The Eastern coyote.
As for that dog down the street that’s been yipping and yapping and keeping you awake at night … it may not be a dog.
Coyotes are on the move and making their presence felt here in New Jersey, the most densely-populated state in the nation. An animal that will eat just about anything has plenty to choose from in the Garden State, be it rodents, small game, livestock, fruit, insects, or the occasional house pet.
Although not native to New Jersey, the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife estimates there are at least 3,000 coyotes in the state, and they have been spotted in all 21 counties. With little value to hunters and no predator except the car, the coyote population is likely to keep on growing.
“After 80 years of expanding in New Jersey, anywhere there is a decent-size patch of woods, park, or farmland, there is likely to be a coyote,” said Chris Crosby, a doctoral candidate with the Rutgers Cooperative Extension who is studying the migration patterns of NJ coyotes. “And like other wild animals, they’re looking for territory and a food source.”
Although coyotes tend to avoid contact with humans, they will go after a small dog – as a 13-year-old girl found out on June 30, when a coyote attacked her pet and she was bitten at the dog park in South Mountain Reservation in Maplewood.
The girl was taken to the hospital with a puncture wound to the leg; her pet Shih Tzu was also injured but survived. An hour later, a man was attacked at the dog park and sent to the hospital for stitches, police said. Essex County closed the dog park for a few days while sheriff’s officers searched for the coyote, but didn’t find it.
Around the same time, Westfield in Union County temporarily closed its Brightwood Park following reports of an aggressive coyote.Wildwood police also warned residents in April to watch out for an aggressive coyote.
In New Jersey, the farms and forests spread across the state connect to the greenbelts of open space that run through suburban towns and into the cities. The greenbelts often provide better habitat for wildlife, with easy access to the human food supply, wildlife experts say.
“The reason you see coyote in the suburban habitat is because it is better habitat,” said Ron Jones, who runs ACP Wildlife Control Services in Gloucester County. “There’s more food, more water, and more shelter. And who’s the number one predator? The car.”
Jones said coyote tend to very active in the summer, as the mother and father go about teaching their pups that were born in the spring how to hunt.
“There are no morals involved,” Jones said. “These are animals. It kills for food and it kills for fun.”
And although attacks on humans are rare, they do happen. In 2019, Fairfield police shot a coyote after it attacked a mother and child out for a stroll in the park. Earlier this month, police in Livingston warned dog walkers to be extra cautious after an aggressive coyote was spotted prowling near a wooded area on Wingate Drive.
The relative good news is that, unlike raccoons, coyotes do not usually transmit rabies. Of the 43 confirmed cases of rabies in New Jersey in 2023, only one, in Hunterdon County, has been attributed to a coyote, according to NJ Department of Health statistics.
Jones said New Jersey’s estimate of 3,000 coyotes is likely an undercount. He compared New Jersey’s problem with urban coyotes to that of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, which are also learning to deal with a predator that many people mistake as a wild dog.
Although skittish by nature, urban coyotes often exhibit less fear of humans. “All it knows is what is was born into,” Jones said. “If a coyote was raised in den 100 feet from a backyard fence, and the food is in the trash can or in the dog’s dish in the backyard, then its going to go to it,” Jones said.
No one is sure how the coyote got here. Related to the wolf, the much smaller Western coyote is native to lands west of the Mississippi River. The first recorded sighting of the Eastern coyote in New Jersey was in Hunterdon County in 1939.
According to a report by the N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife, there is some evidence that the state’s first coyote was kept here as a pet. His hide is kept at the State Museum in Trenton.
Whatever the reason, New Jersey’s coyote population has increased steadily for the past 80 years and shows no signs of slowing down. Coyotes have no predator in the wild, and although New Jersey added coyotes as a game species in 1997, hunters haven’t shown much interest.
Coyotes aren’t very tasty, and the fur isn’t worth much. Farmers are allowed to kill a coyote that is threatening livestock, but while last year’s harvest was 305 coyotes, which is an all-time high, it’s not likely to reduce the population, experts say.
“There isn’t a lot of hunting pressure on coyote,” Crosby said. He said coyotes tend to mate for life and litters average five or six pups, although many of the young do not survive.
Crosby said he is currently at work on a study of coyote migration to the Jersey Shore. He’s trying to determine to what extent coyote are pushing other predatory species out in the quest for food.
“There’s not a lot of them along the coast, but what we’re finding is they tend to alter how the other predators use the area,” he said, adding that the study covers an area from Sea Bright to Cape May. “They may drive out other predators, like the red fox, from the area out of the area.”
Crosby said although coyotes are remarkably adaptable, they do not have a particularly long life expectancy. Most live about six or eight years, and besides getting struck by cars, frequently die of disease or starvation, he said.
Richard Cowen may be reached at rcowen@njadvancemedia.com.
© Advance Local Media LLC.
