The North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission has wrapped up public comment for its draft coyote management plan.
The plan offers information about coyotes as a species, and offers advice for how to coexist with the animals, which live in both urban and rural environments, according to Extension Wildlife Biologist Jessie Birckhead.
“It's simple stuff like keeping your trash secured, not feeding your pets outdoors, keeping your pets inside,” Birckhead said. “A lot of times, folks don't think about something like an outdoor cat as being a food source, but that's absolutely a potential food item.”
Development opened up the country for coyotes to expand – they now thrive across most of North America including their historic range in the West and Midwest. Coyotes were first detected in North Carolina in the 1980s and they can now be seen in all 100 counties.
“They are common. They are abundant, and they're found across the kind of urban-to-rural gradient,” Birckhead said.
Birckhead helped compile the study, which was commissioned by the General Assembly in 2016.
Questions about coyotes can be sent to the commission's NC Wildlife Helpline.
