By JENNETTE BARNES
Several Warwick Neck residents have seen coyotes in their yards over the past few months, and one man believes they are responsible for killing two cats found disemboweled on his property, but the Department of Environmental Management maintains that existing strategies for co-existing with the coyote population are adequate.
The Warwick Neck reports come in the wake of a recent incident in Johnston in which a mangled pet dog was allegedly killed by a coyote. The owner of the 35-pound dog did not witness the killing, but believed coyotes in the woods behind his house were responsible, and vowed to kill the coyotes or otherwise drive them out of the area.
Warwick Neck Avenue resident Bob Ridgeway has seen coyotes in his yard four times. The first sighting happened about three months ago. Ridgeway was driving home at 11:30 a.m. when he saw a large animal, similar to a German shepherd in size and color, standing near his mailbox. As he pulled into the driveway, the animal casually walked into a neighbor's driveway 20-25 feet away.
“Naturally, I was thrilled and excited,” Ridgeway said.
Those who know wildlife know there is no confusing a coyote with a German shepherd. A coyote's forehead is very low, nearly level with its tapered muzzle. It has wide ears and a thickly furred neck. The eyes are generally yellow, and the paws more elongated than a dog's. When a coyote runs, it holds its tail at or below the level of its back.
Color and size, however, can vary substantially, as Ridgeway found. Coyotes' coloration can be gray, black, brown, or reddish blond. Some scientists generalize that coyotes are larger in the eastern United States than in the western part of the country. DEM believes most coyotes in Rhode Island weigh 20-30 pounds, with larger males reaching up to 50 pounds.
When Ridgeway spotted his second coyote a few weeks later, it was as large as the first, but more reddish in color. It was 6 a.m. and raining. Looking out the window, Ridgeway got a glimpse of the coyote in his driveway for three or four seconds before it moved out of his line of sight.
His third sighting came in November. The coyote was smaller, “more what you would expect,” Ridgeway said, estimating its weight at 35-40 pounds. As he stepped out his back door, he saw the coyote's light gray coat briefly before it ran.
Last Sunday marked his most recent sighting. Just before 7 a.m., Ridgeway glanced out his front window and saw a rabbit “fly at breakneck speed” through the yard.
“That's when I knew something was in the area,” he recalled. “A coyote appeared in my neighbor's yard, ducked under the fence, and walked across my yard to the wooded area. Then a smaller one followed, and it was really prancing, like it was having a good time. I figured that was probably the female.”
The two animals were the same uniform gray color, Ridgeway said, and were about the same height. He estimated their weights at 60 and 40 pounds.
The pair returned from the wooded area, standing about 10 feet apart on the edge of a stone retaining wall in front of Ridgeway's house, he said. One hopped down onto the sidewalk, and the other followed. One coyote crossed the street immediately, while the other stood in the road for a moment, looking up and down Warwick Neck Avenue. Both coyotes then walked between houses toward a construction area, Ridgeway said.
When asked if something should be done about the coyotes, Ridgeway was ambivalent about any attempt to reduce the population.
“Several years ago, off West Shore Road, I saw some kind of officials ‘rolling' swan eggs to keep the population down,” he said. “It seemed a little like abortion. But I suppose coyotes are different, because they could pick up and spread rabies. In that regard, I guess I couldn't object, but I wouldn't be out there advocating.”
Never in recorded history has Rhode Island had a confirmed case of a rabid coyote, according to DEM.
Carl Johnson, who also lives on Warwick Neck Avenue, has found the remains of a cat in his yard on two separate occasions over the last few months.
“It looked like the work of a coyote,” he said. “They were torn apart. All that was left was tufts of fur and few body parts.”
Johnson once saw a coyote running through a neighbor's yard. It stopped in a grove of trees, where he watched it for several minutes before it “took off like a pony,” he said.
Johnson has traveled in the southwest and is familiar with coyotes. The animal he saw was grayish in color and quite shaggy.
“It was about the size of a small golden retriever, but with a more elongated body,” he said. “It had that distinctive trot, and it held its tail straight out.”
According to Johnson, the “neighborhood gossip” includes a story about a construction crew at the Angelsea development finding a coyote den with pups, only to return later and find the pups gone. The event has not been confirmed.
Before Angelsea was built, the land was wild and had very few trails, Johnson said. He knew some local residents who used to set traps there and sell pelts to fur traders.
