OLATHE, Kan. — The middle of winter marks the beginning of mating season for coyotes. Which, in turn, means you may be seeing the canines on the move through your neighborhood. But there are ways to make your yard and neighborhood less desirable for coyotes.
In Olathe, people living around Black Bob Park have reported seeing and hearing coyotes recently.
In Shawnee, one family found out the hard way what coyotes are capable of.
Jim Sanders said one coyote killed his family's Chihuahua named Stitch. On the night before Thanksgiving, he let his two dogs into the backyard. Moments later, Sanders heard his big dog barking. When he walked outside, he found the smaller dog lying dead in the backyard with obvious signs of an attack.
"It's something you don't think about," Sanders said. "It can happen in a matter of minutes. The timing was just not right that day."
Since then, Sanders keeps a closer eye on his surviving dog when she's outside and he's considered installing a fence in his backyard.
"We obviously told all the neighbors, everyone is a little more aware about letting their dogs out at night and things like that," he added.
Kimberly Hess is the director at the Lakeside Nature Center in Kansas City. She said coyotes generally aren't interested in dogs, they hunt small animals like rabbits and squirrels for food. When they attack a pet, it's more of a territorial or protective move.
"Basically, coyotes are everywhere. They have adapted to living with us. It's us who have not quite adapted to living with them yet," Hess said.
If you see a coyote in your neighborhood, Hess said there are ways to keep it from choosing to explore your property. It starts by making the environment undesirable for coyotes:
- Turn on lights at night
- Do not feed coyotes
- Leave a radio on a talk station
- Bang pots or pans when you see a coyote
- Throw items toward a coyote
"They are very, very sensitive to noise. They don't like it," Hess explained.
In Missouri and Kansas, you can hunt coyotes all year long. But individual cities place limits on hunting. Hess warned simply trapping or killing coyotes won't solve the problem.
"If you have a desirable environment and you're just removing the coyotes, more are going to move in," she said.
Coyotes typically give birth to pups in March and April, so Hess expects more sightings in urban areas this spring.
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