Coyote Food - You Are Responsible

[grammafreddy]

I did that. She was never very happy about being stuck indoors. I had to be very diligent about watching where she was every time I opened the door and I couldn't open a window that didn't have a screen on it. Made MY life a tad miserable, too. I like open doors and windows from sun up to past sun down. When someone came to my door I had to quickly step outside to talk to them because she was faster at getting out than they were at getting in and getting the door closed again.

She was a stray (I think some nice city person dropped her off in the country because she was pregnant) who had her kittens under my porch then a hawk got all but three of the kittens before I just happened to find them. I brought the whole works inside, gave the kittens to the SPCA when they were old enough and kept the mom and had her fixed. I still have her but I let her be an inside/outside cat because where I live now is much safer for her since there are not hawks around to snatch her. She is a happier girl and so am I.

[Pookybear]

Jim, Dixon, you are absolutely correct in your initial post. Unfortunately, while you can lead a horse to water, you cannot force them to drink. People will not see reason even when confronted with it.

I often have an overwhelming urge to respond to all of those "lost cat" ads in the classifieds. While some are honest cases of an always-indoor kitty making a break through an open door, or escaping during a disaster like a fire or a break-in, the vast majority are outdoor cats which have suddenly stopped returning home. To which I sometimes want to reply, "congratulations on your conscientious feeding of our local coyote population, and/or creating another roadkill for our city crews to clean up. Maybe next time you will think twice about letting your precious cat out into such a lethal environment."

I always give a snort when I see lost cat signs as I would wager a guess that 95% of those cats were outdoor nuisances. I don't see why cat owners are not fined for bringing wildlife down for easy pickings. Instead everyone moans about coyotes in their neighbourhoods. Reminds me of the story last year in Kitimat where they wanted to kill the wolverines for killing cats at large. I could not understand why wild animals would ever be killed to save a domestic animal, it wasn't right.

[Raven1]

[quote="Pookybear"][I always give a snort when I see lost cat signs as I would wager a guess that 95% of those cats were outdoor nuisances. I don't see why cat owners are not fined for bringing wildlife down for easy pickings. Instead everyone moans about coyotes in their neighbourhoods. Reminds me of the story last year in Kitimat where they wanted to kill the wolverines for killing cats at large. I could not understand why wild animals would ever be killed to save a domestic animal, it wasn't right.[/quote]


Save the wildlife, kill a pet?
Do you really think that cats have baited the coyotes into urban areas?
Development had nothing to do with it?

[zookeeper]

[quote="Raven1
Save the wildlife, kill a pet?
[/quote]


WILDlife, natural instincts, survival of the fittest....

IF you are going to bring an animal in to your home as a pet, then treat it as a pet. It is a human's responsibility once it is in your home to give it sustenance AND safety.

[Raven1]

[quote="zookeeper"]WILDlife, natural instincts, survival of the fittest....

IF you are going to bring an animal in to your home as a pet, then treat it as a pet. It is a human's responsibility once it is in your home to give it sustenance AND safety.[/quote]


It has less to do with what everyone is ranting about and more to do with the cycle of life and how the coyotes has been severely altered and they are merely trying to survive and sustain themselves with what is left available to them.

How many lapdogs have gone missing because of irresponsible per owners. I learned soon after I arrived here that coyotes can scale a 5foot fence in search of food. Oh I forgot we are talking of cats here aren't we.

Talk to a CO about the coyote population and how it has GROWN because it has been allowed to through negligence of protecting the habitat.

[grammafreddy]

Wildlife (and Mother Nature) is opportunistic.

Its far easier and much less work to cruise an urban neighbourhood for dinner than it is to scour the wilderness.

Then we get bleeding heart no-kill folks and following that we get bigger wildlife from up the food chain cruising the neighbourhood for bigger prey - like coyotes and children. Oh well, maybe there's too many children, too.

Coyotes didn't create this problem - humans did. Cull time since humans are not about to stop doing what they are doing.

[sislonski]

..

[sidewalker]

I got my household down to actually 2 cats for now...wee dog went off hitchiking somewhere. I was relieved to discover that the 'indoor cat' that i had adopted, actually became 'normal' once we got him used to outdoors, not only normal, but sensible also. (He was really really weird as an indoor, the weird things he was doing, if you ask me, was searching for escape routes.) Used to have to force him inside at night, but now he has figured out on his own there are dangers out there and he knows how to duck and cover so i'm satisfied. The kitten the teens dragged here, well, whatever. He's the only thing here that EATS the mice. Honestly, i've been through my own wringer on the coyote thing. In the end, I've realized, I really don't care. Life ebbs and flows and everyone gets their field day. The odd marmot tries his luck here come spring, there's a huge amount of apple sustenance throughout winters, and god knows what the neighbors put out with the compost and turkey dinner. The coyotes here know i'm here and are a bit more guarded coming round, this satisfies me. We aren't serenaded every 1 am no more. I hope they aren't deer mice but they might be (hantavirus??), and the lawn is looking better having the cats around. There's always some problem i'm part of, so be it. I will wait on the wolves to give them something to think about, cause i found myself clearly outnumbered. I just love my pets less, that's all, so it won't hurt. Seemed a good tradeoff to me!

