Coyote Awareness

About Coyotes

Coyotes are a common wild animal in Illinois, but the population has seen a large increase during the past 2 decades, especially in the Chicago area. In Aurora, reported coyote sightings are common especially where homes are adjacent to rural or wooded areas.

Generally, coyotes will avoid human contact. Coyotes who have adapted to urban and suburban environments, however, may realize there are few real threats and approach people or feel safe visiting yards even when people are present. These coyotes have become habituated (lost their fear of humans), likely due to the availability of food in our neighborhoods. Sometimes, this food is deliberately provided by people who like to watch wild animals or feel they are helping them by offering food. These bold coyotes should not be tolerated or encouraged but instead given the message that they should fear approaching people or residences.

Preventing Coyote Attacks

Hazing is a method that encourages an animal to move out of an area or discourage undesirable behaviors and/or activities. Hazing can help maintain a coyote's fear of humans and deter them from neighborhood spaces such as backyards and play spaces. The following guidelines are adapted from the Denver, Colorado Coyote Problem Mitigation Program's Hazing Guidelines, written by the Natural Areas Program of the Denver Parks and Recreation Department in October 2009. These guidelines have proven very successful at correcting problematic coyote behavior both in the short and long term

Methods of Hazing

Using a variety of different hazing tools is critical, as coyotes can habituate to individual items, sounds, and actions.

Yelling and waving your arms while approaching the coyote.
Noisemakers: voice, whistles, air horns, bells, soda cans filled with pennies or dead batteries, pots and pans banged together.
Other: hoses, water guns with vinegar water, spray bottles with vinegar water. pepper spray, bear repellant, or walking sticks.

“Go Away Coyote!"

The simplest method of hazing a coyote involves being loud and large:

Stand tall, wave your arms and yell at the coyote, approaching them - if necessary - until they run away.
If a coyote has not been hazed before, they may not immediately run away when you yell at them. If this happens, you may need to walk towards the coyote and increase the intensity of your hazing.
The coyote may run away, but then stop after a distance and look at you. It is important to continue to haze the coyote until they completely leave the area. You may need to use different tactics - such as noisemakers, stomping your feet or spraying the coyote with a hose - to get them to leave.

Dog-walking Tools

The best way to keep your dog safe while walking is always walk your dog on a leash. However, for an extra layer of protection, there are several tools that you can carry with you while walking your dog that can be used to repel coyotes. These include:

Homemade noisemakers
Whistle or small air horn (you can purchase small air horn “necklaces”)
Squirt guns
Pepper spray

In Your Yard

Remember, keeping pets and pet food inside is the best way to keep coyotes out of your yard. If you do encounter coyotes, all the above methods can be used in your yard at home. First, try the "Go Away Coyote!" method (yell and wave your arms as you approach the coyote). Here are some additional methods you can also use:

Squirt the coyote with your garden hose.
Bang pots and pans together.

Things to Remember

NEVER run away from a coyote!
The coyote may not leave at first, but if you approach them closer and/or increase the intensity of your hazing, they will run away.
If the coyote runs away a short distance and then stops and looks at you, continue hazing them until they completely leave the area.
After you have successfully hazed a coyote, they may return again. Continue to haze the coyote as you did before — it usually takes only one or two times to haze a coyote away for good.
Coyotes are skittish by nature and do not typically act aggressively towards people. However, engaging with animals who are sick or injured can result in unpredictable behavior.

Tips for Success

The more often an individual coyote is hazed by a variety of tools and techniques and a variety of people, the more effective hazing will be for changing their behavior.
The coyote being hazed must be able to recognize that the potential threat is coming from a person. (Hiding behind a bush while hazing, for example, will not be effective.)
The hazing techniques and tools above can be used in the same way for one or multiple coyotes. Usually there is a dominant coyote in the group who will respond, and others will follow their lead.
Hazing must be continued whenever a coyote is present so that future generations of coyotes do not learn or return to unacceptable habits or behaviors.

It’s important that as many neighbors as possible work together to humanely address coyotes in our communities. You can help by sharing what you learned here! Tell your neighbors to remove items that attract coyotes, leash their pets, keep pets indoors when left unattended and learn about coyote behavior so they can understand how to best approach coyote confrontations.

Coyote Reporting

If you spot a coyote, please report the sighting to Scientific Wildlife Management.

Wildlife Management

Mark Romano
Professional Trapper
630-476-1198
markswildlife@comcast.net

FAQs for Keeping Coyotes Away

I thought coyotes were wild animals. Why are they in my neighborhood?

They are wild animals. However, as area open lands have decreased over the past 3 decades and human population has increased, coyotes have not only survived but have adjusted. While they still make their homes in wooded and open areas they have ventured into surrounding neighborhoods primarily to search for food.

Are coyotes a danger to my family or pets?

Most coyotes are leery of people and tend to stay away from humans. In fact, more people are killed by errant golf balls and flying champagne corks each year than are bitten by coyotes. Although attacks on humans are rare, coyotes are opportunistic and will prey upon free-roaming cats and small dogs. The best prevention is to keep pets supervised, indoors, or on a leash. To keep coyotes out of your yard and away from your family, we suggest that you use hazing tactics. Hazing tactics include any behaviors that scare and discourage coyotes from being near humans. When you see a coyote, yell very loudly or shake a metal coffee can filled with coins. If you make the coyotes feel unwelcome then you should see them less frequently.

What happens if I encounter a coyote?

If you encounter a coyote, it will most likely run away from you. If it sticks around and is making you uncomfortable, help discourage it from staying in the area by shouting and waving your arms. Do not run away.

If a coyote is very difficult to scare away from you, is acting aggressively, or appears to be seriously injured or sick, please call the Aurora Animal Care & Control Division at 630-256-3630.

How is the City addressing coyotes in neighborhoods?

The safety of our residents is the City’s utmost concern. Communities often respond to the presence of coyotes by calling for lethal control, but trapping and killing coyotes is rarely effective - it’s costly, often fails to remove the individual coyotes causing concern, and most importantly, fails to address the root causes of conflicts with coyotes. The best way to decrease coyotes in neighborhoods is to partner with our citizens to remove attractants and make affected areas undesirable to coyotes through hazing tactics.

What can I do to make my home and neighborhood undesirable to coyotes?

The biggest tip is don’t feed the coyotes either intentionally or by accident. 90% of a coyote’s diet is small mammals but they will also eat birds, snakes, insects, fish, fruit, and vegetables. They can be attracted to bird and squirrel feeders, bread that is fed to ducks and geese, pet food that is left outside, and other unintentional food sources. Because of that, adhere to the following tips:

Do not keep garbage cans outside if possible or at the very least, make sure the containers have tight-fitting lids.
Keep grills and barbecues clean. Even the smallest food scraps may attract a coyote.
Keep pet food and food and water dishes inside especially at night.
Make sure ripe fruit and vegetables are picked from gardens.
Stop feeding other wildlife or at the very least, do not allow spillage to accumulate outside of the feeders.

Removal of attractants coupled with hazing tactics create an undesirable environment for coyotes.