A recent study of San Francisco Coyotes showed that they’re eating more human food than natural prey. One thing I noticed in the study was a high occurrence of menhaden, commonly used in pet food. That could come from food left for feral cat colonies, food for outdoor pets, or people feeding Coyotes pet food. The most common protein was chicken, like this Coyote is eating.
I’ve photographed this Coyote regularly. While it let me get closer than non-urban Coyotes, it had been skittish enough that I needed to create glancing encounters to get photos as our paths briefly approached but never quite crossed. That changed a couple weeks ago, with the Coyote displaying no fear even at very close range.
As the Coyote went about its morning, I watched it dig up some cached food and gulp it down in front of me. That’s a pretty cool thing to see, but the moment was ruined when I realized it was eating a big piece of cooked chicken. It could have gotten this chicken many different ways, but the most likely scenario is that someone is feeding it. There aren’t many other ways a Coyote living in a large urban park gets access to so much cooked chicken that it’s burying extras for later.
I reported that this Coyote is probably being fed to the city. I doubt much will come of it; not much has come of other feeding incidents in the city except when a Coyote has gotten so habituated that it’s led to conflicts that couldn’t be ignored. The city shared my report as a factoid in an article about the diet study, so they’ve at least taken notice. The city knows feeding goes on, but the question is how to get people to stop feeding and let Coyotes be Coyotes.