How Helping Wolves Helps Coyotes

This story was featured in our Fall 2024 newsletter.

We don’t talk much about coyotes in P&C’s work, but many of the coexistence tools we use can benefit coyotes. Fladry can startle coyotes as it does wolves, but if the fencing is tested, the height of the wire may not be low enough to deter a coyote from continuing into a pasture. Of course, fencing can specifically be built to keep coyotes out of an area. Scare devices can be effective to deter coyotes and all large and meso (medium-size) predator species.

Coyotes are great survivors; adaptable and extremely smart. But they are also one of the most vilified animals, and probably the most hunted and “controlled”–intentionally killed by government agencies as well as private companies.

Like many frequent Yellowstone visitors, I (Lisa Upson) have seen many coyotes “in the wild.” I have most often seen them alone, and I have heard (but not seen) them in packs howling. This past spring I got to watch five small coyote pups bouncing around outside a den, with their mother coming and going. (Through a scope I saw this same scene with wolves! That was the day I saw nine grizzlies, but I digress...) I love coyotes as well as foxes, who always seem a little beat up but are so present looking and skilled at finding the next meal and, if they’re lucky, avoiding humans (some get habituated and food conditioned in the parks). In mythology and by some indigenous peoples, coyotes are sometimes referred to as the trickster, which to me reflects their intelligence, though some trickster references are derogatory. When P&C gets the opportunity, we work to help coyotes in addition to wolves and the other wild carnivores, including in our advocacy to the state of Wyoming.