Urban growth merges coyote, human ranges

Seeing a coyote lope through a Las Vegas neighborhood is becoming a common event.

As the human population of the valley continues to expand into the coyotes' range land, coyotes are becoming stranded in subdivisions by the surrounding development.

The major problem for people who live in those neighborhoods, said Roger Van Oordt, a city of Las Vegas animal-control supervisor, is that coyotes prey upon small animals, wild and domestic, including outdoor pets.

"It's a regular buffet for them," he said.

This summer, coyotes -- considered nonendangered native wildlife -- have been spotted in Summerlin. Also in the northwest, a couple of cats were killed by coyotes, Van Oordt said. And last year, coyotes killed several domestic cats in the Painted Desert area.

Van Oordt said a group of coyotes lives in a flood-control channel at Marion Drive and Washington Avenue in the middle of "an old, established neighborhood." He said there are ducks and rabbits living in the control channel that make "easy meals for them."

"Coyotes don't leave too much behind," he said. "They can almost surgically skin out a cat or small animal. Cats aren't hard to catch if you're a wild animal. They're part of the prey. A coyote is a wild animal. That's how they survive. They're good hunters."

Van Oordt has suggestions for those worried about their pets' safety: Try not to keep pet food outdoors or place the containers up high. In addition, he says residents should cover trash bins. One reason coyotes venture into neighborhoods is to eat, he said.

"It's an easy meal for them," Van Oordt said. "They go through trash cans and kill domestic animals -- cats and small dogs. People leave their pet food outside and garbage cans open and make water available. Coyotes are active scavengers. They'd probably rather go through someone's trash can than chase some animal down. It's an easy way out for a meal."

Geoff Schneider, information and education officer for the Nevada Division of Wildlife, said sightings of coyotes in neighborhoods and reports of attacks on their pets will only get worse as the valley continues to spill over into the predator's habitat.

"We get reports of them all the time," Schneider said. "They're living throughout the valley. We've trapped them near McCarran International Airport and up around Sunset Park. They're running up and down the washes."

And it's not just coyotes. Kit foxes, bobcats and even mountain lions, bighorn sheep and rams live in the desert not far from houses, he said.

"We have an abundance of kit foxes," he said. "It's not unusual as we encroach into their habitats."

Destroying the habitat of such animals is not being addressed by developers, Schneider said.

"We're displacing them (animals)," he said. "Of greater concern is that we've destroyed their wildlife habitat and it will no longer be productive. We're also cutting off migration routes for bighorn sheep. We've given them islands that they can no longer cross. They lose these historic migrations. There's no requirement for a developer to come and meet with us and take wildlife into consideration."

Until encroaching on habitats is addressed, Schneider said, residents should try to keep their pets safe.

"People should really keep an eye on a pet," he said. "Once they're loose, they've very vulnerable. People should be aware that if their cat doesn't come back it could have been eaten by a predator. Bobcats will pick them. It's even possible a mountain lion will come and get them. We've had that problem in Pahrump. Be careful with your pets. It's going to continue as we develop. They're (developers) jumping right into coyote, kit fox and bobcat habitat."

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