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Coyote Information

COYOTE AWARENESS-SPRING SEASON

Coyote visibility and behavior can change throughout the year during difficult biological periods. These periods can influence coyote behavior, activity, and aggression levels, particularly towards domestic dogs. Coyotes can be more aggressive toward dogs during mating season (February-March) and denning, or pup rearing season (April-May). This natural behavior and how a coyote would respond to the presence of another coyote during these periods. It is especially important to be diligent about protecting pets during coyote mating and denning seasons.

COYOTE MATING SEASON:

Late January through early March is the mating season for coyotes. They become more active, and we often see a peak in aggressive behavior towards large dogs during this time of year. Coyote interpret the presence of large dogs as a threat to their territory and ability to mate and successfully raise pups. The public can take action to prevent conflicts with coyotes by protecting pets, removing human-associated food sources and hazing.

COYOTE DENNING SEASON:

Coyote pups are born between April-May. Coyotes average about 6 pups per litter and are weaned after 35 days. Coyote pups emerge from their dens in June and start to learn to hunt and forage with their family group. Adult coyotes can be very protective of the area around their den during this period, so they tend to be more aggressive toward dogs at this time.

Coyotes mostly den in natural places, including hollowed out tree stumps, in rocky areas, and in burrow made by other animals, but can den in thick brush or under structures as well. Since there will always be coyotes in Nahant, we hope to see them in natural areas that allow for a greater tolerance for human-coyote coexistence. Likely denning locations in Nahant are larger blocks of natural and semi-natural habitat in town, however they could den almost anywhere.

This map of Nahant highlights areas that are possible locations for coyote dens. They are not confirmed den locations. Once a coyote den has been located, residents should avoid that area with dogs during the denning period (April-May) to prevent possible aggressive encounters.

PREVENTING FUTURE CONFLICTS WITH COYOTES:

It is important to remember the role that everyone in Town has in preventing conflict with coyotes and limiting the development of aggressive behaviors in coyote. The key to preventing these behaviors from developing are removing and securing all human associated food sources and never intentionally feeding coyotes, protecting pets by keeping cats inside and dogs under direct supervision on a leash, and aggressively hazing coyotes whenever they are seen.

REPORTING AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIOR:

It is important that you report coyote behavior to the Town of Nahant. This will help identify a possible den location and allow the Town to notify residents through the Town website and through signage. This could prevent future conflict during this period. If you feel you or your pet is in immediate danger, call the Nahant Police Department at 781-581-1212. Please follow the matrix below on how to report coyote behavior to the Town based on the type of behavior you observed.

NAHANT-COYOTE RESPONSE AND MANAGEMENT PLAN

The Town of Nahant and it’s officials have created a Coyote Response and Management Plan to help educate the public on how to humanely and effectively prevent and solve conflicts among coyotes, people and companion animals. We invite you to read through this plan and utilize the hazing techniques and learn more about coyote behavior.

Nahant Coyote Response and Management Plan

On Wednesday, December 21, 2022, at a regularly scheduled Board of Selectmen meeting, the Selectmen, the Town Administrator, and Dave Wattles of Mass Wildlife discussed recent aggressive behaviors towards leashed pets in the direct presence of a human and how this has led to problem animal management decisions. To watch the video on this discussion please click the link to the right. 


On Wednesday July 6, 2022 we hosted a virtual meeting with Dave Wattles who is a representative from the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. If you would like to watch the video recording of that meeting you can click the link to the right. This presentation is meant to educate the public on the coyote population, their behavior and how we can safely co-exist with them.


Please click on the fact sheet below for common facts and information on Coyotes, how to safely co-exist with them, their behavior, what to do if you encounter one, effective ways to prevent conflict and more.

To find a Problem Control Agent (PAC) you can click the link below: If you have a wildlife problem that you can’t solve yourself, a PAC agent may be able to help. PAC agents are licensed individuals that act on your behalf to solve wildlife problems. PAC agents charge for their services. PAC agents are different from municipal Animal Control Officers, who mainly deal with domestic animal issues.

https://www.mass.gov/info-details/find-a-problem-animal-control-agent


Information provided to Nahant from Mass Wildlife

There are many reasons why Nahant cannot control the coyote population.

Hunting

According to M.G.L. Ch. 131 Sec. 58, you cannot hunt within 500 feet of an occupied dwelling or within 150 feet of a paved road. This essentially means there is no hunting in Nahant. Additionally, there is a no discharge bylaw in Nahant. With hunting being the main means of regulating wildlife populations, and it not being allowed in Nahant, our options are significantly limited. Also, due to the inherent biology of coyotes, hunting and trapping, even if virtually unlimited does very little to control coyote numbers

Trapping

The traps effective to catch coyotes, foothold traps and snares or cable restraints, were made illegal by a ballot referendum, Question 1, in 1996. This means that by law the only legal trap to use is a large box trap. Coyotes are very reluctant to enter box traps. Traps must be baited open for months to habituate a coyote to entering. A coyote may not ever be trapped, but even if one is all other coyotes in the area have been attracted to the bait in the trap and have been fed. This has the potential to make any problems worse without ever resolving an issue. That being said, it is legal to use these traps, either during the regulated season Nov 1 to Nov 30 or through a PAC agent (Problem Animal Control). However, there is virtually no trapping of coyotes in Massachusetts as a result of these restrictions.

Relocation

Relocating coyotes is not an option. Relocating an animal would only move that problem somewhere else in the state. Mass Wildlife cannot prioritize people in one location over another. Additionally, it would be virtually impossible to achieve. See above for trapping. The other means of capture would be to dart and immobilize. To effectively dart a coyote, one would need to be within 15 yards of it, have it standing still in a location you can safely shoot a dart projector. This circumstance is extremely rare.

