Coyotes in Southern Arizona are a fairly common sight. Often you can hear them “singing,” at night if they have their next meal cornered. For the most part, coyotes seen in and around urban areas have become quite comfortable living in close proximity with humans. The challenge this presents, of course, is that an unattended small pet often becomes a target for coyotes, with stories each year of coyotes killing cats, small dogs, chickens, and pet rabbits. The term, Anthropogenic, is used to describe a situation where humans have had an effect on nature. This term is often used to describe how urbanization of what formerly were open spaces, has caused coyotes to adapt to humans, buildings, and man-made habits and structures instead of historical environments around southern Arizona that only had cactus, trees, desert, and creosote.
Coyotes, living in urban areas, such as Tucson, South Tucson, Oro Valley, Green Valley, Vail, Saddlebrooke, and Catalina, because of their adaptive nature have expanded their food source from wild animals, road kill, and rodents to garbage, pets, and, in some cases cat/dog food from well meaning citizens who leave food out for feral cats. Hunting range, limited by structures and homes can reduce hiding places for prey and increase the potential for a meal that might be easier to obtain that hunting down and chasing a bobtail or jack rabbit in the open desert. This absence of fear has encouraged urban coyotes to the extent that they have been known to team-stalk someone walking their dog – where one coyote will approach from the front and the second and third will come up behind the dog walker and little dog(s) in an attempt to obtain an easy meal. Often, coyotes can become bold and do not necessarily run away when they encounter humans. Some might think this is because they mean to attack, but it may only be because former encounters with humans didn’t result in anything hurtful-reinforcing a comfort level that is not seen in other wild animals.
Recently, 1st Response Wildlife was called to investigate and possibly trap a coyote that had been seen repeatedly around a heavily populated area. What was of particular concern by the Property Management Organization was that one particular coyote consistently was approaching the residents/renters and had been observed as close as 5 feet. It was also reported that this particular coyote did not look well and, in fact had begun to look like it was on its way to becoming a “Chupacabra.” (A Chupacabra, if you Google it, was once thought to be a scary mythical animal that attacked at night and was eventually named a goat-sucker/Chupacabra because it attacked domesticated animals, was hairless, and somewhat emaciated=scary) Scientists eventually realized that the term Chupacabra and the appearance of the animals documented were really just a coyote, a wild dog, or even a fox, with all having lost their hair due to Mange and, were probably too sick to chase normal wild prey.
There are three types of mange and all are caused by small mites called Sarcoptic mites which burrow under the skin, resulting in the animal scratching the area and eventually, as the mites spread, an animal becomes weaker and loses its hair in the areas where the infestation/mites reside. In the worst cases, in addition to losing hair, the animal develops bacterial infections as well – resulting in a very scary looking and smelly “beast,” of mythical folklore. Untreated, the mites keep burrowing in the host animal and can be transferred from one animal to another but are unique to the type of host animal. So, if a coyote has mange, also called Scabies, the mange is easily transferred in the den, where the coyotes come in close contact to each other, or to a dog that may have contact with a coyote but escapes. If a human were to come in contact with that particular canine mite, while some mites could be transferred to the human and cause some itching, a canine mite cannot survive on a human host and will eventually die.
Below are a couple of internet copied pictures of animals (Chupacabras) that are examples of the end state of what mange can do. (They are but two of dozens that can be found and are shown here for comparison purposes to the pictures of the coyote in question-further in this blog.)
After an inspection of the area where the coyote had been reported/seen and, as a result of numerous eye-witness descriptions of a rather ugly/sickly/scary looking coyote, 1st Response Wildlife set some traps that are specific to canines.
The beauty of these traps is that they are not designed to catch cats, Javelina, bobcats, raccoons, or coatimundi. They also do not harm the animal but, hold it until a trapper can arrive, transfer it to a carrier and move it to another location. With respect to this particular coyote and, based on all the reports, 1st Response Wildlife was fairly certain that this was probably a fairly sick coyote, with mange, that would need to, after capture, be taken to a rehabilitation location for inspection by a veterinarian. (Left alone in the wild, the Property Management Company and the residents/renters who had encountered the coyote at close range, reported that, it did not look like a healthy coyote and, its lack of mobility suggested that, without medical attention, it might not survive. In the mean time, however, they were all worried about the safety of their pet dogs and cats many of which were walked 2-3 times a day.)
Here we see the first picture of the captured target coyote. It has not been hurt and is just waiting for help.
Here we see the coyote, transferred to a carrier for transport to a rehabilitation facility. (Note its undernourished condition and the absence of hair on the rear end of the animal above the tail.)
Here is a close up of the right hindquarters of the target coyote clearly showing all the hair missing with a full blown case of mange. This animal, without help, certainly is on its way to looking like one of the Chupacabras pictured above.
The following day (animal was captured late in the evening), the animal was transported to a rehabilitation center which logged it into their facility where date, time, location of acquisition took place (for Arizona Game and Fish Department's records) and an assessment was made by a veterinarian. Thankfully, the animal was not harmed and there was a place in Tucson to take it for evaluation and follow through.
If you are a homeowner, business owner, Property Management Company and you find that you have a nuisance animal in or around your property, please give 1st Response Wildlife a call to discuss options for dealing with it or humanely removing it.
Thanks for considering 1st Response Wildlife
Josh's Cell (24/7 Hours): 520-260-9517
Josh Waling is a humane Licensed Animal Trapper who catches and releases wildlife, removing animals including bobcats (lince), snakes, rattlesnakes (serpiente de cascabel), raccoons (mapache), pack rats, gila monsters (monstruos de gila), rabbits (canejo), owls, bats, hawks, ducks, squirrels (ardilla), peacocks, coatimundi (gato solo), skunks (mofeta), exotics, and domestic cats and dogs. He delivers service that is professional and fast and he is available 24/7. Give him a call the next time you hear unusual noises in the attic or crawl spaces in your home or if you see wildlife eating your vegetation, creating nests, and raising their young too close to your pets or children or have an exotic sighting in your neighborhood. 520-260-9517 Thanks!
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