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Tips and Articles Natural Migration or Illegal Introduction? by Jim Slinsky Driving home from the rifle range just a few nights ago I saw another outsized coyote looking creature cross the highway and walk off into a pasture. A car stopped on the other side of the highway and tracked the animal with a spotlight. This animal was not in rush, but kept looking back toward the source of the light. This was the sixth coyote-like animal I have seen within a few miles of my house in the last six months. I am frantically putting a new rifle together to resolve this problem. Similar sightings are being reported from all corners of this state. One can not discuss these sightings without asking where did these animals come from and how did they get here? We have all heard the natural migration story, but many, including myself are not picking up what state agency officials are putting down. Although, I can not say with great certainty at this point how they really got here, I can now say with reasonable certainly how they did not get here. That was the point of radio interviewing coyote researchers from Maine. The first of two shows will be posted on my site momentarily. The first documented sighting of a western coyote in the eastern US occurred in New York in 1920. For decades afterward sightings were rare until the 1960’s. By the 1970’s coyote sightings escalated significantly in PA and NY. An interesting point is that even these early specimens exhibited wolf-like characteristics. Unfortunately, I don’t believe sophisticated DNA testing was available at that time. Did these animals actually migrate from our mountain states and/or Canada clear across our country and a dozen different states in the process? I’d say and so do some researchers that the natural migration theory is a stretch. The obstacles to overcome over a 2000 mile journey make the Colorado coyote immigrating to PA a long shot. More importantly, if natural migration was a reality a PA coyote would weigh 35-45 lbs and look exactly the same as a Colorado coyote. They do not. If coming from Canada these animals would need to cross the St. Lawrence River. This is no short swim, with or without the icebreakers. Experts agree on these points. And, what about the size of these animals, you ask? Some would like you to believe the natural selection process has taken place and the eastern coyote has grown to larger proportions because it eats deer and not jackrabbits. This one is another stretch. The natural selection process takes literally thousands of years to impact a species. It is more than likely that wolf genes are real cause of these outsized specimens. How about the theory that wolves interbred with western coyotes to form this unique eastern coyote? This one is another stretch. Wolves kill coyotes on contact. Coyotes will allegedly breed with dogs, but wolf and coyote natural get togethers are as likely as a Hatfield and McCoy wedding. Is the picture coming together? As we explore objectively and scientifically every excuse we have heard for the existence of coyote/wolf hybrids in the eastern US, we encounter a highly unlikely, near impossible set of assumptions. By the process of reasonable elimination, common sense and circumstantial evidence, natural migration was and is not feasible. Neither is a naturally occurring coyote/wolf hybrid. Let us not forget that in scientific terms there is really no such animal as an eastern coyote. They did not exist in the east, pre-Columbian. The eastern coyote is a slang word for this animal whose origin is still a riddle. When you break it all down, there is only one plausible explanation for the existence of this animal – the hand of man. Artificial crossbreeding and illegal introduction rises to the top as the most likely scenario for their presence in the East. Many will balk at that theory, but careful review of the facts points us in that direction. There are four laboratories in this nation that can determine the DNA of coyote/wolf hybrids. We can now establish if an animal was raised in captivity by analyzing its’ blood for vaccinations and inoculations. By all reasonable deduction, the so-called eastern coyote qualifies as an invasive species quite possibly introduced by the hand of man with the intention of impacting deer populations and thus our tradition of deer hunting. It is time for the PGC to conduct DNA testing and help resolve this forty-year fairytale of the origin of the so-called eastern coyote.. Jim Slinsky is the host and producer of the “Outdoor Talk Network”, a nationally syndicated, outdoor-talk radio program. For a station near you or to contact Jim, visit his website at www.outdoortalknetwork.com