Red Deer River Naturalists

The Red Deer river Naturalists are a group dedicated to learning about and preserving natural history. They have regular programs with speakers and many field trips.

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Monday, August 29, 2011

A Friendly Coyote

         This summer a litter of coyotes was raised on a quarter section which is within the city limits of Red Deer. This quarter is farmed and presently half of it is used for grazing and the other half for hay production. The west side of the quarter has the Waskasoo creek running through it so there is a pleasant wooded ravine.
photo by Bertha Ford

        This quarter section is less than one km from a major city mall so I'm sure that the coyotes visited the mall each night and had a feast. I'm sure that much food each day is just dropped in the parking lot. So the coyotes were well fed and they didn't have to work very hard for a living.

         Most years there are a number of coyotes on this property and probably there were regular litters of coyotes raised. This summer a bike path was completed on the south side of the property so all of a sudden the secluded coyote den became rather public. Morning cyclists and walkers reported seeing the coyotes. The same thing occurred in the evening. People were thrilled to see coyote pups within 200 m. There was a chain link fence between the people and the coyotes. The coyotes became used to the fans.

       Less than one km away is the Sunny Brook Farm Museum. Most summers the museum will add chickens or other small livestock to make their displays more attractive. This year they had a number of goats. A number of goats went missing. It doesn't take much of a guess to decide what happened to the goats. So the cute little coyotes were a nuisance and pest just a short distance away. Pretty intelligent animals.

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