Contrary to popular belief in the cattle ranching community, coyotes don't prey on cattle or calves, says University of Florida Professor in the Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation, Dr. Marty Main.
Dr. Main made a presentation at a University of Florida/IFAS webinar for the Florida Master Naturalist Program, Thursday, March 18 dicussing facts and myths about coyotes in Florida.
Coyotes, being omnivorous, prey only on smaller animals, rabbits, rats, mice, eat vegetation, and insects including grasshoppers, he said.
Although cattle ranchers sometimes place donkeys in their pastures thinking they will protect cattle and livestock, studies done by Dr. Main and others at Florida cattle ranches found that coyotes are not a widespread problem or significant source of mortality for livestock.
It seems calves sometimes found dead were victims of disease or natural causes, then disfigured after they died by wildlife in the area, but were not killed by coyotes.
Dr. Main's presentation "Coyotes in Florida: the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly" discussed how the establishment and spread of coyotes in Florida has ramifications associated with how to classify these animals, as well as understanding their potential positive and negative roles regarding environmental, economic, and human welfare impacts.
His presentation discusses these issues to separate fact from fiction regarding coyotes in Florida.
Watch the Coyote webinar on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/OfficialFMNP/videos/839006786651063
(The section about preying on livestock starts at 33:00 minutes into the webinar)
Hi Don and Florida cattle producers. The headline for this article is taken out of context. There is no question that at times coyotes prey on calves, FWC has documented this. My presentation touched upon many topics, including results of separate studies conducted on Florida ranches by myself and Dr. Boughton that found calf predation by coyotes does not appear to be common. In both studies large numbers of newborn calves (409 in my study) were tagged with transmitters and monitored until they reached an age where they were marked for sale. We documented mortalities and causes of death and in our studies none of the tagged calves were confirmed as being killed by coyotes. This does not mean it never happens, we know it does. But this does suggest coyote depredation of calves is not common - and that when it does occur a targeted approach may be more cost efficient than a widespread eradication effort for the reasons I discussed in my presentation (territorial coyotes keep other coyotes out and eradication efforts are generally ineffective and temporary). My concern is that this article suggests I'm indifferent to challenges faced by ranchers. It's important to know that I am a strong supporter of our ranchers and cattle industry in Florida and am a member of the Florida Cattlemen's Association. I also come from an agricultural heritage and spent my most formative years on my grandfather's farm. So regardless of how you feel about the results of our studies, make no mistake that the goal of those studies was to provide information to help our ranching industry consider how best to invest resources which I suggest is to target problem animals if and when they occur. Martin Main
ReplyDeleteThank you Dr. Main for your excellent comment, that while attacks do happen, they are not common. I"ve changed to article title to reflect this. Thanks!
Deletethank you Don!
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