Urban coyotes select cryptic den sites near human development where conflict rates increase

Abstract

The establishment of coyote (Canis latrans) populations in urban areas across North America has been accompanied by increased rates of human-coyote conflict. One factor thought to promote physical conflict between coyotes and people or pets is the presence of coyote pups near natal dens; however, this idea has not been tested, and no multivariate study of den selection within cities has occurred. Our objectives were to conduct a multivariate analysis of third-(i.e., home range) and fourth-order (i.e., den sites) habitat selection at dens and determine whether proximity to dens is associated with reports of physical conflict with coyotes. We found 120 dens by following coyote trails using snow tracking within urban green spaces that comprise presumed high-quality habitat for coyotes in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. We used resource selection functions to assess habitat selection for dens, testing variables related to land cover and anthropogenic features at the third order, and testing microsite habitat features via paired sites at the fourth order. We defined conflict encounters from comments in a community reporting database and used general linear models to assess their spatial proximity to the nearest den and prevalence during the pup-rearing period compared to the rest of the year. Habitat selection was strongest at the fourth order, wherein coyotes selected for abundant hiding cover, steep slopes, and eastern exposure. The prevalence of physical conflict with coyotes increased during the pup-rearing period. Conflict also increased near known dens as an overall effect and when reports occurred outside of naturalized urban

Coexistence across space and time: Social‐ecological patterns within a decade of human‐coyote interactions in San Francisco

“…Approaches to mitigating conflict should be two‐pronged to address and respond to the confluence of coyote and human behaviours. Because coyote conflict reports correlate with higher vegetation greenness, and coyotes are more likely to den in vegetated areas (Raymond & St. Clair, 2023), managers should consider thinning vegetation in areas that would be particularly detrimental for coyotes to den, such as near dog play areas. Similarly, wildlife managers and community members could make off‐leash dog areas and backyards less appealing to coyotes by focusing on implementing deterrents and removing attractants (e.g.…”

Coyote scat in cities increases risk of human exposure to an emerging zoonotic disease in North America

“…The author responsible for tracking and scat identification used multiple criteria and was certified in wildlife track and sign identification (https://trackercertification.com/). We searched for scats within green spaces > 500m 2 that represented high-quality habitat for urban coyotes (Dodge and Kashian, 2013;Raymond and St Clair, 2023a), identified coyote tracks in snow (Elbroch and MacFarland, 2019), followed coyote paths using snow tracking techniques (Bowen and Cowan, 1980;Paquet, 1991), and identified coyote scats. Some of these scats (n = 668) were also used to determine the predictors of coprophagy of coyote scats by blackbilled magpies (Pica hudsonia) (Raymond and St. Clair, 2023c).…”