This former city girl moved to the country around 17 years ago. I’m talking tall pines, wide open spaces and lots of wild critters. The first month living here we came home to find a 6-foot cottonmouth sunning himself on our back patio. My initial thought was to bang two pot lids together and run him back into the woods, but my husband said that he would just return and perhaps bite the dog or one of us, so unfortunately the snake was dispatched quickly to his eternal rest.
Our subdivision has been host to eagles who return yearly to make their Volkswagen-size nests in our trees, families of raccoons who are seriously cute as they scavenge thru our garbage cans, mama possum with babies clinging to her back, the lone skunk or two who confront us when out walking the dog and of course armadillos scuttling around in the brush. The last few years the problem was foxes who roam the woods at night, their calls sounding like a woman screaming. This year though we are having a serious problem in our subdivision with coyotes and already both a cat and a dog have been killed by this sly predator.
Coyote litters are very large ranging from 3-20 young. They grow to be 50 pounds, and can run at speeds up to 40 miles per hour. They will eat almost anything, and if they have young, they will hunt in the daytime as well as night hours. They have been seen by almost everyone in our community, by children walking to the bus stop in the morning, by my husband driving out in the early morning to work, by housewives jogging in the streets. We are not sure how many are living here, but their number are growing due to displacement, because of booming new home construction on the edges of our city. Wildlife rangers will not trap them, and they advise they can be killed by bow and arrow or with a pellet gun, as real gunfire is not allowed in our community.
It is amazing that all these wild animals share our subdivision, and I am privileged to have seen them all at one time or another. Mr. Fox came to within 5 foot of me as I sat on the patio with my dog, just a quick look and he trotted off. Raccoon family entertained us one evening after dark, as our headlights caught the Mama trotting from one bush to another at the foot of our driveway, followed by her adorable offspring. My dog and I came upon Mr. Skunk on a 5 a.m. walk, and lucky for us skunks have very poor vision, so we ran to the back door before Mr. Skunk could turn and spray us! Mama Opossum was found expired in our yard, but her babies were alive and we put them in a paper grocery bag and took them to the local wildlife rehabilitation expert who would release the orphaned babies again when they were ready to be on their own. Turkey vultures often land on our garage roof to get a closer look for carrion, and although they look creepy, they are invaluable in clearing the roads and subdivisions of dead animals. Armadillos are seen everywhere here (but not drinking out of beer cans, unless someone has found a dead one and posed it upside down holding a brew!) One night while driving our streets we saw a blue heron with a broken wing in our headlights, but we could do nothing to help the bird.
Nature is a continuous cycle of birth, life and death. It is unfortunate that animals like the coyote are merely following their genetic programming and attempting to survive. Hopefully he will move on to the protected areas like the National Forest nearby where the animals can live their lives out away from our populated subdivisions.