Coyotes and foxes roaming more around SC homes. Here’s why and how to keep pets and yards safe

If you’ve encountered a canine visitor in your yard or on your house’s camera, there are a few usual suspects in South Carolina.

The Palmetto State is home to three species of furbearers you might mistake for a stray dog: coyotes, red foxes and gray foxes. All three are out roaming more than usual.

Here’s how to tell the difference and how you can keep unwanted explorers off your property.

What’s in your yard?

Foxes and coyotes share narrow snouts, pointed ears and bushy tails, but their sizes are different.

“A coyote is kind of a German shepherd-type looking animal, that kind of similar shape to it,” said South Carolina Department of Natural Resources Furbearer Project leader Jay Butfiloski. “They’re not exceptionally large animals, but they look kind of like a medium-sized dog.”

Coyotes typically weigh 30 to 45 pounds, according to SCDNR, and stand about 23 to 26 inches at the shoulder. Foxes, on the other hand, stand 15 or 16 inches at the shoulder and weigh between 7 and 13 pounds.

“Foxes are much smaller,” Butfiloski said. “You’re talking about a 10-to-12-pound animal, but they’re kind of long-legged from their size, so they look a little bigger, but they’re definitely thinner.”

While the red fox has black legs, a white-tipped tail and a distinctive orange or red coat, both coyotes and gray foxes can have reddish fur as well. The gray fox’s rusty coat around its face, neck and ears sometimes leads to misidentification, but when in doubt you can identify a gray fox by its black-tipped tail.

Why are you seeing more foxes and coyotes in SC now?

According to Butfiloski, you’re most likely to see foxes and coyotes when activity increases in the summer months, during pup-rearing season, or the winter months, during mating season.

But that’s not the only reason you might see a coyote or a fox this winter. Both animals tend to be more active from dusk until dawn. As sunset comes earlier with the onset of daylight savings, human schedules overlap more with the animals’ activity.

The decrease in foliage in the colder months also contributes to sightings. With less vegetative cover, foxes and coyotes are more exposed to the human eye.

Outside of just the winter months, technology has increased domestic wildlife sightings because more homes are equipped with cameras than ever before.

“It’s not really a new phenomenon,” Butfiloski said. “They’ve always been there, you just never saw them because you weren’t looking at 3 in the morning. Now, boom, you get notifications to your phone that something came through your yard at 3:00, which normally you would have never known about.”

How can you protect your pets?

Neither coyotes nor foxes pose much danger to humans, but they are wild animals and should be treated as such.

While smaller animals like chickens and rabbits are vulnerable to foxes, only coyotes are dangerous to larger pets and livestock. Butfiloski said coyotes may attack pets more during the pup-rearing and mating seasons.

“With the breeding season, it’s more of a competition thing because, for all practical purposes, they’re a glorified dog, so in a lot of cases, they have very dog-like behavior,” Butfiloski said.

During pup-rearing season, coyotes might act extra-protective and be more aggressive, while male coyotes may be more territorial during mating season.

“I’ve always told people, just like if you walk your dog down the street and encounter another strange dog, sometimes you don’t know what’s going to happen. Maybe nothing, they may just kind of size each other up, go about their business, or there may be a fight.”

If you can, bringing your pets in at night will keep them safe from the canine hunters. It’s also a good idea to be prepared on walks with pets and treat coyotes like an unfamiliar dog.

“Keep them on a short leash where you can pull them up if you need to. As far as coyotes go, you don’t turn and run because sometimes it can trigger a pursuit instinct,” Butfiloski said. “Just like when you encounter another strange dog, you pick your pet up and you just start backing up, keeping your face to them.”

How can you keep your yard safe?

If you’ve seen coyotes or foxes in your area, there are a few ways you can deter visits.

“A fence is not a guarantee, but it does help,” Butfiloski said. While gray foxes and coyotes are skilled climbers,“they have to be sufficiently motivated to want to get in that fence to do it.”

Clearing brush and hiding spots also makes your yard less attractive to foxes and coyotes. In addition to providing a place to lounge during the day, underbrush can be a great place to find food for a coyote or fox because smaller animals like rabbits hide in the vegetation.

If you’re trying to keep coyotes and foxes away, you should also make sure you’re not leaving any food out. While you might consider scraps in your trash can garbage, for a wild animal they can make a meal.

Animal feed is another attraction for hungry coyotes and foxes. Even bird seed can attract them and, beyond the food itself, the predators might make a meal of the animals you’re trying to feed.