Golfers on lookout for one wiley coyote

Maybe no one's looking for a coyote as a golfing buddy, but at least he keeps to himself during the day.

Managers and residents have noticed that a new, uninvited club member has been lurking at the Island Country Club early this month and the club is trying its best to help the four-pawed intruder find a home where he doesn't unnerve the club's members.

"He's been on the golf course for a few weeks and we have reason to believe he's killed a few ducks," said Wayne Kappauf, the golf course superintendent.

Not to mention a cat.

Kappauf responded to an e-mail June 14 from a woman about the remains of her pet that were found on the course.

Before his suspicions were confirmed, management at the course thought that the eagles that frequent the area were responsible for the killings until the animal was actually seen during the daytime. Coyotes are nocturnal animals, so it is difficult to catch a sighting of them in daylight.

"We looked in some areas where we thought he might be hiding during the day and we did see him," he continued.

The animal first frequented the golf course last fall and disappeared with Hurricane Wilma's arrival. During the coyote's first visit, managers contacted Animal Control and the Marco Island Police Department.

"He showed up last year for a short time and we called Animal Control and the police but they wouldn't help us with it."

According to Collier County officials, the Domestic Animal Services department will only capture domesticated animals.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) referred them to a trapper from an agency named Animal Rescue last week to capture and release the coyote. Attempts have so far been unsuccessful.

"I think they're pretty smart animals," Kappauf said. "We've had traps set and he hasn't gone in (them)." The trapper has thus far utilized a tripped and baited cage to try and capture the animal, but they suspect he's only stealing food from it.

"The trapper, after a couple of days, decided he's going to need another way to try and snare him," Kappauf said.

Coyotes are a non-native species to Florida and, after migrating east from the Western U.S. in the 1960s, they finally reached the north region of the state in the 1970's. They further penetrated Florida when they were illegally trucked into the state and released.

One report states that a fox hunter in Polk County released them when he thought he was replenishing a depleted fox population with a breed known as a "black fox," which was in fact a western coyote. They are highly adaptable animals and most wooded and farmed areas will support them, making eventual occupation of the state likely, according the FWC's Web site.

Their food sources are generally small animals and carrion, though they have been known to kill cows and sheep. With an appearance similar to a shepherd dog breed, Florida coyotes have a grayish brown coat, though can occasionally be black, with a patch of white hair on their chests.