Coyotes spotted on Ocracoke

By Connie Leinbach

Coyotes have been spotted on Ocracoke, and, along with the destruction of sea turtle and bird nests on the beach, islanders are concerned about the possibility of coyotes venturing into the village and attacking island pets, community cats and chickens.

According to a letter written by a group of island sea turtle volunteers to Cape Hatteras National Seashore Superintendent Dave Hallac, “Visitors and residents have seen their tracks on the beach, and two were seen and photographed on a spoil island near South Dock. Two sets of tracks were also identified on the north end recently.

“Islanders have known about the single coyote that has been here for a couple of years, which jeopardized our nesting bird population. The addition of two more coyotes poses an even more urgent threat to the island’s delicate ecosystem and to the safety of both its wildlife and human residents.” (See entire letter below.)

These volunteers helped rescue sea turtles stunned by cold weather this winter and soon will help sit at the turtle nests on the beach when they are close to hatching, and they voiced concern for their safety.

Hallac, who said he has been involved in coyote management for over 20 years during his time at Everglades, Yellowstone, and now during the last decade, in the Outer Banks, said he is planning a public informational workshop, along with NC Fish & Wildlife, on coyote ecology and coexistence in August or September.  That date has not yet been set.

In an interview, he said that coyotes have been spotted in all of the local NPS parks: Fort Raleigh (in Manteo), the Wright Brothers Memorial in Nags Head and all along the Cape Hatteras National Seashore, which spans from Pea Island to Ocracoke.

“There has not been an injury to a human being in any of these parks over the last decade,” he said. “These parks have had tens of millions of visitors, and they rarely have interactions with coyotes.”

The NPS has turtle nest sitters throughout the Seashore and there have not been any “negative interactions between those nest sitters and coyotes over the last decade.”

In information he sent to the Ocracoke Observer, he said that coyotes are widespread in eastern N.C. 

“Coyotes are a native species,” he said.  “They appear well-established on Hatteras Island and on the islands in the northern region of Cape Lookout National Seashore. They swim and often disperse into new territories.”

He said that based on DNA testing of scat, there is more than one coyote on Ocracoke.

“However, even if we knew the number today, it could change rapidly as animals move back and forth from Lookout and Hatteras to Ocracoke,” he said. 

Coyotes travel long distances, he said, and therefore it would be natural to find coyote tracks along large sections of beach on Ocracoke or other beaches in the Outer Banks.

“I understand that it can be concerning when communities first start observing coyotes,” he said.  

He confirmed that a coyote did eat eggs from one nest on Ocracoke around July 4. 

“Coyote predation on sea turtle nests is not uncommon, not only at Cape Hatteras National Seashore, but along many sea turtle nesting beaches in the southeast U.S.,” he said, adding that this year about six nests have impacted by coyotes in the northern areas of the Seashore. 

“Over the last couple of years, we have between 13 and 24 nests impacted annually,” he said. 

On many of the nests, staff have installed predator guards, which are sections of fencing on top of the nesting area that physically stop coyotes from digging into the nest area and reaching the eggs. 

These have proven to be effective in limiting turtle nest loss, he said. 

Hallac said the Seashore has spent money on predator management for decades and those efforts have been successful in reaching their goals. 

“For many years, we had a full-time trapper and more recently we’ve hired USDA Wildlife Services staff and private trappers to assist with predator control,” he said. 

While the turtle volunteer group asked Hallac to “aggressively address this situation as soon as possible before the breeding and the expansion of the coyote population can occur by implementing appropriate wildlife management strategies,” he said the NPS does not do predator eradication, although they have removed hundreds and hundreds of predators like coyotes.

“It’s not our policy to remove all native species from the National Seashore,” Hallac said. “We’ve removed hundreds of raccoons, and for these animals that are fast reproducing, it’s nearly impossible to permanently remove them from the ecosystem.”

Predator management, he said, is focused on removing individual animals that are known to be causing an impact on specific shorebird nesting colonies, aggregations of turtle nests, or both. 

“We have employed a surgical approach to predator management,” Hallac said. “Our efforts were not designed to significantly reduce the populations of coyotes or other predators because substantially reducing the population or eradicating these animals has not been seen as practicable given their life histories.”

The scientific consensus from most wildlife biologists, including colleagues at the NC Wildlife Resources Commission (NCWRC), indicates that eradicating coyotes is generally not possible, he said. Moreover, coyotes are known to compensate for population loss by having larger litters.

“On Ocracoke you have two nearby sources on neighboring islands,” he said. “So even if every coyote was removed from Ocracoke, it’s likely that animals would continue to disperse from Hatteras and North Core Banks and immigrate to the island.”

As for islanders’ concerns about the village, “the best things they can do is to keep their pets inside and eliminate any pet or wildlife feeding outside. If you’re feeding pets outside, you’re going to likely have a problem.”

Hallac said his staff is working with researchers at N.C. State University on a study to estimate the population size by performing genetic analyses from scat samples, and he will share a final report when they receive it.

He also is looking into having U.S.D.A. Wildlife Services staff spend some time on Ocracoke to help the NPS better understand patterns associated with recent coyote observations.  

The NPS webpage with information on coyotes can be found here:
Coexisting With Coyotes – Cape Hatteras National Seashore (U.S. National Park Service)

Also, NCWRC has lots of information about coexisting with coyotes, including recordings from their workshops here: Coyote | NC Wildlife

According to the NCWRC: The coyote is classified as a carnivore, but it is an opportunistic feeder, meaning that a coyote will feed on a variety of food sources, depending on what is most readily available and easy to obtain. Primary food sources include fruit, berries, rodents, rabbits, birds, snakes, frogs, and insects, but they will scavenge on animal remains, including roadkill, as well as garbage and pet food left outdoors. Like many wild animals, the coyote’s diet varies with seasonal changes.

The NCWRC says the following:
“Coyotes survive anywhere where there are abundant food sources.

“Like other wildlife, coyotes are adapting to the urban-suburban environment and are opportunistic in finding food available in these places. Attacks on people, including children, are extremely rare. Normal coyote behavior is to be curious, but wary, when close to humans.”

Hallac recommends that individuals concerned about coyotes on their property contact the NCWRC.

A list of state-licensed trappers and others that may help control coyotes on private property here: Contact a Licensed Trapper | NC Wildlife

Walker Garrish, the owner of a new local pest control company on Ocracoke, Garrish Services, is certified in wildlife management.