The Effect of Coyote Removal in Texas Emilie Lothet and Reshma Patel

Background of Coyotes  Coyotes are territorial  Live in small groups  Consume mammals, fruits, and insects  Adapt to human control  Acute senses  Keystone species  Live almost everywhere in North America— predominantly southwest regions  Type 1 population  Valued for hunting/fur trade

Coyote Adaptation to Human Interaction  Able to avoid human control in general  Learn to be less active during the day than the night -humans can find coyotes easily during the day  Lethal measures must be taken against coyotes because they adapt to the nonlethal measures (frightening devices)  Have the tendency to repopulate areas in which coyotes were once removed, so control of areas must be taken quickly  Learn to avoid control techniques  Maintain numbers by learning to avoid traps and bait

Problem 1: Removal of Coyotes  If coyotes are removed, then, being a keystone species, other species in the ecosystem will be affected  Coyotes’ prey will overpopulate (ex: sheep/goat, deer)  Overpopulation of prey can cause inter-species competition loss of resources (ex: overgrazing, loss of plants)  Ecosystem will not be balanced

Solution 1: Introduction of Coyotes/Wolves etc  By re-introducing a keystone species such as coyotes or wolves, the ecosystem can be brought back into order  The population of prey species will be reduced, as long as there is a proportionate amount of predators in the area  Resources can be replenished  Species that had similar diets to coyote prey are able to flourish again because their resources are no longer reduced

Problem 2: Introduction of Coyotes  In an ecosystem where coyotes are a keystone species, and reproduce at a rate disproportional to their prey, the coyotes can pose a problem  If there are too many coyotes, they will consume more prey, lowering the population of their prey.  By doing this, coyotes will compete and have the potential to exterminate the species of prey from the area  Other predators in Texas, such as cougars, are also affected because they feed on the same prey as coyotes

Solution 2: Removal of Coyotes  What seems logical is the introduction of gray wolves, which prey on coyotes; however this is not effective because the grey wolves would simply produce the same problem that the coyotes did (they have the same diet)  So, humans use scare techniques to scare the coyotes away; however, eventually they become ineffective as the coyotes adapt to these techniques  Lethal control: shooting is popularly used to limit the coyote population, as there is no simple, natural way in doing so

Coyote Issue Opinion Poll What do YOU think?

Things to Consider:  Is it morally wrong to shoot coyotes when removing them? Is there a better way to remove coyotes from an ecosystem?  Should ranchers have a say in the debate over the reintroduction of coyotes in certain areas? The removal? (they are biased)  Because coyotes pose such a threat to the balance of ecosystems when they are overpopulated, would killing coyotes for fur/meat be an appropriate solution?

Sources   coyote-controversy.html 