Coyote conspiracy theories
Everyone loves a good conspiracy and apparently there are no shortage of them when it comes to exactly how coyotes have established themselves in Baltimore County and other places in the state.
Stephanie Koenig, a Timonium resident, said she was told one such rumor after a deer fawn was reportedly killed by a coyote in her front yard. (You can read that story here.)
She said a neighbor “mentioned that coyotes are released far off in the county to control the deer population, but they can travel many miles very easily.”
The story struck Koenig as odd, and her instincts are right, says Paul Peditto, director of the state’s Wildlife and Heritage Service.
“Absolutely no truth to the rumor that anyone has relocated coyotes to the region,” Peditto wrote in a e-mail response to my questions. “I’ve heard that we did it in the dark of night; we used unmarked Ryder trucks; we pitched them out of low-altitude aircraft, etc. While it all sounds like a fun project for a wildlife manager, it’s all just bad rumor.”
Peditto wrote that the coyote is both highly adaptive and efficient and “their search for new territory brought them here through time (decades)” from their traditional ranges in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Virginia.