Photo Provided A coyote in a field awaits its next meal in this image shared by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources on its website.

MARTINS FERRY — Belmont County Sheriff’s Department Lt. Thomas DeVaul urges the public not to fear coyotes despite the fact that they are seeing and hearing them more often.

Several Belmont County residents took to social media recently to share pictures of coyotes walking around residential areas.

“To a human being or a larger animal, they are no threat unless you corner them,” DeVaul, commander of the sheriff’s department’s Dangerous Wild Animal Response Team, said.

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, coyotes are not native to Ohio. Instead, they for centuries lived in the desert Southwest and spread eastward as land was cleared and large predators were removed from areas that were being settled. By the 1930s they had arrived in Ohio and, by 1988, had spread across the state and become a common presence.

DeVaul added that although people may be alarmed because they are encountering the animals more frequently, it is not uncommon to see coyotes walking around in populated areas.

“They’ve always been in the residential areas. It’s just, I think, that people are noticing them more,” he said. “They are somewhat territorial because at a few of the farms that I hunt at, we trap the coyotes and we’re not seeing them like we used to. But if you go a couple of miles down the road you’ll see a healthy population of them.”

He added that he believes the only change in their status locally is that people just happen to be noticing them more than normal.

“They’re not coming in because they’re starving or anything like that. They’re just traveling,” DeVaul said. “Just because one is seen on the outskirts of town doesn’t mean that they’re a threat. They’re a scavenger animal, but just like any other animal if you corner them or put them in great fear they will attack.”

He added that he believes there is no need for residents to be frightened upon seeing a coyote in their yard. He recommends that anyone who comes into contact with a coyote should yell at it in an attempt to scare it away. He compared it to scaring away a large dog.

“As long as a coyote has an escape route, once you scare it, it’s going to run,” DeVaul said. “It’s not the blood-thirsty savage that everybody thinks it is.”

According to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the coyote is primarily a nocturnal animal, active during the nighttime hours. That is when many local residents are hearing groups of them howling and calling to one another.

However, when they are less threatened by humans, coyotes will hunt and move from place to place during the day. Resident coyotes form packs, which generally consist of an unrelated alpha pair and several subordinate adults. Coyotes are known to be scavengers and primarily eat small mammals such as mice, rabbits and other rodents.

“Coyotes are like a skittish dog. But like anything else, if your dog’s outside it may chase it and that coyote may turn and defend itself. If you have cat’s outside, it’s a possibility that they may go after it. But they mainly go after the mice, chipmunks, rabbits, possums, raccoons — they’re more of a scavenger,” DeVaul said. “In the springtime and even now, a lot of farmers are starting to have calves. They’ll go and look for those defenseless calves because a lot of those calves are so small. But really what they’re looking for is the afterbirth, they love the afterbirth.”

He added that for the most part, a mother cow will chase coyotes away, but he recommends farmers be aware and vigilant while looking after newborn calves.