SWAMPSCOTT — Problem Animal Control Agent Dan Proulx, in the wake of two coyote attacks in the town in recent weeks, offered a series of tips for residents to help quell the growing coyote problem.
“We need to work as a team, as a group, as our own pack to keep them away from our living space,” said Proulx.
He said that the reason for the crisis was the combined effects of the pandemic – COVID restrictions when people were taking out food and leaving it outside, and “everything combined” produced the effect that the animal attacks increased.
“I did see the huge spiking of animal calls during and after COVID. I also think that a lot more people are working from home and seeing more from their homes,” he said.
Proulx said that he spoke to several police officers in the area and the common conclusion was that the major problems were caused by just one over-friendly coyote, maybe two, and the two recent bites might have been caused by the same animal, although it was hard to know for sure.
In a broader sense, except for the recent attacks, Proulx estimated that there might be four or five coyotes hanging around the North Shore. He also said that when somebody called him in other communities to say that they had seen a coyote in their backyard, he advised them to contact him again when the coyote returned, but nobody ever called back before two weeks after the first incident.
“It seems like they leave the area for two or three weeks, and they may not come back. That is how they go so many miles,” said Proulx. “I think there are four, maybe five that stay in the area.”
Proulx said that it might be a coyote family, and the pups in the coyotes’ families are pushed out late fall, but some may stay, and they do not venture very far in the very beginning, but eventually they will go “do their own thing.”
“So, they kind of wander around a lot,” said Proulx. “It may be up in Nahant right now going up to people, and then people be like, oh my God, these coyotes are everywhere, and they are going right up to people, when it might be the same or just two of them that are just ranging out for a while.”
Proulx advised some simple ways to deter the coyotes from frequenting the residents’ yards, for example, with spraying them with vinegar water or diluted vinegar from a Super Soaker, or a garden hose.
“Because of the vinegar smell, after the second time the coyote probably would not go back there,” said Proulx.
Proulx also recommended keeping away from the animals, because by now the animals have gotten used to co-existing with humans and not being afraid of them, while in fact most of the coyotes by nature “are extremely timid, even the ones that seem bold that come up to you,” said Proulx.
“They are just not used to people being aggressive towards them or approaching them, or using bolder techniques to get rid of them,” he said.
Another way of deterring an animal is to just spray it with water, which will not harm the animal, he said. Another possible way to keep the coyotes at a distance is to rearrange the furniture outside.
“They are very smart, and when they see the things rearranged that spooks them,” said Proulx.
He also suggested using Halloween motion activated props that are available online or at the seasonal Halloween stores, as a way to keep the coyotes away at night, or when residents aren’t home.
“You can put them in your backyard, move them around. They are motion activated, even at nighttime,” said Proulx.
Proulx also recommended using air horns, whistles, and basically making loud noises and bangs to scare the coyotes away.
Proulx reminded the audience that some of the coyotes might be infected with rabies, although he did not come across such coyotes in the area, and the rabies infected animals that he saw around here were “a few racoons.”
“But still it’s rare, but it doesn’t mean that it is not there,” said Proulx.
However, he remains positive about the town’s ability to solve the coyote problem.
“If everybody works together, we can live peacefully, and the coyotes can live peacefully too,” he said.
Oksana Kotkina can be reached at [email protected].
