March of 1985 and were reported back then as wolves and spotte at the Port au Port Peninsula. Additional sightings on pack ice were made in 1989 and 2000 but by then they were will established on our island. My next door neighbour who has a farm near the community has already lost livestock(young lambs) to the coyote. He's had problems before with Black Bears and mooose but the new kid on the block will be the worst he can encounter.
The coyote is proving to be an effective predator on caribou and many small game animals as well. They say very little biological data has been collected on coyotes on the island so far and im sure by the time they do so,the coyote is here to stay. They also say if funds become available, focussed studies of coyote home range size, densities, food habits, and their effects on native species will be conducted.In the meantime we'll just sit and wait and watch it spread. Some roadkill coyotes have been analyzed and their stomach contents and faecal material of the examined animals indicated that they fed on snowshoe hare, moose, beaver, red fox, red squirrel, masked shrew, ruffed grouse, various passerine bird species, and fruits such as blueberries, mountain holly, and choke cherry. Body measurements have been taken fromthe road-killed and all were shown in very good physical condition with moderate to abundant fat stores. Unidentified tapeworms were recovered from one animal and i wonder what that may do to other species here if passed on?I guess we'll just have to wait and see!
9 comments:
We used to get good money for 'yotes back before the animal righters ruined the fur market. One thing about them though, the more you try to eradicate the damn things the more you wind up with it seems. I saw a study one time that said female coyotes have more pups when the population is getting more pressure from hunters ect. I guess it's some kind of natural survival instinct. Are the darn things protected up there? In these parts there's open season on 'em, lots of ranchers around, only good 'yote is a dead 'yote is the norm.
Just about the greatest cowboy of them all, Pecos Bill, said that he had been bounced out of a covered wagon and lost when just a baby. He was adopted into a coyote family and had not known he was not a coyote until he was 18.
hey ol buddy?heard through the grapevine your having a few problems with your vision.get in and get that surgery before summer or that atv could be parked a long time.
gerald
Them Coyotes must think they have died and gone to heavenwith all of the food they now have available to them.
Rabbits, Squirrels, Grouse, Moose, Caribou just to name a few with no other competition I can see the population of these Coyotes exploding in no time.
Yep you shoulda shot it!
Nice coyote mate - could they keep the squirrels under contol in East London do you reckon?
(the coyote pic shown was one i got off the web)
those creatures are here to stay,no doubt about that!i hope there is someway we can use them to our advantage. if requested we might be able to issue a licence to big game hunters who come to the island for moose or caribou.
jb,we have already heard stories here about people loosing pets.dixie,i remember the "Pecos Bill" legend from watching walt disney when i was a kid.
Hey
Wayne that are are a lot of them boys out this way, I do like to listen to them when I go fishing, usually just before sunrise they start raising hell
Hey TM,
Wanted to let you know that I added your blog to the NL blogroll for all blogs in the province. You're able to add the list to your blog if you want. Get the code here: http://nlblogroll.blogspot.com
Ta,
Stephen
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