Mayor Scott Avedisian was surprised to hear that sightings had taken place on Warwick Neck Avenue, the area's main road, but Johnson pointed to the relatively undeveloped area nearby, from Rocky Point Avenue north between Warwick Neck Avenue and Palmer Avenue. The ground is wet in places, he said, and some of the side streets have never been connected.
Rocky Point itself also affords some wildlife habitat.
“Most people are aware that Warwick Neck is looked upon as a sanctuary for birds,” Johnson said. “There isn't much shooting here.”
In fact, due to Warwick's relatively dense population, city ordinance prohibits the discharge of a firearm by a civilian under most circumstances, including the protection of one's pets from wildlife. State law allows the shooting of coyotes if they threaten humans or domestic animals, but the local law preempts that statute.
Among those who have spotted coyotes is Councilman Carlo Pisaturo, who represents Warwick Neck. He has seen the animals between 10 and 11 p.m. in several locations: on Warwick Neck Avenue, Narragansett Bay Avenue, and Meadowview Avenue, and near the Aldrich mansion.
“I've received a lot of complaints. They're all over the place. It's becoming a problem,” Pisaturo said. He believes something should be done, but is not sure what form the action should take.
“Who knows how we address it,” he said. “Where the answer is, I have no idea. This could come before the council before long, but I don't think there's anything we can do. I think it's strictly a DEM thing.”
Pisaturo said he sees very few cats loose in the neighborhood these days, implying that coyotes may have eaten them.
“My wife said maybe we should feed them so they don't eat our pets,” he said, laughing.
DEM recommends the opposite.
Lori Suprock, a supervising wildlife biologist at the agency, said one of the best things residents can do is assert themselves and reinforce the coyotes' natural fear of humans. Shouting or a loud noise from a horn will often scare coyotes away, as will spraying the animal with a high-pressure garden hose, according to DEM. The agency also recommends marking property edges with ammonia scent or concentrated urine, which is available where hunting goods are sold. Fencing one's yard is also a deterrent.
“The idea is you don't want them to acclimate to your yard,” Suprock said. “If they do acclimate, and they're not scared, those are the incidences where you have some problems. Coyotes are there in response to their needs being met.”
She recommended that residents avoid leaving pet food, garbage, or other edible items outside. Cats and small dogs should not be outside unsupervised, she said, “so the coyotes don't raise their young to say, ‘It's good eating over here because they put their cats out every morning.'”
If pets must be outside, daylight hours are the best time. Coyotes are active mainly at dusk, dawn, and during the night, but when pups are young, the parents will search for food during the day. They are opportunistic hunters. According to DEM, they eat small rodents, birds, amphibians, fruits, berries, and carrion.
Suprock confirmed the coyote's rabies-free record in Rhode Island. The animals may not allow themselves to be bitten or may be resistant to the disease, she said. Coyotes can carry distemper and heartworm as well.
“The important thing is to placate people's fears, not prey on fear,” Suprock warned, adding that sightings do not necessarily indicate a large coyote population. “Even where there are a lot of sightings, sometimes one [coyote] family unit will be seen by many people.”
In 2000, DEM's Great Swamp office in South Kingstown has received five reports of coyote sightings in Warwick, primarily in Warwick Neck and Cowesett, according to Charles Brown, a wildlife biologist for the division. Warwick had seven reported sightings last year. The Great Swamp office is not the only Fish and Wildlife Division office to collect data, however.
Statewide, DEM receives an average of three calls per day from people who have seen coyotes. Sightings have been reported in all Rhode Island communities except Block Island.
Coyote attacks on humans are rare. The only confirmed case of a coyote biting a human in Rhode Island occurred when the person tried to hand-feed the animal.
After speaking with DEM Director Jan Reitsma, Warwick Mayor Scott Avedisian said he is concerned that scaring coyotes away may not be sufficient, but he does not want to frighten residents.
“It's not that I support their position, but that we don't have the jurisdiction,” Avedisian said. “We need to monitor the situation. I don't want people to think there's a huge coyote population out there and that it's a danger to be outside.”
The mayor noted that the Warwick law against discharging a firearm within city limits prohibits anyone from shooting coyotes here. In Bristol, Avedisian said, a pet dog was pursued and killed when neighbors thought it was a coyote.
The mayor vowed to speak to Governor Lincoln Almond “to see if changes need to be made” to the way government authorities and private citizens deal with the presence of coyotes.