[mexi cali]

Wow. Love em less that's the answer. Maybe if you tried your luck outdoors in bear territory with nothing but your ability to "lie low", your pets would be satisfied. You know, as long as they weren't too attached.

[sidewalker]

Wow. Love em less that's the answer. Maybe if you tried your luck outdoors in bear territory with nothing but your ability to "lie low", your pets would be satisfied. You know, as long as they weren't too attached.

Hey, nothing against zeppelin despite the page thefts, but i am 100% against 100% containing the creatures we bred as 'pets' and only 55% against being a nuisance to my neighbors, of which there are none for a whole lotta distance south or west, from whence the coyote cometh. As to grizzly country, when i try my luck there i don't intend to be bringing any body with me. I'll try to send an update whether the cats gave a rat's a## what happened to me. As to quail, seems to me there's so many of them they're trying to commit group suicide in front of my car all the time? I do my best to help them. Cats i'll vouch one more time, my 'indoor' became 'normal' once adapted to 'outdoor'.

My comprehension is low this week, is this thread about coyote or cat scat? I know we won't touch on human scat for a while...Or quality vs quantity of life and whose has more value...

?

[Jim Dixon]

The primary predator of the coyote is wolf and then cougar.

That is the problem within the valley, the natural predators are not sufficient in numbers to control the coyote population. When these events occur in nature usually it is up to man to assist, but here lots of luck with that. It is obvious that the coyote population needs a cull.

I disagree. Historically, humankind's intervention with nature has only been destructive, and non-productive. Culling coyotes to make the place safe for wandering cats is like taking cars off the road to protect children. Not that I think you were headed that way, but some have.

J

[Jim Dixon]

Many comments seem to be forgetting something - the feral cats. They do exist, and their population will continue to grow.
Other cities, near and far, can attest to this growing problem. The problem is worse for cat owners because the feral will mix and fight and compete with 'pets'.

Do we wait until their diseases spread to the so-called pets, them to humans, or encourage and support the animal control servants (they like to be called "officials), to make a concerted effort with a *TNR program?

According to many cat owners, the experts; the various cat breeder associations, cat lover groups, veterinarians and their organizations, and animal control services are all wrong. Cat owners that let their cats out seem to have all the answers - until their {*bleep*} doesn't show up at home, or it is scraped off the road, or whatever is left over is picked up and tossed in to the garbage. No way for a pet to be treated - is it.

Last weeks CapStories (A News medium paper) listed nothing but cats up for adoption. Wouldn't it be nice if we didn't need animal control controlling people's pets for the owners? Anyway, people don't have cats, cats have people.

J
*Trap, Neuter, and Release. A program many cities have developed along with their cat-owner bylaws making cat owners responsible for their cats just as dog owners are.

[OnTheRoadAgain]

We've had coyotes denning on our property for several years, they were probably here before we even built our house.
Our neighbors with cats have got angry at us for allowing the coyotes to den. Well, we don't own the coyotes, it's not like they are a family pet or anything. I'm not about to shoot a coyote because it's on our property minding it's own business. But our neighbor did.

We did at one point have a small dog (he died of old age), the coyote use to follow him around and sniff him. Our old dog, blind and deaf, never knew he was there. The coyote never bothered him even though she had pups to feed. We also have several cats that roam our yard. They're not our cats, not sure who they belong to. They are attracted to our property because I have an outdoor avery with birds, which attract mice because of the bird seeds. The cats are attracted to the mice.

In all the years I've lived here, I still see the same cats come around late at night to hunt for mice, even with a coyote only yards away. We also have a lot of moles which the coyotes can have a fill of any night. So why these particular cats never get eaten or killed by the coyote but other neighbors who's cats I've never seem blame the coyote on our property for killing their cats, I'll never know.

I don't own a cat but if I did and I was worried about a coyote eating it , then I'd keep it indoors. If you love your cat , don't let it out. Seems like a simple answer to me. Oh and ther also owls on our property that hunt the moles, mice and maybe even cats at night. If it was up to my neighbor, he'd be shooting all the owls and hawks too.

Your place is a regular wild kingdom!

[Graphite]

So is it possible to turn a outdoor/indoor cat to a full-time indoor cat? Just curious if anyone has done that?

Yep I have done it. With two of them. When they were around 7 and 9 years old. Feel free to PM me if you want more information.

As to quail, seems to me there's so many of them they're trying to commit group suicide in front of my car all the time?

Honest, that happened to me and one Quail and it was traumatic.


Also, I 100% agree with the opening post.

[mexi cali]

What exactly is "page theft"?