Coyotes and captivity

The life of a Coyote, depending on where they are born and live will determine their length of survival.  Currently, various data reflect that extended life expectancy in captivity is 18 plus years while those Coyotes living in the wilds may only survive about 8 perhaps 10 years with any luck.  Captivity provides clean water and above average food sources which reduces stress for most animals.  Health is not a matter of luck in captivity rather being monitored and treated as needs arise helps increase an animals longevity.  One need only look at the difference in environments to understand why captive animals live longer, less stress.  Notice I did not state complete loss of stress is obtained!  Being caged is its own form of stress, mental stress can be and is measured in a captive environment.  The one real thing that is missing for captive predators is adequate exercise, not only physically but mentally as well.  It is the author’s contention that for predators, proper exercise (of both mind and body) is in the chase.  Don’t forget that lying in hiding / wait is a form of exercise, being able to accelerate from a prone or sitting position is part and parcel to a predators need for exercise.  A predator’s acquisition (chase) of breeding mates, food and shelter requires a lot of land!  There are few if any listed zoo enclosures large enough to provide the proper exercise for any animal let alone predators!  Yes, Coyotes born in captivity live longer then their wild kin but is that a life for a predator or is it just a day to day existence?

Through out these United States many states have extremely limited hunting seasons and just about every community prohibits discharging firearms with in their territorial limits.  One community in Tennessee (according to the Greenfield Sun) has an ordinance in place that allows its citizens to shoot nuisance animals for agricultural purposes.  Yep – that includes Coyotes.  As a matter of fact, Tennessee does not restrict hunting Coyotes for all intents and purposes.  To this author’s knowledge there are only a few states wherein unregulated hunting / trapping Coyotes is permitted year round.

It is said that nature seeks to fill a vacuum hence animals (Coyotes in particular) will have increased birth rates when food and shelter are readily available.  In conjunction with that line of reasoning Coyotes are very plentiful these days in that there are so few large predators!  A hundred years ago it wasn’t humans that hunted the Coyote, there were wolves, large cats and bears killing Coyotes.  Yet no records are provided by experts that Coyote numbers increased when the larger predators killed off the Coyotes.  Many experts report that Coyotes can adjust to external environmental (hunting) pressures and increase their birth capabilities as needed. Activist say that killing Coyotes is not the solution, it is just killing another defenseless animal for no reason.  As was pointed out in the opening sentence, nature abhors a vacuum.  This author sides with the experts that as Coyotes are killed off more breeding occurs with larger litter numbers.  Typically, Coyotes have litters of 5 to 6 pups at a time when “nature is in balance.”  Coyotes are fairly monogamous in times of a stable environment or periods when the land and food supports the existing population.   However, during altered environments female Coyotes have been known to take new mates and breed more then once per season.

Sadly, in the past and with out any regulations some animals have been hunted into near extinction!  Hunting animals into extinction is not good as it serves no purpose!  Expanding a but here – this author firmly believes that well regulated hunting and or trapping of Coyotes will eventually lessen their numbers!

The side benefit to harvesting a few animals in a timely manner is that unlike attempts to restore Wolves, the Coyote’s genetic diversity will sustain good bloodlines well into the foreseeable future.  Unfettered by confinement of a cage, the Coyote will continue to do what they do really well, survive.  In the wild today there are no large predators threatening the Coyote but that environment is slowly dwindling, building a cage man never imagined. The Coyote has no problem thriving in a urban area because we humans make it easy fro them. It is up to each of us to decide whether or not we want the Coyote to be a new next door neighbor.

Stay tuned, there is more to come on the Coyote Cam

A picture is worth a trip to the Hospital or worse

It had to happen sooner or later but come on – “Selfies” with wild animals? Cheryl Santa Maria writing for the Digital Recorder reports that residents of Montreal have been posting Instagram selfies with Coyotes.  Essentially, the article reflects an increased  number of Coyote sightings from last June to this April in Montreal.  Now the average person is going to ask, “why would an wild animal that avoids people get close enough for a selfie?”  Even Instagram has admonished their users against attempting selfies with wild animals, it never turns out well!  Habituation is a word that keeps appearing in ongoing instances of human interaction with wildlife.  The action of humans attempting to “help wild life” by feeding them is not a good practice and is discouraged by any and all wildlife scientist!  However, PETA has a different view on the subject – This author disagrees with PETA on that stance!  When wild animals start getting comfortable being around humans the relationship will end badly for both the humans and the wildlife!

