Passport to Texas

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

If you live in an area that used to be coyote habitat –chances are it still is.

The coyotes are here to stay. Cities and private individuals – on a regular basis – try to remove the coyotes from an area. But the thing is – they are incredibly adaptable.

Brett Johnson is an urban wildlife biologist in Dallas County.

They can make a better living in an urban area than they can out in the country. There are more food resources available.

Such as bird seed with corn, and especially pet food left outdoors. The latter could put your pet at risk. Brett uses cats as an example.

The coyotes come in a few times and end up eating the cat food. Somewhere down the road, they come in and find the cat eating the cat food. How do most canines react when they find something else eating their food? At that point in time you may have just entered the cat as a prey species for the coyote when they realize, ‘Oh. They’re not that hard to kill.’

You control whether coyotes keep a safe distance or become a nuisance.

Do not let the coyotes become comfortable hanging around human inhabited areas; don’t make pets accessible to the coyotes; and overall, don’t make your living area attractive to the coyotes.

That’s our show…we had help today from Sarah Bibbs…our show is supported by the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program…which is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Urban Coyotes: Protecting Pets Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

When a coyote visits your neighborhood, don’t put out the welcome mat.

If the coyotes are coming into a residential area, and you see one, first off – try to scare it.

Brett Johnson is an urban wildlife biologist in Dallas County.

They’re not these frightening animals that are out to hurt you. So, if you see one, yell at it and either hit it with water from a water hose, or the other option is to throw something in its general direction. Be it a small stick, in some cases if you have to, even a small rock. Not something that’s going to hurt the animal…but just something where that animal feels a physical contact in addition to your yelling.

After creating this negative association with humans, try and figure out why they’re attracted to the neighborhood.

If they’re coming through a neighborhood and they’ve decided to stay there, usually that means they’ve found an abundant food source of some variety. And in an urban area, that usually means they’re going after pet food. So, there, the simple thing is, we have to change some of our human behavior and not leave a constant source of pet food outside all the time.

Tomorrow: protecting pets from visiting coyotes.

That’s our show…we had help today from Sarah Bibbs… the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our show…and is funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels…

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Urban Coyotes: Understanding Why They Stay Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife and the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration Program

You know the story: rural land inhabited by wildlife, developed for suburban life, receives unwelcome visitation by the previous tenants.

We can coexist with the wildlife in the urban areas, but to do so – in many cases – we need a change of attitude.

Brett Johnson is an urban wildlife biologist in Dallas County; he educates communities about wildlife — especially coyotes – that occasionally visit the hood.

People tend to have one of two reactions when they see a coyote. And those two reactions are, either they are afraid and back away from it, and basically allow the coyote to continue doing whatever it’s doing at that time. Or, they get all excited and want to see how close they can get to it.

Neither reaction is suitable when developing an appropriate human / coyote relationship, says Johnson.

Either one of those two reactions are going to cause the coyote to become more and more comfortable around humans.

Once these animals lose their fear of humans, they can become a nuisance. Tomorrow: dealing with coyotes.

If the coyotes are coming into a residential area, and you see one, first off – try to scare it.

That’s our show… we had help today from Sarah Bibbs… the Sport Fish and Wildlife Restoration program supports our show…and it’s funded by your purchase of fishing and hunting equipment and motor boat fuels.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Urban Coyotes: The Problem Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

Being a Texas Game Warden is an important and rewarding profession. Occasionally, though, it takes an outsider to recognize you have the right stuff to wear the badge.

When I was going to college, I studied a lot of science and as a Texan I grew up hunting and fishing. One of my professors actually was the one who thought I’d make a good Game Warden.

Kris Bishop, Assistant Chief of Fisheries Enforcement, outlines the steps involved in becoming a Game Warden.

To be a Game Warden, you have to have a four-year college degree. I would suggest anybody that’s interested in it look while they’re in college, even while they’re in high school, look into the program. We have internships and that would be helpful later on if you wanted to apply. Once you’ve finished your four-year degree, if you are accepted into the Academy, it’s about a seven month live-in academy, and they teach you everything about the Code of Criminal procedures, Penal code, and then animal identification.

Graduates of Game Warden Academy enforce all state laws.

Our primary objective is to enforce hunting, fishing, and water safety regulations. You’re a conservation enforcement officer, and then because you are a state peace office, you are responsible to know and be able to enforce all the laws of the state.

Details about Law Enforcement can be found on the Texas Parks & Wildlife website.

That’s our show for today…For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Becoming a Texas Game Warden Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download

Passport to Texas from Texas Parks and Wildlife

The mid-1990s saw the first wildlife trail completed along the Gulf Coast; today, with the help of detailed maps everyone can explore that first trail, as well as seven others that have followed it.

This summer we launched our final two Great Texas Wildlife Trail Birding maps. This brings the total of wildlife trail maps for the state of Texas to 8. We have 3 coastal birding trail maps, and then we (in 2004) launched 2 for the Heart of Texas, and one for the Panhandle. And now these final 2 are in the Pineywoods and the North Texas area of Dallas and Fort Worth. So we’re covering rural and urban areas state-wide.

Shelley Plant, Nature Tourism Coordinator.

The Great Texas Wildlife Trails are actually driving trails to sites along the road, so they’re things that you do in your car. They’re not a hiking or a walking trail. Texas was the first state that did birding and wildlife trails, and now many other states have followed that lead and there are wildlife trails throughout the entire nation now.

The trails provide economic incentive to landowners and communities to conserve habitat while providing ecotourism opportunities.

On the wildlife trail maps, there’s information about each site that tells you what time of year to go, what kind of habitat you’ll see, potential animals that you might run into while you’re at that site, and how to get there. Really this is the best way to discover everything that Texas has to offer in the outdoors.

Download or order your Texas Wildlife Trail map from the Texas Parks & Wildlife website.

That’s our show for today…with research and writing help from Loren Seeger.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti

Wildlife Trail Maps Hide Player | Play in Popup | Download