Mating: Monogamous (male and female pair for life)
Peak breeding activity: January through March
Gestation period: Approximately 63 days
Litter size: 1-12 pups
Young are born: April and May and are helpless; begin leaving the den with parents at 3 weeks of age
Number of litters per year: 1
Migration patterns: Year-round resident; juveniles will break from the family unit and establish their own territory anywhere from 10 to 100 miles away.
Feeding periods: Has shown a preference for nocturnal activity, but in a secure environment, will hunt during the daylight hours.
Typical foods: Omnivorous (will eat what's available); small mammals (voles, shrews, rabbits, mice), vegetables, nuts and carrion. Unchecked, they will eat livestock, particularly sheep and chickens.
Source: ODNR
VANDALIA — City manager Jeffrey Hoagland is fielding calls from worried residents about some new tourists in town — coyotes.
No one knows how many are visiting Vandalia and its neighboring communities. It could be that residents are seeing the same individuals repeatedly. Nevertheless, people are concerned. Thirty to 40 sightings have been reported in a year.
It’s all quite familiar for Hoagland, who dealt with wild coyote complaints when he served as assistant manager in Kettering about 10 years ago.
Sightings in the vicinity of David Road and Wilmington Pike, centering around fields adjacent to a Meijer store, provoked a flurry of concern. Kettering Animal Control Officer Judy Kohl, with 25 years of experience, became a coyote expert in the process.
The smart, adaptable animals are still around Kettering — a police officer spotted one sunning in a field recently — but residents have learned to keep them in perspective. Coyotes also are commonly seen along Mad River Road in Centerville, Washington Twp. and Hills and Dales MetroPark near Kettering, Kohl said.
Kohl’s simple advice boils down to this: Control potential coyote food and you control the coyote.
Coyotes can kill small dogs and cats allowed to roam free, but they prefer to avoid people. Experts advise don’t feed wild animals, including strays; always secure trash cans in a shed or garage, fence-in gardens, monitor bird feeders. Rinse out trash cans with ammonia, which repels wildlife.
“You need to worry more about a dog on the street than a coyote,” she said. “People overreact to the coyotes. The first thing people want is to get rid of them. I call them my animal control assistants. They take care of smaller critters — mice, rabbits, squirrels and cats.”
Generally trapping and hunting coyotes would be foolish, she said. “They serve a purpose. Don’t be alarmed. Be educated.”
Attacks on humans are exceedingly rare.
In Taylorsville MetroPark in January, hiker Matt Grebinski of Huber Heights was walking his dog on a leash when a coyote followed him for a mile back to his parked automobile. That likely occurred because someone had fed the coyote and it had lost its instinctive fear of humans, said Michael Enright, conservation biologist for Five Rivers MetroParks.
Enright said coyotes have been in the Vandalia area “probably for quite a few years now.”
What has changed is they have become more accustomed to people, and are out during the day where people can see them. Most coyotes that live in urban areas stay under cover during the day, Enright said.
“Coyotes have learned to live with people, so they will always be around,” he said. “The only time there is a problem is when people leave food for their pets outside, or garbage, and then the coyotes begin to get in contact with them regularly. As long as they are eating mice and rats, there won’t be any problems.”
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