Feeding wildlife encourages even closer associations.  Stop for a moment and think back about the times as a child you were offering the family pet a treat.  What happens when you put out a treat to a pet and then quickly pull the treat back?  Instinctively the pet will lunge forward and attempt to snag the treat before it gets away.  Too often the snagged items are the fingers holding the treat, OUCH!  Screaming at the top of their lungs children will run off crying to Mom that the dog/cat just bit them.  The family pet will run away but wild animals often interpret the wailing and fleeing as a sign of distress and intensify their attack.   Change the picture here just a bit, the Coyote is hunting and a human walks by with a small dog/cat on leash.  OK maybe the small dog has just seen a Coyote . . . 

We have one perspective, the Coyote another.  The Coyote sees a small dog/cat trying to get away from the human.  Must be food and the human can’t catch it, why the cord/rope?  The Coyote goes into attack mode chasing after the small animal.  The human yanks the pet up into their arms much like the child pulling the treat back.  The Coyote attack intensifies, the pet begins crying and squirming meanwhile the human attempts to fight back.  Being larger the human may have a slight advantage but depending on their hunger/aggressiveness, the Coyote has more of a reason to continue the attack.  Not a pretty picture for either the Coyote or the human and pet!  Go back a few days in time, this happened because the Coyote found a bit of human-provided food during its evening forage along this trail which was left behind by some well meaning human.

Oh Yeah, and for, those of you who think your dog is too big to be attacked.  A seventy pound Labrador Retriever got off lucky because its owner stood his ground between his dog and a forty pound Coyote.  A seventy pound Labrador versus a forty pound Coyote?  An obvious mismatch but all too often the Coyote comes out a winner in those  confrontations!  This story comes out of Indiana which has seen increased instances of Coyotes or Coydogs which are typically much heavier then their western kin.  Speaking of Coyotes along the eastern seaboard, more and more Coyote encounters are being recorded.  The common thinking there is that more and more subdivisions are encroaching into the wilds hence more encounters with Coyotes and other wild animals.  Encroachment into wild life may not be avoided as more and more humans decide that the city life is not for them.  Unfortunately, most city dwellers have the wrong perspective of living with or among wild life!  Now about those selfies – cell phone or digital camera?

Next edition find out why trapping, shooting and poisoning are not the only choices.

Stay Tuned – There is more to come on the Coyote Cam

First of September

Good morning to all you Coyote Cam readers / watchers, the first of September has arrived. So what does that mean to the Coyote fan?  We have talked in general terms about Coyotes spotted and encountered through out the country but not a lot about their family life so lets get down to basics.  Back ground history for the following material was derived from the New Mexico Game and Fish, these fine folks work hard to ensure New Mexico’s wild life is properly managed.  A lot more Coyotes are seen at this time of the year as the pups are now grown and capable of going about on their own.  The Coyote family consists of an “Alpha Core” (Dad and Mom are monogamous most of the time) and pups that will hunt as a unit early on in that family’s cycle.  Though more often then not at this time of the year, the youngsters are venturing further from the den developing their own capabilities.  The pups are accepted back for a few more weeks but they will soon go out into the world on their own.  Wolves hunt in packs dictated by a social order as opposed to the Coyote family hunting unit.

