HILLSBORO, Ohio — The sighting of coyotes and the howl of a pack are common occurrences in Ohio these days. The coyote has infiltrated all 88 counties since its arrival in the Buckeye State in 1919.

The predator has been vilified for killing and eating livestock, pets and the wild game Ohio sportsmen love to hunt. In recent years, Ohio has put forth incredible efforts to expand and enhance the abundant natural areas in the state and the wildlife that reside therein. This has innumerable benefits, but it can also lead to some challenges for agriculture.

Particularly in southeastern Ohio, livestock predation has been on the rise for farmers in recent years.

“I’ve lost a significant number of lambs and I have even lost a few ewes to what I think are coyotes. With the really young lambs, it is hard to tell. Sometimes you can’t even find them,” said Shawn Ray, who raises about 140 ewes in Noble County.

“Sometimes you never find the lamb, you just know you weighed and tagged this number at birthing time, and then a month or so later when you are doing vaccinations, you see that there are some missing. We live in a unique area where the bobcats, the coyotes and the red fox all seem to find a way to coexist. I think our deer herd and turkey population is being impacted, also.”

Like other affected farmers, Ray has implemented a combination of management practices, such as the use of guard dogs and donkeys to help minimize the problems. He and neighboring farmers have even resorted to trapping and snaring.

“We have caught a couple, but we have more than a couple out there. It is frustrating,” he said. “I think the volume of coyotes has increased. The dogs are out and active every night, but I think the coyotes have learned how to distract the dogs.”

Some wildlife experts say the coyotes are so plentiful the livestock are getting accustomed to their presence. Black vultures are also causing increasing livestock loss in Ohio.

“Belle Valley is five miles from me, and about three years ago they were trying to get ahead of the coyotes, and then black vultures took up nesting in that area. They totally changed their lambing operation on their research farm,” Ray said.

Jeff Pelc, USDA Wildlife Services biologist and district supervisor for southern Ohio, said coyotes are proficient at what they do, explaining there are plenty of other predators for producers to worry about.

“We have not had many complaints about bobcats,” he said. “We do have a report of poultry being killed. That is the only report that we have about bobcats. Will they become more of a problem in the future? Potentially, yes.

“The black vulture concerns and complaints have spread from southwest Ohio and followed the Appalachian Ridge up towards northeast Ohio. We have complaints as far north as Columbiana County about black vulture predation kills to livestock. I have seen them here in Franklin County and they are in Fairfield, Ross, Hocking and Vinton. There is also a high density of them in Brown and Highland counties.

“When the animals are still on the ground helpless, as they are being born, that is when the black vultures take advantage of the animals. They are gregarious by nature and they hunt in large groups. You have multiple birds that overwhelm the adult ewe or cow and take advantage of that situation,” he explained.

Pelc recommends an integrated approach for dealing with predation challenges.

“With any wildlife conflict, we recommend an integrated wildlife damage management approach. Use as many tools in the toolbox as possible, including harassment, husbandry practices and lethal removal for keeping that damage to a minimum,” Pelc said.

“Trapping or snaring works very well for coyotes. Those tools work 24 hours a day, seven days a week. With black vultures, harassment works very well.

“They are protected under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and they cannot be killed without certain permits. “We can get producers a federal depredation permit, which will allow them to remove a few of the vultures to aid in their harassment efforts. It is not going to allow them to shoot a flock of 40 or 50, but it allows them to shoot a few,” he said.

Ohio does have an indemnity program to reimburse livestock producers for losses to predation; unfortunately, it just has no funding. And even if the funding returned, farmers would have to go through the effort to keep the carcasses, even if they had the carcasses. With no funding, wildlife officials can only offer advice.

“The problem of predation still exists. It has not gone away since the indemnity program funding has gone away,” Pelc said. “There is no money in the indemnity program, but it does not relinquish the terms of the program.

“Producers should still call the wildlife officer or the county dog warden to fill out that paperwork. Without that there is no record of the losses. From there, we can provide some operational assistance for predation management.”