Wildlife Officials Outline Plan to Trap, Euthanize 'Troublemaker' Coyotes on Aquidneck Island

Local and state authorities have taken the first steps in executing a multi-faceted approach to reducing the population on Aquidneck Island.

Part of that plan will include a short-term approach—culling the problem coyotes that pose a greater threat to humans immediately in the more residential areas, through humane traps and euthanizing the wild animals, officials have agreed. The long-term part of the plan will involve passive coyote management practices that focus on educating the public, enforcing existing laws that prohibit wildlife feeding, possibly increasing fines for feeding wildlife, disposing of dead farm animals, livestock and wild animal carcasses rapidly, and more.

“Ultimately, the end result of all of this is that we want as little interaction between coyotes and humans as possible, but to start with, we’ll have to address the troublemaker coyotes,” State Sen. Lou DiPalma said.

On Monday morning, Sen. DiPalma (D-Dist. 12, Middletown, Newport, Little Compton, Tiverton) and state Rep. Deborah Ruggiero (D-Dist. 74, Jamestown, Middletown) pulled together a meeting of Aquidneck Island’s three police chiefs, state Department of Environmental Management (DEM) officials and local wildlife experts from the , Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge and the Narragansett Bay Coyote Study to reach a consensus on how to proceed and set the first stages of coyote management in motion.

“I wanted to make sure we were addressing both the short-term solutions to the problem and the long-term solutions,” DiPalma said in a later interview. “For some people, we’re going to be moving too fast and for others we’re going to be moving too slow. But we think this is the best way to proceed at this point.”

Dr. Numi Mitchell is leading the Narragansett Bay Coyote Study and, for the last few years, has been tracking coyote packs on Aquidneck Island through the use of special collars and global-positioning satellite (GPS) technology. She’s in agreement that the problematic coyotes are those that live in the more residential neighborhoods. They have grown unafraid of people because they have been “subsidized by people who feed them," she said.

At Monday’s meeting, Mitchell spoke to the difficulties of trapping coyotes and offered humane solutions for trapping and euthanizing the problem coyotes. She does not advocate for attempting to eliminate all of Aquidneck Island’s coyotes, but rather for instituting best management practices for coexistence.

“The coyotes that humans don’t run into, that people don’t see, are not the ones that should be taken out," she said. "They’re doing what coyotes should do. They are naturally afraid of people and they stay away on their own, and they are naturally fed."

Those “good coyotes” that tend to live away from people also help to keep the island's rodent and pest population down, as well as keep other predators away, she added.

Humans feeding the "bad coyotes" has also brought about the surge in the coyote population, Mitchell said, explaining that larger litters of up to seven pups have been seen among the more well-fed coyotes in the residential areas. Coyotes feeding off the land "naturally" tend to only have two pups. Without an abundant food supply, coyotes do not reproduce in such large numbers, or not at all, she said. Often they don’t carry their pups to term.

“What we need to do is reduce the food supply now,” she said. “If they are stressed, if they cannot find food, we know they will die off or even swim off the island if they have to.”

Aside from telling people to stop feeding the coyotes, another way to reduce the food supply is to round up the carcasses of dead deer, other wild animals and livestock before the coyotes get the chance to feed on them.

Officials at Monday’s meeting discussed expanding the state’s pilot “Safe Cycle” program, in which such carcasses can be quickly and safely disposed using a BioLiquidator machine that rapidly composts the carcasses into liquid fertilizer that can be used on non-organic farm crops. Currently, the only BioLiquidator machine is located at in Portsmouth. 

Last week, Mitchell and her team recovered and composted 23 deer from all over Rhode Island in one day’s run. Of those, about 10 were found partially consumed by coyotes, she said.

“This is hundreds of pounds of meat that we can take out of their food supply, while preventing the spread of disease and other problems these carcasses can pose,” Mitchell said.

The possible expansion of the Safe Cycle program will be discussed at a meeting with DEM officials in mid-March, she said.

In the meantime, DiPalma said DEM and the Aquidneck Island communities would begin stepping up their own public outreach campaigns in hopes of further cutting off the coyotes "subsidized" food supplies:

• The DEM will start reminding police departments in all 39 cities and towns in Rhode Island that licensed hunters may hunt coyotes 365 days per year, pursuant to the state’s rules and regulations.
• The Town of Middletown website was updated on Tuesday morning with a downloadable coyote management brochure with recommendations for the public. The three island communities might also consider sending out letters to be included with tax bills, DiPalma said.
• Residents are discouraged from feeding any wildlife—including feral cats.
• Pet owners are discouraged from leaving pet food outside.
• Residents are strongly encouraged to put their garbage out in the mornings, instead of the night before their scheduled curbside pickups. “If they absolutely have to put it out the night before, they should take steps to secure it so coyotes can’t get into it,” DiPalma said.

In the state General Assembly, some measures might require changes to some state laws related to trapping and/or hunting coyotes, as well as the structure for fines, DiPalma noted.

"We talked about possibly a graduated fine system for feeding wild animals," he said. "If the first fine is $100, then after that it might go up to $250 or then $500."

On March 24, Dr. Mitchell will give a presentation on coyote management practices at the in Middletown. The event is open to the public. Check the Patch calendar for updated information as it becomes available.