- [Announcer] Funding for "Georgia Outdoors" has been made possible in part by the Imlay Foundation and from viewers like you.

(upbeat music) - People tend to have a love or hate relationship with coyotes.

Now, if I hear one in the night, it makes me smile.

But other people freak out, they worry if there's a coyote in the neighborhood it might attack their cat, dog or even a child.

Well, I've been working with two biologists who wanna set the record straight about what this animal is really like.

Chris Mowry and Larry Wilson are biologists who started the Atlanta Coyote Project.

The first thing you should know is that coyotes are everywhere.

They don't simply hang out in a forest they are with us, in the city and the suburbs.

And they're everywhere, aren't they?

- They are everywhere.

Now, when we say that they're everywhere that's not to mean that we're being overrun by coyote.

You said that the coyote population is huge.

Again, being the top predator, there are limited numbers of them.

And so there aren't lots and lots of coyotes out there on the landscape.

It may seem that way to some people but relatively speaking, there aren't that many of them out there.

But they're in the city, right?

- They are in the city, they're in Piedmont Park.

They're at the Carter Center.

So yes, they are in the city for sure.

(coyote barking) (coyote barking) - [Sharon] If you hear a coyote at night, is there anything to be afraid of?

- Not at all.

I think it's magical music that you got to appreciate but they, you know, the native Americans used to call 'em the singing wolf because of that.

But you enjoy hearing 'em.

But some of these people they never seen them and don't realize they're around.

And all of a sudden it's the realization is, "We've got coyotes in the neighborhood."

And then somebody will put a sign up is, "A coyote was seen in the neighborhood," or, "A fox is seen in the neighborhood."

And you know, to me, it's like, that's good.

I hope I see it.

You know where some people, they don't want to share it.

But when you say something like, you know, a rare bird seen at your bird feeder, you know, that's wildlife they want.

You know, it's all connected as we need to, to keep 'em all.

- [Sharon] They're very wary of people but you may occasionally see one during the day.

So how do you know it's a coyote?

People often think they're bigger than they are.

Georgia coyotes generally weigh between 24 to 45 pounds.

They have pointed upright ears and long slender snouts.

A big bushy tail is also part of the package and they don't walk like a dog.

They kind of trot.

One of the coolest things about them is that coyotes mate for life.

- So the coyote family structure is very similar to humans.

It's a small nuclear family.

There's an alpha male and female, that's mom and dad.

And they are trying to establish a territory.

They will mate for life.

They will establish a territory and try to maintain that territory.

And that's where they'll construct their den.

And the den might be an excavated hole in the ground.

It might be an abandoned culvert.

It might be a rock outcrop, anything where they can get out of sight and out of in shelter.

- [Sharon] Perfect example, this den is in a culvert.

All these pups are living in a drainage pipe with their parents.

You may begin to wonder how many places you're walking over.

They are homes for coyotes.

Another litter of pups was born in this makeshift den under a shed.

It's doubtful anyone knew they were there.

(upbeat music) The parents try to keep the pops close by but they don't always obey.

(upbeat music) The female will nurse them until they're old enough for real food.

After that, the parents will hunt and eat their meal but then they come back to the den and regurgitate it for the litter.

Dens are only used for about six to eight weeks a year and once the pups are weaned and take off on their own, the den is abandoned.

(upbeat music) I thought this clip was funny because it reminds me of a human couple.

The female is digging her den with everything she's got.

The male approaches from above, but she doesn't see or hear him.

When he pokes her in the rear, she is scared and comes out with a well-deserved snarl.

These videos are a part of what Atlanta Coyote Project tries to get out to the public in hopes that we can learn to co-exist with these beautiful creatures.

- Well, coyotes are here in the Southeast because we as humans wiped out the red wolf.

So we always say that predators are a natural part of any ecosystem.

And the predator that we had here in the Southeast was the red Wolf for thousands and thousands of years.

And as humans, we extirpated the red wolf meaning that through a systematic trapping and poisoning and killing these animals, we eventually drove them to local extinction.

And so we don't have red wolves here in the Southeast anymore.

The coyote was an animal that was West of the Mississippi River.

And as the red wolf was wiped out, it simply created a vacuum that the coyote was very easily able to fill, to move in - Chris and Larry want to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to coyotes.

So you guys have been together six years and you haven't killed each other yet.

- Well we've known each other for 30 years I think.

- That's 'cause Chris is up in very- - Yeah, you work at different schools.

