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East County News ServicePhoto, left courtesy of Project Wildlife: Six of the coyote pups, prior to release
September 7, 2024 (Julian) -- Nine orphaned coyotes are back in the wild where they belong after being raised at San Diego Humane Society’s Ramona Wildlife Center. Project Wildlife’s staff released the coyotes on the Eagle Peak Preserve near Julian, in collaboration with the San Diego River Park Foundation.
The coyotes are about six months old. They all came in at different times between March and May, when they were approximately 4-6 weeks old.
San Diego Humane Society’s Project Wildlife staff bottle-fed these vulnerable pups at first, when they were too young to eat on their own. As soon as the coyotes were ready, the Project Wildlife team placed them together in an outside habitat and monitored them from a distance to avoid human imprinting.
To make a successful release possible, it is essential for staff to keep coyotes wild. The Project Wildlife team employs strategies to minimize the likelihood of coyotes imprinting on or habituating to humans, including dressing up in coyote masks and fur coats, spraying themselves and the bottle-feeding den with urine from other coyotes, and playing sound recordings of wild coyote howls and calls. These efforts were a success, allowing us to help all nine coyotes grow healthy and strong, and return to the wild.
Three of the nine coyotes were discovered under the deck of a home in Pacific Beach on March 27.
Two coyote pups were purchased on Offer-Up by a community member in Riverside County at the end of April. It was unclear how long they were in possession of the pups before coming to the Ramona Wildlife Center. Once they were weaned off formula, staff worked diligently to reaccustom them to wild behavior by introducing them to the other pack members in the outside habitat.
One coyote came from Jurupa Valley on May 4. The orphaned pup was cared for by a community member for several days before being taken to Western Riverside County Animal Hospital and eventually transported to the Ramona Wildlife Center.
The other three pups came from Beverly Hills, Valley Center and El Cajon. They were combined with each other and the three pups from Pacific Beach before moving to the outside habitat.
Photo, right: Project Wildlife volunteer releases a coyote pup near Julian.Since there are limited rehabilitation centers that accept orphaned coyotes in Southern California, the Ramona Wildlife Center works closely with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and other rehabilitators throughout California to find the best pack match for these pups, so that they can receive the appropriate conspecific socialization.
The Ramona Wildlife Center employs a variety of husbandry techniques that bring out the natural behavior of the pups. The goal is to teach them survival skills and set them up for success when they return to the wild.
Since the pups don’t have their parents anymore, the wildlife rehabilitation specialists become the teachers of these young animals. Staff practice natural history considerations when helping the coyote pups learn such as: hiding or burying food to find, spreading scents from the ambassador coyotes so they learn how to identify resident adult coyotes in various territories, providing scents from potential prey animals that they might find in the wild, and giving lots of shelter and grassy hiding spots to rest and stay cool in the summer.
The staff utilize trail cameras to remotely monitor behavior and interactions between the coyote pups, to not only keep human exposure to a minimum, but to also help them determine when it’s best to return these pups to the wild.
About the author:
San Diego Humane Society’s Project Wildlife program is the primary resource for wild animal rehabilitation and conservation education in San Diego County. Each year, the organization gives more than 10,000 injured, orphaned, and sick wild animals a second chance. At the Ramona Campus, which they have been operating since 2020, SDHS specializes in caring for native apex predators and birds of prey, including hawks, owls, eagles, coyotes, bears, bobcats and, under special case-by-case authorization, mountain lions.
Comments
dear God
they even save coyotes in San Diego~
perky varmants
i'd grab my rife; i got chickens!