 

Breeding begins about mid – late January through February with gestation running about 60 plus days. Birth starts a little after St. Patrick’s Day or from mid March to late April of each year.  The pups do not open their eyes for 10 days but will leave the den 2 – 3 weeks later.  It is about this time that Mom may decide to move the pups to a new location as the youngsters get more active.  Coyotes are known to have several dens available in their territories so Mom has several to choose from.  The Coyote families eventually dissolve with the young males leaving prior to the arrival of Mom and Dad’s next liter.  Of curious note here is that some of the original litter’s female pups will hang around and help Mom with her next litter.  These “babysitters” are really helpful bringing food to Mom and helping to move their new brothers and sisters during the first few months to avoid den parasites and predators. The pups are typically weaned at 5-6 weeks after birth.  The pups accept regurgitated food from the parents at this time but will soon begin their hunting training by accompanying Mom & Dad along with any of the older pups from the previous litter.  As soon as the youngest are getting about on their own and able to keep up with Mom & Dad the other older siblings began to leave the Alpha Core.  The mortality for young Coyotes is close to 50 percent, most pups will never see their first birthday!

Family units consist of 3 – 8 members and have relatively small territories of 2 – 3 square miles but may range out to 40 square miles depending on conditions. The Coyotes mark their territories with urine, fecal matter and anal-sac secretions.  With their territories marked and ownership established the Coyote family lives a somewhat undisturbed life.  The now mature adults from previous litters are establishing their new territories or arguing for ownership from the current owners.  This time of the year is full of Coyotes, mature pups expanding their territories and looking to strengthen their viability.  The new males are going crazy trying to figure out what this mating thing is all about and at the same time hunting enough food to sustain life and limb.  From now through the next few months Coyotes will be more active then during the early summer months, especially the males.

 

Stay tuned – There is more to come on the Coyote Cam!

Policies on Coyotes?

Readers should know that the majority of material for this blog is gathered from various media then offered up for discussion. This author makes every attempt to cite sources as well in some cases, embed the original document in the blog. Carrying on with this year’s focus on rural Coyotes it seems there are fewer instances of interaction with humans involved in agriculture being reported. No, it is not that there are fewer occurrences. Remember that the agriculture industry looses livestock to predators almost on a daily basis. Therefore, the industry has to allocate resources to either eliminate or diminish those losses to a negligible level. Agricultural loss control mechanisms do not rise to the level of neighborhood pets being taken by predators. Instead, those in the agriculture industry consider the Coyote just another daily chore to be dealt with and entered as an expense item in their financial planning.  The media is not interested in those mundane agricultural chores but does rely on the old adage – “if it bleeds it leads.”

A recent “Idaho State Journal” news article describes a young man loosing his dog and suffering an injury due to cyanide gas exposure from an M44 predator control mechanism. Only the local television station in Idaho Falls carried the story in conjunction with the “Journal.” No other regional or national news media made mention of the story as of the date of this posting. It seems that if any regional or national coverage of predator control comes about is when a certain segment of society deems it so.  What does this say about the news media?

After a few months of watching the evening news this viewer notes that the major networks offer news of the day ending with a warm / feel good story. Intriguing how some ninety percent of network evening news is followed by ten percent or less of feel good stories. An Emu being chased by several good Samaritans or a young bear swimming in some one’s back yard pool – Not that those articles aren’t interesting but who determines what feel good story is to be offered?  Several teams must spend some time in selecting the subjects but what are their guidelines to providing a positive end to their daily presentations?  There are policies which provide guidance to these folks that put together the daily news in its entirety but who wrote the original policies?  Are those policies ever reviewed to ensure they are in conformity with today’s wants or needs?

Coyotes in agriculture or Coyotes in the neighborhood? One thing for sure the Coyote is not wanted in either environment.  How does either of those stories end?  For the Coyote the story will always be stealth and adaptation to elude its stalkers.  For the humans living in the rural countryside the Coyote’s fate is sealed.  For the Coyotes in the city / urban / suburban neighborhoods their fate is determined by how aggressive they become.  What does this say then?  Depending on city ordinances Coyotes are better off living in town then on the farm!  Will the Coyote be the lead story on the evening news or will it be that feel good ending to your day?