As for that dog down the street that’s been yipping and yapping and keeping you awake at night … it may not be a dog.
Coyotes are on the move and making their presence felt here in New Jersey, the most densely-populated state in the nation. An animal that will eat just about anything has plenty to choose from in the Garden State, be it rodents, small game, livestock, fruit, insects, or the occasional house pet.
Although not native to New Jersey, the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife estimates there are at least 3,000 coyotes in the state, and they have been spotted in all 21 counties. With little value to hunters and no predator except the car, the coyote population is likely to keep on growing.
“After 80 years of expanding in New Jersey, anywhere there is a decent-size patch of woods, park, or farmland, there is likely to be a coyote,” said Chris Crosby, a doctoral candidate with the Rutgers Cooperative Extension who is studying the migration patterns of NJ coyotes. “And like other wild animals, they’re looking for territory and a food source.”
Although coyotes tend to avoid contact with humans, they will go after a small dog – as a 13-year-old girl found out on June 30, when a coyote attacked her pet and she was bitten at the dog park in South Mountain Reservation in Maplewood.
The girl was taken to the hospital with a puncture wound to the leg; her pet Shih Tzu was also injured but survived. An hour later, a man was attacked at the dog park and sent to the hospital for stitches, police said. Essex County closed the dog park for a few days while sheriff’s officers searched for the coyote, but didn’t find it.
Around the same time, Westfield in Union County temporarily closed its Brightwood Park following reports of an aggressive coyote.Wildwood police also warned residents in April to watch out for an aggressive coyote.
In New Jersey, the farms and forests spread across the state connect to the greenbelts of open space that run through suburban towns and into the cities. The greenbelts often provide better habitat for wildlife, with easy access to the human food supply, wildlife experts say.
“The reason you see coyote in the suburban habitat is because it is better habitat,” said Ron Jones, who runs ACP Wildlife Control Services in Gloucester County. “There’s more food, more water, and more shelter. And who’s the number one predator? The car.”
Jones said coyote tend to very active in the summer, as the mother and father go about teaching their pups that were born in the spring how to hunt.
“There are no morals involved,” Jones said. “These are animals. It kills for food and it kills for fun.”
And although attacks on humans are rare, they do happen. In 2019, Fairfield police shot a coyote after it attacked a mother and child out for a stroll in the park. Earlier this month, police in Livingston warned dog walkers to be extra cautious after an aggressive coyote was spotted prowling near a wooded area on Wingate Drive.
The relative good news is that, unlike raccoons, coyotes do not usually transmit rabies. Of the 43 confirmed cases of rabies in New Jersey in 2023, only one, in Hunterdon County, has been attributed to a coyote, according to NJ Department of Health statistics.
Jones said New Jersey’s estimate of 3,000 coyotes is likely an undercount. He compared New Jersey’s problem with urban coyotes to that of Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago, which are also learning to deal with a predator that many people mistake as a wild dog.
Although skittish by nature, urban coyotes often exhibit less fear of humans. “All it knows is what is was born into,” Jones said. “If a coyote was raised in den 100 feet from a backyard fence, and the food is in the trash can or in the dog’s dish in the backyard, then its going to go to it,” Jones said.
No one is sure how the coyote got here. Related to the wolf, the much smaller Western coyote is native to lands west of the Mississippi River. The first recorded sighting of the Eastern coyote in New Jersey was in Hunterdon County in 1939.
According to a report by the N.J. Division of Fish and Wildlife, there is some evidence that the state’s first coyote was kept here as a pet. His hide is kept at the State Museum in Trenton.
Whatever the reason, New Jersey’s coyote population has increased steadily for the past 80 years and shows no signs of slowing down. Coyotes have no predator in the wild, and although New Jersey added coyotes as a game species in 1997, hunters haven’t shown much interest.
Coyotes aren’t very tasty, and the fur isn’t worth much. Farmers are allowed to kill a coyote that is threatening livestock, but while last year’s harvest was 305 coyotes, which is an all-time high, it’s not likely to reduce the population, experts say.
“There isn’t a lot of hunting pressure on coyote,” Crosby said. He said coyotes tend to mate for life and litters average five or six pups, although many of the young do not survive.
Crosby said he is currently at work on a study of coyote migration to the Jersey Shore. He’s trying to determine to what extent coyote are pushing other predatory species out in the quest for food.
“There’s not a lot of them along the coast, but what we’re finding is they tend to alter how the other predators use the area,” he said, adding that the study covers an area from Sea Bright to Cape May. “They may drive out other predators, like the red fox, from the area out of the area.”
Crosby said although coyotes are remarkably adaptable, they do not have a particularly long life expectancy. Most live about six or eight years, and besides getting struck by cars, frequently die of disease or starvation, he said.
Richard Cowen may be reached at rcowen@njadvancemedia.com.
© Advance Local Media LLC.
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