Rats or Coyotes?

[Jiggers]

If you think that hiring people and have them kill coyotes is going to solve anything in West Seattle? better think again.

article,

http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/local/coyote-killings-may-be-cause-rat-increase-bainbrid/nQDSS/

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND, Wash. —

A biologist on Bainbridge Island suspects the rat population is on the rise because the number of coyotes in the area is down. The West Sound Wildlife Shelter takes in 1,000 creatures every year, many needing medical help.

But lately, there have been some uninvited guests. For the first time in a decade, rats have been trying to get into the shelter. Mike Pratt has set a trap and cleared brush away from the building so that hawks and owls could take care of the problem for him. “I just gave them dinner, is all I did,” said Pratt. Pratt suspects the rat population is up all across Bainbridge Island because his shelter has seen a 75 percent jump in complaints. “People have been shooting and poisoning and killing a lot of coyotes on the island,” said Pratt.

In an effort to protect pets and chickens, islanders have been killing off coyotes. Pratt said normally, up to 40 percent of a coyote’s diet is rodents. “Maybe we should leave the coyotes alone,” said neighbor Jean Janich. Janich said she’s taken down her bird feeders after neighbors reported rat problems. “We had three (rats) that would come right up to our window,” said Sarah Larson. Larson said when traps didn’t work, her father shot a couple rats with a BB gun. Some pest control companies reported a jump in business on the island, where Chris Curtin is working at least three days a week, setting out bait boxes and rat traps.

He said others from the company are working on the island as well. “It’s been year round and it’s been pretty busy,” said Curtin. Another theory about the rise in the rat population is that the last two winters have been relatively mild, so more rodents survived and successfully reproduced on Bainbridge Island.

Share This

[hammerhead]

I would take coyotes over rats any day.

Good article.

Share This

[jwws]

Agreed – boo rats, yeah coyotes

Share This

[redblack]

yeah. rats – or maybe big field mice – have invaded my property. time to kill the english ivy once and for all, instead of just keeping it beaten back.

the worst part is, they’ve started taking bites out of my tomatoes as soon as they get a little color on them.

so, yeah, jiggers. send the coyotes over to my place. the cats stay indoors, anyway.

Share This

[funkietoo]

Feed the coyotes rats…not your cats (or small dogs). Keep your cats or provide them with an outdoor enclosure. Can even leash train them.

Share This

[DBP]

Lincoln Park was swarming with rats a couple of years ago. People had been feeding the squirrels, leaving peanuts on the fenceposts and such, and the rats apparently capitalized on that.

Since then coyotes must have come in, because I don’t see any more rats at LP. Not too many squirrels either, for that matter.

Of course, coyotes can become a pest species, too, and it looks like they’re doing just that in Seattle. In the next couple years, expect to see a major “Do Not Feed the Coyotes” public education campaign.

Now this . . .

http://tinyurl.com/load-oo-lunna-load-oo-lunna

Share This

[happy hour]

We need a program to bring the coyotes to downtown seattle at night. :-) Especially under the viaduct and on the stair climb by zig zag bar. OMG. I stopped going there years ago. The rats were swarming everywhere Living in foliage by day Very aggressive too.

Share This

[datamuse]

I have a buddy who could use some coyotes up in Everett. Between him and his neighbors they’ve killed 40 rats this year.

Share This

[anonyme]

DBP, you mentioned something I noticed a few weeks ago. Used to be that you were greeted by bands of begging squirrels upon walking into Lincoln Park. Now you hardly see any.

Share This

[oddreality]

I miss the squirrels and I miss the foxes. I’d rather have cats catching the rats and mice than the coyotes. When we moved here over 32 years ago there were very few coyotes…in fact I do not remember hearing about any ~ not that there were not any we just did not hear about it.My cats stayed out a lot back then as did the neighbors and we had very few rats and mice. We found dead ones in the yard the cats kept that rat /mouse population down.We find them in our house now..ick..they never used to make it this far.Cats got them!!Now the coyotes eat the cats and cats have to stay in because supposedly *they* eat too many songbirds at people feeders [the experts say feeders are bad for birds due to disease spread through them causing bird deaths and are an un-natural food source. They do better without feeders. Feeders are fun but they are put up for selfish human reasons birds do not need them..plus they make easy pickings for other creatures inlcuding hawks. We quit putting out bird seed due to the hawks catching so many other birds and reading how bad it is to put it out.Birds still come to use the bird bath and eat the bugs in the shrubs.They do not miss the feeders. Bring back the outdoor cats and thin out he coyotes. Too many and I love wildlife but not some that is diminishing all the other wildlife.

Share This

[Author]

Posts