Lethal Removal of a Problem Animal

It is illegal to discharge a firearm in Nahant. See above for hunting. This applies to everyone except law enforcement. Mass Wildlife employees and PAC agents cannot discharge a firearm in Nahant.

Local, state, and the Environmental Police are the only ones who could legally dispatch a coyote in Nahant. There may be only 4 Environmental Police officers covering the dozen or more towns around Nahant, not all working at the same time. They could come top Nahant multiple times and never see a coyote or if they did see one by chance, it may not be safe to dispatch it where encountered. It can take them an hour or more to respond to an immediate call regarding a coyote incident. Essentially NPD is the best option for an immediate threat.

Even if it was possible to remove an individual coyote or two, eliminating coyotes anywhere, even an isolated location like Nahant is virtually impossible. This is why the public is encouraged to change their behaviors to limit bold behavior by coyotes and prevent conflict.


There are three main components to preventing conflict with coyotes, removing all human-associated food sources, aggressively hazing coyotes, and protecting pets.

1. Human Associated Foods

Food around our homes, neighborhoods, and businesses is what attracts coyotes to these areas. It essentially trains coyotes and other wildlife to come around our homes to look for food, which increases the chances of encounters with people and negative encounters with pets. It also supplements natural foods and allows coyotes to exist at higher densities than they’d be able to otherwise. Removing and securing foods around our homes and businesses is essential. Human associated foods are bird feeders (both for the food reward and the animals they attract (chipmunks, squirrels, and other rodents that coyotes eat), garbage (both household and dumpsters), unsecured compost, fruit trees with fallen fruit, pets being fed outside, and people feeding strays. All these foods need to be removed. If they are, it removes the attractant from our homes and decreases the food supplementing the coyotes diet.

Most importantly no one should ever intentionally feed coyotes. People all over Massachusetts intentionally feed wildlife including coyotes and this creates a potentially dangerous situation. Coyotes that are fed by people start to associate people with food. This can cause them to lose their fear of people and to approach people to look for food and develop other bold behaviors. Despite still being very rare events, most of the recent bites of humans in Massachusetts have occurred in places where we can confirm someone was intentionally feeding coyotes prior to the incident. Almost invariably it is not the person feeding that is bitten, but someone else in the community. Never intentionally feed wildlife.

2. Hazing

Coyotes and other wildlife are naturally afraid of people. However, over time that fear can disappear with greater levels of positive or neutral interaction with people. Coyotes in urban and suburban areas spend their entire lives close to people. They see people on a daily basis, near homes, near cars and other parts of modern society. As a result, the sights and sounds of modern developed areas become familiar to them. In many instances if a person encounters a coyote the person runs away, or jumps in a car, quickly ducks inside. These are submissive behaviors that teach coyotes that they are the dominant part of the relationship with people. This type of dominance behavior and communication is how coyotes communicate with each other, with dominant animals ruling the roost.  As a result of this, coyotes who experience these behaviors over and over can develop bolder behaviors. To flip the switch and reverse and prevent this, we need people to act aggressively towards coyotes.

Hazing coyotes is designed to teach them that they are not welcome and make them fearful and cautious around people. Every time someone sees a coyote they should attempt to haze the animal. If a coyote is in your yard, aggressively chase it away, run at the coyote, waving your arms, yelling and screaming or making other loud noises (banging pots and pans, blowing an airhorn, etc.) and chase it out of the yard. You can spray a hose, throw small objects like a tennis ball, or very small stones (it is important to note the intent is to scare it not injure it, so fine gravel and pebbles, not large stones) at the coyote. Anything you can think of to scare it and drive it away. It is important to note that yelling from a distance can be counterproductive.

Hazing should be done every time a coyotes is seen and by as many people as possible. The more people in the community or an area that haze, the more effective it will be. Over time, the coyotes that were comfortable around people will become less so. 

3. Pets

The greatest source of conflict with coyotes is definitely with pets. Coyote do attack pets regularly in Massachusetts. Unfortunately, coyotes  do not distinguish between our pets and wild animals they encounter. To them the pets are just another animal in the environment, some are seen as prey and others as competitors. Coyotes are a territorial animal, a coyote family group defends a territory against other coyote families and individual coyotes. They interpret medium and large size dogs in their territories as threats, particularly during the winter mating season (Jan-March) and when they have pups in the den (April-June). 

To protect our pets, cats should be kept inside and dogs should be supervised at all times. Just like cats eat mice, birds and other animals when outside, there are animals larger than them that will eat or kill them if left outside. The only way to protect cats is to keep them inside. Dogs should be leashed and directly supervised at all times. Dogs that are off leash or alone in a backyard are far more likely to be attacked by a coyote. It is the person on the other end of the leash that will prevent a coyote from attacking a dog. This is linked to the hazing above, if coyotes are regularly hazed by people, coyotes will be less willing to approach or attack a dog on a leash.

People often express fear of walking dogs or being outside if there have been coyote incidents in town or sightings. It is important to keep in mind that people are doing these things every day in Massachusetts with relatively few incidents occurring with coyotes, despite coyotes living everywhere in the state, including Boston. Carrying a walking stick can be helpful and can be used to frighten a coyote off or in an extreme situation, it can be used to fend off an aggressive coyote. A person can also carry a dog friendly spray repellent (citronella) or pepper spray and use it to scare away a coyote. These products have been design to be easily carried or stashed on a belt and provide a good deterrent/defense should a coyote be encountered.

For more information regarding state laws surrounding Coyote’s and contact information for Mass Wildlife please click the link below.

https://www.mass.gov/service-details/learn-about-coyotes


PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY RESULTSCLICK HERE TO VIEW RESULTS