EL PASO, Texas (KTSM) — Residents far East El Paso in the Eastlake/Mission Ridge area have been encountering wildlife near their homes, specifically coyotes, as construction in the area has ramped up dramatically in the past few years.
“We could be out here enjoying the night or doing yard work or gardening, whatever the case may be out in our backyard, and I could just look over the wall and you could see a pack of them (coyotes) walking together,” said Erika Joann Apodaca, an El Pasoan who has lived in the area for nearly 15 years.
Just a couple of months ago, Apodaca’s backyard camera captured the moment a coyote jumped over her brick wall and started chasing her small Yorkie dog early in the morning before she went outside and scared it away.
Courtesy: Erika Joann Apodaca
“We see them (coyotes) all the time, so it wasn’t necessarily surprising to me, but I was just like, ‘Oh my gosh, what do we do now? We have the doggy door for that reason.’ But now that there’s construction happening, it’s moving the wildlife back this way. And of course, there’s homes here and all the construction is just bringing that this way,” Apodaca said.
Apodaca has a small pet door in her home which she opened routinely in the morning before heading for work so that her dogs could go outside when they needed to.
Since then, Apodaca said she was more weary of opening the pet door when it was dark outside. Her Yorkie turned out fine after the incident, but Apodaca said just a few years ago she had another Yorkie dog that was killed by a snake in her backyard.
Large warehouses have been built behind Apodaca’s home over the past few years. There is still a patch of desert against her brick wall, but Apodaca said she sees more wildlife near her home than when it was all just desert.
“None of these buildings existed. It was primarily dirt. I would get lost coming home because I didn’t know my way. And it was just dirt everywhere,” Apodaca said.
She said she likes that more stores and other businesses have been built near her home since she doesn’t have to drive as far now. But now she has to be more vigilant about wildlife.
“If you’re moving these buildings in, you have to think, ‘Where are these animals going?’ Well, they have to go wherever the food sources or the water sources are,” Apodaca said. “So my take was ‘OK, so this is happening.’ Let me put it out there so I can warn people to just be more careful with their dogs if they have any.”
Lois Balin, an urban biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), said coyotes are extremely adaptable and get easily accustomed to humans unless they are taught not to like humans.
“With the loss of habitat and habitat fragmentation, they’re just moving into areas closer to the city for possibly a lack of habitat or to exploit free resources that they can get from neighborhoods like free water or pet food or other things that can attract the coyotes,” Balin said.
Balin said people in these areas should avoid leaving out pet food or water outside that may attract coyotes, especially when it is dark when the coyotes tend to be more active.
“If you’re going to be feeding wildlife, things that are going to attract rodents, which is one of their favorite foods to eat, you need to stop doing that. If you’re feeding birds and you’re not keeping them clean, and that seed is spilling out on the ground, well, that’ll attract rodents, and so that’ll attract the coyotes,” Balin said.
Balin said bigger dogs should fare well in scaring coyotes away but recommends that people with smaller dogs keep them indoors when it is dark outside.
If someone were to spot a coyote near their home, Balin said people should take advantage to send a clear message to the animal that they are not welcome.
“You can begin teaching him that he’s not welcome by shouting at him, yelling at him, making yourself big. And if that doesn’t work, you can do adverse conditioning, where you’re actually making contact with the coyote, like throwing rocks and throwing sticks. If the coyotes are not responding and they’re still coming, you have to get more aggressive, using paintball guns, less lethal rounds,” Balin said.
Balin said it’s a great idea for neighbors to caution each other if they do spot any wildlife that may pose a threat to them or their pets.
Balin said habitat fragmentation is very common as El Paso continues to grow, and that it is important for people to know that wildlife does not want to interact with humans and are really just searching for a new habitat as they get pushed out with urban development.
She also said there are steps El Paso and developers could take to help mitigate issues like these.
“Doing conservation development is a wonderful thing that developers could do. So when they’re developing, they can leave the natural arroyos and leave in a certain amount of natural wild habitat for these animals to live in. But when they just clear cut everything in their construction, they’re removing everything. So these animals have nothing to go to. So conservation and development practices could be really, really important for us in El Paso,” Balin said.
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