They are both professors but put their soul into being scientists with a goal of educating people about coyotes.

(soft music) Most of the video you see in this show comes from their cameras.

(soft music) - This is one of our remote cameras.

And when you place one of these cameras, what you're looking for is a natural corridor where animals are gonna move and a stream is a perfect place for that.

And we can see with all this mud there has been a lots of movement of deer.

Chris and I were just saying is there's a lot of deer and a lot of big ones.

And then you've got the park over there and you've got a fence row and a natural crossing area of the creek.

This is like the crossroads for the wildlife in this area.

- [Sharon] The cameras pick up an amazing amount of diversity that you wouldn't ordinarily see.

River otters just goofing off.

Hawks getting a drink and a bath in the same stream.

My favorite is the mink swimming away with a rat in its mouth.

(soft music) By the way, if you don't like rats you should love coyotes.

Without them, the rodent population would sore.

- And we find in food studies, most of what they're gonna eat are rodents.

They eat in a lot of vegetation, particularly certain times a year when it's available.

One of their favorite things are persimmons and muscadines.

They will occasionally get in people's gardens to eat food.

So they're not these great killers that people think they are and they're not particularly big animals.

- Well, coyotes again, as really the top predator, again, they've taken somewhat of the role that the red wolf once had.

Not exactly, it's a smaller animal.

Again, we've talked about the diet is broader but predators are a part of a healthy ecosystem.

They keep other species in check.

So whereas it may seem that the presence of a coyote might lead to a loss of biodiversity, or they're eating everything in sight, that's really not the case.

Is that coyotes eat a little bit of this, a little bit of that.

Some of it's animal material, some of it's plant material.

So this wide diet means that no one species goes uncontrolled.

And so in fact, what they're doing is they're helping to promote biodiversity by again keeping these other species in check.

- [Sharon] But will they eat your cat?

Possibly depending on the time of year and the level of desperation.

But dogs and cats are not part of their diet plan.

The number of coyotes you see may increase if you aren't aware of how quickly they can find food.

- If we start feeding them and stuff you're gonna get higher levels.

But if you know, putting out dog food or even not securing your trash and things like that.

- [Sharon] Researchers know what coyotes eat by examining their feces or scat.

That's how they figured out that coyotes love persimmons.

Look at all these coyotes under a persimmon tree.

(soft music) This one is caught on camera looking up at the persimmon tree, but none are on the ground.

He waits and comes back later.

(soft music) Okay, they like persimmons, but even so you may still be concerned about running into the animal while you're walking your pet.

- So generally you won't see coyotes.

Again, they're very secretive.

But if you do see a coyote and you're feeling unsettled by it, announce your presence, clap your hands, make noise, yell at it, wave your arms let it know that you see it.

- [Sharon] Coyotes move around cities by using their version of highways.

- Coyotes, just like us, they wanna take the path of least resistance.

And so stream corridors like we're standing next to here, power line corridors, that's an easy way to get from point A to point B, it's unencumbered, it's a highway.

And so coyotes are either trying to maintain a territory or they're looking for a territory.

So they're not animals that just sit around all day.

They're generally on the move.

And so these kinds of corridors allow easy movement.

- We did this interview at the edge of Morningside Nature Preserve.

Chris played a recording of coyotes howling and hopes we would get a response.

(coyote barking) (coyote barking) (coyote barking) (coyotes barking) (coyote barking) Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

We relocated to the other side of the park.

(coyote barking) (indistinct) I think we scared him off.

I heard one.

Yep, so that coyote sitting over there, - Gracious.

- He answered first.

And then he went, "Wait a minute."

- He's got friends.

- Well, we know there's one over there.

- Yeah.

- [Sharon] This guy is the reason I discovered the Coyote Project.

Carmine is quite the character.

He has been captured on camera by residents in the Cobb County area because he loved to play with their dogs.

(upbeat music) - Yes, Carmine has a very unique personality.

So again, coyotes are generally very wary of humans.

They want nothing to do with us.

Carmine was unique in that we discovered him because he was playing with dogs.

He was actually entering people's back yards.

He was jumping fences.

He was following people who were walking their dogs.

And in one instance, he actually tried to go through someone's doggy door and get into their house.

Very unusual behavior for a coyote he was not acting aggressively.

He was still very wary of humans.

People were not able to approach him but he was very interested in playing with dogs.

And so he was simply making the rounds through Smyrna and Vinings and jumping fences and getting into backyards and playing with dogs.