 

Stay tuned – there is more to come on the Coyote Cam

Walk through The Rio Grande Bosque

Just when you think you understand all that there is to know about Coyotes they will fool you (me!). A recent news article from suburban Detroit describes a home owner waking to the sound of braking glass.  Another person living there also responded to the braking glass and together they found a Coyote sprawled on the floor beneath a broken dinning room window.  They immediately called animal control officers who removed the Coyote from the couple’s home.  As the officers were walking away from the house the home owners returned to clean up the broken glass and over turned furniture.  Surprised, the home owners found yet another Coyote in a comatose state underneath the over turned furniture.  They yelled for the animal control officers to come back and retrieve the now staggering Coyote.  Now this being that time of the year when Coyotes are romantically engaged it would not be farfetched to imagine that one of the Coyotes was either running in fear or was being pursued.  We don’t know which was which since the sex of either Coyote was not divulged in the news article.  Nonetheless, the lead Coyote must not have seen the window but imagined it as a path of freedom and the following Coyote was hot on its heels.  Food or a potential mate is the driving force in the animal kingdom but through a glass window?  Hmm . . . .

The above article’s readers were discussing the elimination of these uninvited guests and trouble makers. A few folks apparently put their mouths in motion (pen to paper / hit the send button) before engaging their brains.  Conversely, the folks who read this blog know that the State of New Mexico as well as Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma and Texas (dang near every state in the union for that matter) prohibit discharging firearms inside city limits.  It seems our Canadian neighbors in Kirkland, Montréal have similar laws on discharging weapons in inside municipal boundaries.

Sadly, the use of leg traps (steel jawed) is still permitted in some areas but again, pretty well discouraged by many state wild life agencies specifically near human habitations.  Think about Spot or Fluffy or worse yet, a young child being snared by a leg trap.

Most state wild life agencies do permit the use of “padded” leg traps but even those have alarms that electronically alert that the trap has been tripped.  Having said this many times before –  Once you have seen a Coyote in your neighborhood it is probably too late to get rid of them.  The dens and hunting areas are well established by the time you see these fur covered menaces!

Some say Coyotes are the reason for missing pets and for that reason the Coyote should be exterminated. There are other reasons for deterring Coyotes such as rabies and mange.  Both of these illnesses can be transmitted to Spot or Fluffy by unhealthy Coyotes.  This past summer of 2016 saw several people in California bitten by a supposed rabid Coyote while a local Albuquerque Coyote recently recorded by a local TV station, was found to be suffering from a sever case of mange.  Sick animals are usually easy to spot and for that reason may serve as a warning sign there are problems coming soon to a yard near you.  Coyotes are increasingly less fearful of humans though when confronted they will skulk off and disappear.  The Coyotes are not gone they have moved beyond where humans habitually look for them and there they will hide until we leave that area.

This author use to hunt (in the early days with a gun though now with cameras) and the one thing that never escapes my thoughts is that the Coyote will let humans pass very closely before they react. The nearby Bosque (wooded area bordering the Rio Grande River) provides a great walk through nature.  The river draws migrating water fowl making their journeys south in the winter and returning north in the spring.  While the river is not fished it does have sufficient water flow that encourages wild life to seek water and shelter along its banks and wooded areas.  Coyotes are common to this area and are sometimes seen attempting to take a drowsy duck or inattentive goose that has drifted too close to the river’s edge.  Many times I have walked by a scrub oak bush or mesquite bramble only to scare a Coyote (and myself as well) into a rapid retreat.  If cornered the Coyote will defend itself, if there is an escape route the Coyote will depart at a high rate of speed!  It should be noted that local Coyotes remain less aggressive then being reported elsewhere.  Fortunately there haven’t been any reported cases of mange or rabies reported here.  Our Bosque appears to be healthy.

 

Stay tuned there is more to come on the Coyote Cam.

Happy New Year

Good bye 2016 and Hello 2017! Time for a change but human nature changes very slowly.  Coyote news reports from across the country remain consistent, people ignore the laws of nature and pets (especially small pets) suffer.  Sad to say another family pet was lost in Chicago and what was worse is that it happened on Christmas Day.  The tragic story involves three specific traits; Coyote numbers are on the rise, People think it is ok to feed wildlife, People think that just because their pets were safe last week the pets will be safe this week too.  Combine all three of these traits and a recipe for disaster is set in motion. Even though the number of reported Coyote incidents has risen dramatically many more go unreported.  There have been more pets lost this year then in any other year and that number will continue to rise.

