Changing of the guards
As part of my coyote intervention work, I’ve been following a pair of coyotes living in a small town in Northern California. I first determined they were a mated pair when I documented them marking the boundaries of their territory in 2023.
Coyotes are considered 100% monogamous. When a male and female pair up, they establish a territory and defend it against all other coyotes. Informally, I refer to coyote couples as the "king" and "queen", as they rule a kingdom. It seems to resonate with people. In this case, their kingdom encompassed most of the town - about half a square mile.
Through the year, I tracked this pair's activity using a small network of trail cameras, and reports from the community. Over time, I learned to recognize the matriarch by her slightly stiff gait and the way she carried herself.
Coyotes don’t travel in packs like wolves. Their family groups are usually small - sometimes just the two. But the couples tend to stay close together. One of my favorite images shows the two of them heading out, side by side, for an evening in search of rats and rabbits.
In March 2024, I began noticing subtle changes. The matriarch was moving more slowly, she often lagged behind her partner, and looked rounder through the belly.
On April 1, the pair welcomed what may have been their first litter together: five pups.
They were devoted parents. The male brought food back to the natal den while the female stayed with the newborns.
Then, just days later, the weed-whackers came.
I tracked the frantic parents as they moved their pups from one place to another, and another, trying to find a safe place, but each time being frightened off.
Eventually, I caught up with them. She had finally found shelter beneath the deck of a hillside home. One of the cameras even captured the female returning home to feed the little ones.
As the days grew longer, the pups grew into healthy adolescents. By late summer, sightings increased, which is normal. The “teenage” coyotes began exploring their territory, often during the day, as they prepared to strike out on their own. We lost at least one pup to a vehicle strike, which is a common fate for young coyotes in an urban landscape.
Then, in the middle of October, I received a call from a resident reporting a dead coyote in his yard. I assumed it would be one of the juvenile. Instead, it was the male — the king. Mouth open, legs rigid, and his tail curled, clear signs that his death had been excruciatingly painful.
Toxicology confirmed he had ingested poison. His system contained six different rodenticides, some had been banned since January, 2021. Rat poison helped kill the very animal that was controlling the local rat population. His story, HERE.
Life went on for the female. Over the winter she found a new mate, and the pair had pups of their own the following spring. As the months passed, sightings increased again in late summer, as they always do.
During this time, I met a resident who had been nervous about the coyotes at first. But as she became more familiar with them, she began to see the female in a different light. Seeing her resting quietly under the lemon tree brought a sense of calm instead of concern.
Then, on October 13, she reported finding a dead coyote in her backyard. The animal was collected and taken to a nearby wildlife center.
Because of its small size - only 18 pounds - it was initially assumed to be a juvenile. I asked the admitting clinic to check for a mark on the right ear. It was her - the matriarch - the queen.
We made arrangements to have her body shipped to the state lab for a full necropsy and toxicology workup.
The results were painful to read.
Rodenticides were listed as the cause of death. She had been exposed to multiple "rat" poisons including bromethalin - a neurotoxin. She was also suffering from other conditions consistent with prolonged poisoning. Her death was almost certainly slow and extremely painful.
Losing an animal you’ve come to know - even from afar - is hard enough. But what makes her death even more heartbreaking is that it was entirely preventable.
Since the 1950's, when the first anticoagulants were first developed, we have known that rodenticides don’t solve rodent problems. That is the plain and simple truth. Yet the pest control industry - and the regulatory agencies that oversee it - continue to promote these products as “safe,” and the "standard" despite the well-documented catastrophic impacts on our nation’s wildlife and ecosystems.
The death of this coyote (and her partner the year before) also signals something else troubling: these poisons are being used illegally, and likely improperly. The extremely high concentrations found in her system suggest misplacement or misuse - posing risks not just to wildlife, but to dogs, cats, and even children. But will the people care enough.
Under a waning harvest moon, I said goodbye to this resilient female whose lineage will ripple through the landscape for generations to come, with thoughts that perhaps one of her offspring will becomes the new keeper of this kingdom.
UPDATE: We were contacted by the Marin County Department of Agriculture which oversees the use of pesticides in the county and they will be conducting an investigation into these deaths. Stay tuned!
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