- [Sharon] There's something else special about Carmen, he's solid black.

- Yeah, black coyotes are rare.

We have a slightly higher occurrence of them here in the South East.

We're not exactly sure why that is.

Black coyotes in other parts of North America are extremely rare.

So it's more common here in the Southeast, but still probably less than 5% of the coyotes that we see have this black coat coloration.

It's a genetic trait.

It's a gene that they carry.

So it can be passed on from one generation to the next.

- [Sharon] That genetic marker is evidenced here.

This video came from a woman in new Orleans, a female and her pups decided to hang out this lady's porch.

The pups are playing with plastic pots that nursery plants come in.

Mom looks like she needed arrest.

But notice that the pups are mixed.

The black pups, mean the father was a black coyote.

That's part of the reason Carmine was of great interest but the research team was also amazed at how much he traveled.

He spent a lot of time in culverts under Interstate 285, but check out this map, the red marks or culverts where he was hanging out.

The yellow marks, the spots Carmine was seen in December, 2019, always on the move.

He tried to go through a dog door at one home.

He was really active in January, 2020 mostly around the Vinings area.

And again, dangerously close to Interstate 285.

At one home, he played with a local dog and slept under a trampoline.

In February, 2020, he's moved North in Cobb County.

To get there, he had to go under Interstates 75 and 285.

He made it through a dog door and slept on a resident's porch.

When you follow the blue line, you can see the distance he traveled and the interactions he had with highways.

Carmine is lucky to be alive.

And that's why Chris and Larry decided Carmine needed to be captured and taken to a safe place.

- And we undertook the capture of Carmine after a lot of consideration because normally we would not interfere in the life of a wild animal.

And Carmine was certainly a wild animal and he really was not causing harm to anyone.

But we were concerned for his safety.

People were concerned.

There was a lot of misinformation out there.

There were threats to shoot Carmine.

He might've gotten hit by a vehicle.

He was going around a very busy part of town, 285, 75 part of town.

And so really for his own good, we intervened in his life but we also had a situation where we had a place to take him the Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary fortunately.

We had permission from the state.

So the stars aligned as I often say with Carmine which allowed us to intervene in this animal's life.

It was not easy it took us about six to eight weeks before we could actually capture him.

And, but we got him and we think that he's leading a better life now at Yellow River Wildlife Sanctuary - [Sharon] I did a show on the sanctuary.

That's the first time I saw Carmine.

I had worked with the coyote keeper, Abby Parton before and Brandon Sanders was on the team that captured Carmine.

- So just watch your step when you cross over.

- [Sharon] Yeah, Larry warned me about that.

- So I'll go in and see, hi guys?

All right, they're gonna be standoffish so you can come on in Brandon, Sharon, you can come on in too.

- All right, in the pen with coyote, coyotes.

The coyotes were nervous and none of us had any idea what they would do.

Abby and I sat on a log and waited.

You won't believe what happened.

- So he's sweet baby, oh, coyote kiss.

(indistinct) (indistinct) good, oh yes.

Oh, you're so precious.

(indistinct) you're so good.

Wiley, the female kept coming back for scratches.

Carmine kept his distance, but eventually he started making passes.

Then- - Wiley.

- [Sharon] As Abby is talking, this happened.

- (indistinct) Thursday, so Mondays we don't feed them because in the wild coyotes (indistinct).

- Oh my goodness.

- Oh you'll be such a good boy.

- Did that feel good?

- Oh now, yeah.

- Aha, now you want some scratches too.

- Yes, you're being so good.

I am so thankful you being such a good coyote.

Yeah you like a belly rub?

You wanna belly rub?

- Oh, now are you gonna be jealous that he's getting pets.

- [Sharon] Keep in mind, I am in a very controlled environment.

Don't ever approach a coyote in the wild.

(soft music) And then what no one could have expected.

Carmine came over and sat in front of me.

Coyotes looks soft and fluffy, but his hair is actually course.

Carmine and Wiley kept coming back for more.

You know, dinner time's just about coming up.

So this is what I wrote about these ears that are always up and that snout that's so pointed.

They're really beautiful animals.

I couldn't get enough of Carmine and he kept coming back to me.

Are you a good boy, are you?

Are you a good boy?

Are you a good boy?

I think you are.

I think you're a good boy.

(upbeat music) (indistinct) - That trot is what I get a kick out of.

You guys don't walk.