Many citizens attend public meetings seeking information to eliminating the “Coyote” problem every week. During each of those meetings an authority will advise the attendees there are multiple issues needing correction before the Coyote threat can be reduced.  Some of those discussions will reflect that the process of eliminating the Coyote threat carries unintended consequences such as possible injuries to pets and humans.  Prior issues of the Coyote Cam speaks to poisons and leg traps for those not familiar with the unintended consequences of attempting to eliminate Coyotes.  Most authorities advise that Coyotes are often seen well before they become a nuisance and that is the best time to be proactive in Coyote elimination!  As soon as the first Coyote is seen in the immediate area residents should look for the attractant that drew the Coyote to them.  This is a great time to introduce yourself to your neighbors if you haven’t done so already!  Many neighborhoods have “Crime Watch” organizations and those folks bring a lot of eyes so why not watch for Coyotes as well as bad guys.  Some of you might put the Coyote and bad guys in the same bag but they are different, one is a creature of nature while the other is a creature with only bad intentions.  Pooling the resources of neighborhood watch associations can be the first line of defense against Coyote problems!

One of your neighbors is stand offish and not the joining type. I can hear the murmurings of readers growing louder!  In the case of a Neighborhood Watch Organization this is not really  a problem as others can be relied on to augment the nonconformist.  However, when it comes to yard maintenance and picking up after pets the nonconformist becomes the focal point for Coyotes.  There will always be a nonconforming individual in the neighborhood crowd, someone who is not reasonable or responsible.  This is where the local health or code enforcement authorities will make a difference, one call to those authorities and the nonconformist can rely on random checks through out the year.  Some communities with strong health / code enforcement agencies establish a list as they realize nonconforming individuals need the proper motivation to clean up their home and lawns.  Yeah that first call to health / code enforcement can be tough but the positive outcome could result in a nicer neighborhood and one free of Coyotes.  The object is to encourage the Coyotes to go elsewhere and that is one of the goals of this blog, helping to better understand Coyotes and their habitats.

City and suburban areas are fairly easy to protect once one knows what to look for but the urban and agricultural areas will most certainly have an ongoing Coyote issue. A Coyote problem requiring sterner means of control, proactive here means terminating the critters.  Unfortunately, this is where Coyote experts have learned that termination is not one hundred percent certain!  Over the years Coyotes have learned to not only survive but thrive in impossible situations.  In almost each and every case where Coyotes have been killed the following season sees an uptick in numbers.  Mother nature abhors a vacuum and the Coyote validates that theory.  Once the Coyote has established a territory they instinctively increase their numbers when ever the current numbers decrease.  The final point in conjunction with the afore mentioned concepts is that once a Coyote has established its territory there is little to no chance of eliminating its progeny!  Act when the first Coyote is seen and the eventual elimination is a tad more efficient!

Changing the story line here – This past Christmas the Coyote Cam was active, four Coyotes (alright – three full figures and a portion of a fourth) were recorded. The timing is interesting in that the Coyote Cam was a Christmas present some four years ago and the very first time it was put into use it recorded several Coyotes.  The time in between then and now saw only a few Coyotes but the realty was that two cameras had to be replaced.  Down time between camera replacements were lengthy which would account for the lower number of Coyote photographs.  Following this edition readers will note the latest photographs of the local Coyote family, they do seem healthy this year!  Why would the Coyotes hang around when so many of the neighbors take stringent precautions?  Bureau of Land Management is not proactive in critter control until the animals involved become a problem.  As noted above several pets are killed but few are ever officially reported as killed but simply as missing.  The lands adjacent to this neighborhood are managed(?) by BLM and until missing pets are denoted as killed by Coyotes BLM will not take any action to eliminate the Coyotes running through BLM property.

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Rabbit’s foot?

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Thank You for allowing this writer time off for Christmas and New Year. I sincerely hope you and your family are healthy and looking forward to the coming year.

Stay tuned – there is more to come on the Coyote Cam!

A dead battery?

