Posted on December 19, 2017 at 1:02 PM by Kara Fleming
You may have thought that killing or relocating coyotes may be the answer when it comes to resolving conflicts with these wild animals.
Population control has been deployed and studied for efficiency around the country for years. These studies have revealed that there is no evidence linking a reduction in human-coyote conflict when lethal population reduction is used.
In fact, there is a direct link to coyote populations increasing after a controlled reduction. This is because the social construct within the pack is broken down, which allows coyotes from other territories to move in. Coyotes will then adapt to breed at earlier ages and have larger litters, thereby increasing their populations.
Essentially lethal control is a high-stakes placebo. The best method is to learn effective conflict-reducing techniques to live with the coyotes that share our forests and fields.
MassWildlife has some great tips online about living with coyotes.