(upbeat music) We spent about an hour with the coyotes.

At times they were playful.

Wiley spent time sunning herself but this is what surprised everyone.

Carmine, the wild coyote trusting me this much.

(soft music) - Wiley, come on, come on.

Come on puppies, let's go.

Shift, one, okay, you're okay.

You're okay.

Good girl, good girl.

- [Sharon] We left them to a meal of pork tongues and eggs.

- Good boy.

- [Sharon] Brandon owns Sanders Wildlife.

Even as a professional, he was amazed at how hard it was to capture this coyote.

- So Carmine was definitely seemed and filmed on plenty of back porches playing with dogs.

And so he had a obsession with dogs for some reason.

Carmine was not the typical coyote.

So it was a couple months process of following Carmine.

Reports were coming in from Atlanta Coyote Project.

And each time we would work with that homeowner and set up our cameras, our traps in the backyard.

A lot of doggy doors.

A lot of- - So he was going through doggy doors?

- Yes, yes, he was found in a couple kennels sleeping one night.

So we had a trap set on one porch and then he was sleeping on another miles down the road sleeping in a kennel, you know?

So he had no fear when it came to dogs.

- So it was the dogs, not the people?

- Yes, it was the dogs that he was definitely attracted to.

- For those who just don't like coyotes and want trappers to get them out of the neighborhood, there's something you should know.

So Brandon, let's talk about the law.

Under the law, what does someone have to do if they trap a coyote?

- So under the law rabies, a coyote is a rabies vector species.

And any animals that is a rabies vector species, by law has to be put down once caught.

- Like killed.

- Like killed.

So there's no relocation.

There's no catching a coyote and taking it to a new fairy land that it's going to live off its life.

If you hire a company in the state of Georgia and most other States to come into tape recording, they will be put down.

- So a lot of people may not know this but a trapped coyote is a dead coyote?

And more than likely, this is the type of trap used.

It's called a toe trap.

- And of course, as you can see, it's very heavy duty springs in this.

So when this gets set, these teeth come out like this.

Now I'm not gonna set this off all the way but these will go down.

You got a trigger plate in the middle.

And what happens is they put their pol right in the middle of that trigger plate and the trap clamps them.

- And then they're stuck there with their pole?

- So this would be to a tree, you know, or into the ground.

And so now they're stuck there.

They can't go anywhere other than the distance of this.

And sometimes you might walk up to one of these traps and see a big bare area in the ground where this animal has stressed and just circled the area.

- And the timer doesn't have to check it for 24 hours, in that 24 hours- - Correct.

- Another animal could attack the coyote?

The coyote, do they ever try to chew their pile off?

- Yes, they do.

- An interesting note.

At the same time the Atlanta Coyote Project was trying to catch Carmine, some homeowners had hired trappers to get him.

- So we do not catch cayotes and relocate 'em for people.

We try to look at what the problem is.

And we look at different methods on keeping that cayote out of their backyard.

Different ways of them storing proper food.

So they have dogs, they have other animals.

Putting those food up in a secured area secured location to make sure the coyotes don't get to it and other animals.

So by doing those things you and in return really solve the problem if you have Cody's coming into your backyard - [Sharon] The coyote project says, "We can't trap all the animals out there.

There are humane ways to keep them out of your yard."

- I've learned they're very smart animals.

You know, we look at 'em and think they're dogs.

You know, 'cause they look a lot like a dog but there are a lot smarter than a dog.

And I love my dogs.

You know, I'm not one of these people who don't like dogs.

But they're very curious, they're very wary, they're always on the move.

They almost never sit still.

And they've always got this innate trot.

They never panic and run away from things because in urban situations, you don't wanna do that.

You might run into a situation that gets you run over into somebody's you know dogs' backyard or something like that.

But they're cautious but fascinating.

They know what's going on and disappear very quickly from people.

- American poet Hamlin Garland wrote, "Whenever the pressure of our complexity life, thins my blood and numbs my brain, I seek relief in the trail.

And when I hear the coyote wailing to the yellow dawn, my cares fall from me.

I am happy."

(coyote barking) I dare say I did not convince everyone to love coyotes.

That wasn't the point, but coyotes are here to stay and learning to co-exist with them, will only make our ecosystem stronger.

I'm Sharon Collins, we'll see you next time.

(soft music) - [Announcer] Funding for "Georgia Outdoors" has been made possible in part by the Imlay Foundation and from viewers like you.