The National Parks Service (NPS) “collars” Coyotes. As well, a lot of animals are collared by multiple entities and the collar tags given numbers to differentiate the data obtained from that collared animal. Interesting stuff, really! Take for instance P-22 or as some of you may know him, the Big Cat of Hollywood.

http://proof.nationalgeographic.com/2013/11/14/a-cougar-ready-for-his-closeup/

The data from that collar provided insight on the comings and goings of an urban, male Mountain Lion. Best known for its photograph with the famous Hollywood sign in the back ground P-22 gained a lot of notoriety when it apparently consumed a Los Angeles Zoo Koala Bear for dinner.

To a lesser degree C- 144, an alpha-female Coyote and C-145, a male Coyote are being tracked through out Western Los Angeles.

https://www.nps.gov/samo/blogs/Location-Location-Location.htm

The alpha-female Coyote’s tracking data has raised some eye brows as she crosses the infamous Los Angeles Freeways seemingly at will. Based on the data and follow-up field assessments it appears urban animals have evolved or at least learned to survive just about anything humans can throw at them.   C-145 enjoys the leisurely life style of most young males, feeding and mating whenever the occasion arises. For what ever reason even though both Coyotes were tagged about the same time they never seem to cross paths. On a side note here: It should be pointed out that a lot of states and their larger communities are working to provide all wild life a safe means to cross freeway systems such as tunnels and walk-ways. Nonetheless, it would seem the animals in this review are not doing a bad job of finding their own way, Thank You Very Much! Ah but now comes the sad part of this story- the battery went dead. C-144 had just returned from one of her long jaunts, another eye-popping event as most alpha-female Coyotes seldom if ever leave their home turf. After only a day or so after her out of territory walk C-144 went blank. She was seen with the collar but obviously the collar was malfunctioning and is most probably attributed to a dead battery. Here is the problem, once tagged Coyotes are not often recaptured to be retagged. So now the previous C-144 is more a dead weight on the female Coyote’s torso. Will we see more of this female Coyote? Probably. She seems to have lasted a lot longer then her counterparts. Several more Coyote stories are coming in these days from Columbus Georgia up to New York and even further north to New Brunswick Canada. New Brunswick media reflected on last winter’s Coyote eliminations by a local fur trapper. He related that the local deer populations were down but Coyote numbers seemed greater then in years past. The trapper suggested that the Coyote numbers would fall as they rely on deer for a major part of their diets. Followers of this blog will recognize the relationship between Coyotes and food sources. Unfortunately, the urban animals don’t just rely on a single food source. Specifically, urban Coyotes have come to understand we humans discard sufficient food sources as well as shelter. Unlike the New Brunswick Fur Trapper above, readers understand that just like C-144 even though we can’t track her, from time to time we will see her.

Stay tuned, there is more to come from the Coyote Cam

Survival and Motherhood

Readers will note from previous articles this author chooses to reflect on Coyotes’ existence as opposed to whether the animal should be exterminated or allowed to coexist within our environments. Every card carrying hunter that ever existed will never let an animal suffer, there are no ends legitimate hunters will go to recover what they hunt.

If you will- the following is a short story based on true incidents from Salvang, California.

This morning was one of those bright, sunny spring days in the Santa Yanez Valley of California. The air was not cold but it was crisp which made her happy since her exertions would be difficult on warmer summer days. Running across the top of a hill Angel was only slightly behind when the leader seemed to tumble and fall. She stopped in her tracks looking at the bloodied head of her mate, he was not breathing. A sudden blow hit her between the eyes and as she rolled with the impact Angel knew her life was in danger. She had to get away quickly. Running for her life her head now throbbed with what ever had hit her skull, her eyes beginning to blur. Knowing she could not see well enough for a long sprint to safety Angel did what came naturally to her, she found a brush covered depression and laid down to hide. The pain in her head behind her eyes was now so intense she grind her teeth. Suddenly Angel sensed footsteps approaching, she held her breath and laid motionless. The voices were unintelligible and she didn’t recognize their language, her head was about to explode from the pain! Minutes passed as she lay absolutely still with her eyes closed. The danger’s scent and nearness beginning to fade, its movement going past and beyond her. She waited almost all day hoping she could rise and move, her body stiff from the intense constraints of hiding.

