Wildlife 38 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine 38 p o r t l a n d monthly magazine looking at you all wrong. God’s Dog “S imilarly to tigers living in cit- ies in India, coyotes in urban ar- eas find small green spaces to live and reproduce, coming out at night when we’re in bed,” says conservation biol- ogist Geri Vistein, founder of coyotelivesin- maine.com. But Vistein is quick to point out the canis latrans is no urban interlop- er. Coyoti is an ancient creature, named by the Aztecs and revered as a trickster god in Native American mythology. “The coyote has been here since the first people crossed the Bering Sea into the Americas,” she says. “In fact, archaeologists have found coyote bones in New England from 30,000 years ago–predating the Ice Age.” Until the early 19th century, Maine’s mountains and dense forests were the king- dom of the gray wolf, while coyote territory mainly stretched west from Illinois to the Rocky Mountains. When human predation decimated the two million-strong nation- al gray wolf population, there left a gap for the infinitely adaptable coyote to make its return to New England, bringing with it a whisker of its lupine cousin. “Canada didn’t destroy its wolf population to the same ex- tent we did,” Vistein says. “As a result, some of the few remaining males wolves in the Ontario region mated with coyotes. You can see this in the larger jaw muscles that allow them to take down larger prey. Our coyotes carry a mix of wolf genes, but they are coyote, coyote, coyote. The wonder and wisdom of nature saw a space to fill, allow- ing the species to adapt and survive.” This innate knack for survival in a changing world has seen the coyote flourish where others like the gray wolf have fallen. Vis- tein emphasizes the animal’s intelligence, too. “Coyotes used to have relatively har- monious relationship with Native Ameri- can tribes. They knew where people were, rodents would be. I work with a farmer in Maine who, during the summer haying season, will start up his tractor at night and see the coyotes appear like clockwork in his headlights, waiting for the machine to flush animals out of the dry grass.” In the Neighborhood For those of us living in the comfortable cushion of urban and suburban communi- ties, stepping out at night in our slippers, per- haps, to put out the garbage or sneak a sur- reptitious smoke, the flash of a pair of wild eyes can send a jolting moment of primi- tive fear through our bodies–a quick blast of Freud’s Uncanny. National organizations like Project Coyote and Urban Coyote Ini- tiative aim to redress the hostility felt toward the beasts living in the margins of our cities. “By eliminating natural predators and natu- ral barriers of habitat, humans have literally paved the way for coyotes to explore new ter- ritories, including the prairies of suburban lawns and the forests of skyscrapers in cities,” reads the mission statement on Urban Coy- ote Initiative’s webpage. The reasons for wildlife residing and re- producing in places like Portland are “com- plex,” according to Gardoqui. “Chances are, the abundant food resources are a big draw. Cities have a lot of ‘live’ foods like squir- rels, mice, birds, and rats as well as a some ‘non-live’ food sources wasted by humans,“ he says. These appear particularly delicious to coyotes in April, when male and female pairs are raising litters of pups. However, they’re a lot less likely to grab a quick take- out from your garbage than a raccoon. An Urban Coyote Initiative study of over 1,400 subjects showed coyotes supplement their diet with only 1.3 percent of our discarded lettuce heads and diet shakes. As for any threat to us and our be- loved Fido and Felix, “The risk of humans or their pets being harmed by wild coy- otes is very, very slim,” Gardoqui assures. There has only been one reported human fatality caused by a coyote attack, in 1981. When it comes to our fluffy family mem- bers, awareness is key. “I’ve seen how pet owners have become a lot more responsi- ble in the 27 years I’ve lived in Maine,” Vis- “We’ve had coyotes, bear, and moose all spotted within half a mile of the Casco Bay Bridge.” –Corey Hamilton