Chicago Coyotes Control Mice and Rats

Chicago let a pack of coyotes go in the city to control for rats and mice. Approximately 250 coyotes now roam the city streets, parks, and backyards. They’re tracked by GPS and roughly controlled by project managers.

From researchers at the Cook, Illinois Coyote Project:

We have tracked the coyotes day and night and located the collared coyotes more than 40,000 times. This allows us to peek into the hidden lives of urban coyotes. We use results from this unique project to answer common questions regarding coyotes in urban areas. Many aspects of coyote ecology have direct management implications. Although our study was focused on Cook County, Illinois, we believe the things we have learned about coyotes and people living together are indicative of many metropolitan areas in the Midwest and eastern United States.

This might be a “jobs created or saved” device (someone’s gotta move the critter-chasers around!), but what’s the under/over on how long before these coyotes get banned for doing damage of their own?

Here are some images from coyote-tracking software:

GPS Coyotes

(Yellow dots show the locations of Big Mama the Coyote, red dots that of her mate, the less anthropomorphically named Coyote #115. Image courtesy of The Cook County, Illinois, Coyote Project. Source.)

GPS Coyotes

Via Pruned.