She could feel the warmth of the morning sun but now there was a new danger even worse then the horror of the previous day. She had opened her eyes but she couldn’t see. The world was a blur, she could no longer distinguish shapes every thing ran together. Before yesterday Angel and her mate were free sprits with the valley and reservoir as their play ground, food and water abundant. Today Angel was alone, blind and hungry. To make matters even worse she knew she was pregnant and her delivery not far off, she had to find food. Several days later and without much more then seeds to eat she could smell water not far away. She remembered a large reservoir but unable to see, she tripped and fell down the steep embankment to the dry bottom. California was in the midst of one of the worst droughts in recorded history. Angele lost consciousness.

Some days later she could feel and sense a friendly human prescience. She didn’t try to run this time, all of her energy spent. She lost consciousness again as her pain racked body was lifted upward. That afternoon she awoke to find her wounds bandaged, no longer hungry, still blind but now with a new sense of safety. Some how she knew she and her babies would be safe.

By Associated Press

Published: Wednesday, April 13th, 2016 at 2:23pm

Updated: Wednesday, April 13th, 2016 at 8:54pm

In an April 3, 2016 photo, a female coyote known as Angel rests in an enclosure at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Solvang, Calif.

A female coyote known as Angel rests in an enclosure at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Solvang, Calif., on April. (Katie Falkenberg/Los Angeles Times)

SOLVANG, Calif. — First, rescuers realized the emaciated coyote they pulled from the bottom of an empty reservoir in Southern California was blind from being shot between the eyes. Then, X-rays showed the near-death animal was pregnant. After a month long regimen of care, including intravenous fluids and vitamins, the coyote gave birth at an animal hospital to a litter of five healthy puppies.

In an April 3, 2016 photo, In April 3, 2016 photo, five pups that the coyote known as Angel, recently gave birth to sleep in an enclosure at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Solvang, Calif.

Julia Di Sieno of the Animal Rescue Team in Solvang found the coyote in the reservoir after a call came into her hotline Feb. 11. The coyote was bleeding and having trouble breathing.  Di Sieno climbed down 30 feet into the stone-and-mortar reservoir and loaded the wounded animal onto a gurney. She named it Angel.  Examinations revealed Angel had been shot between the eyes, and the bullet blinded her. The coyote then likely wandered the Santa Ynez Valley north of Santa Barbara for days or weeks until she tumbled into the reservoir, Di Sieno said.  “What this animal endured is beyond comprehension,” Di Sieno told the Los Angeles Times for a story Wednesday “When she had puppies, I didn’t know whether to cry in sadness or for joy.”  Five pups that the coyote known as Angel recently gave birth to sleep in an enclosure at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Solvang, Calif., on April 3. (Katie Falkenberg/Los Angeles Times)  She plans to care for the puppies until they are mature enough to be released in the surrounding mountains. Di Sieno hopes to keep Angel as a surrogate mother for young coyotes that her nonprofit rescues. But first she has to persuade the state Department of Fish and Wildlife not to euthanize it. In California, possession of a coyote is illegal unless permitted by the state.

Fish and Wildlife spokesman Andrew Hughan told the Times the agency is looking for a reasonable solution.  “The department appreciates Julia and the rescue team’s efforts to save this coyote and other wildlife,” he said. “We’ve worked closely with her over the years and appreciate her passion for rescuing imperiled wildlife.”

Julia Di Sieno, the executive director and co-founder of the wildlife rehabilitation center Animal Rescue Team in Solvang, Calif., feeds a baby squirrel that was brought to her center after someone in the area found it. (Katie Falkenberg/Los Angeles Times)

In an April 3, 2016 photo, Julia Di Sieno, the executive director and co-founder of the wildlife rehabilitation center, “Animal Rescue Team,” in Solvang, Calif., feeds a baby squirrel that was brought to her center after someone in the area found it.

 

Stay Tuned- There is more to come on the Coyote Cam.