PITTSBURGH — Maybe you heard their barks and howls or have caught a glimpse of an Eastern coyote.

In Pittsburgh, it is surprising and usually fleeting to see this slim, dog-like creature with its scruffy brown and red coloring with no distinct markings. But be aware that they can be present at any time, even if you don't see them. Coyotes, after all, live in all of Pennsylvania's 67 counties.

And according to researchers, the coyote is here to stay.

"We always hear that the last thing on Earth will be the cockroach. But there will also be coyotes and raccoons," said Thomas Keller, a furbearer biologist with the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

A recent study documented the coyote's dramatic population increase and expansion of its range nationally over the past century.

The report, titled "People or predators? Comparing habitat-dependent effects of hunting and large carnivores on the abundance of North America's top mesocarnivore" and published in the journal Ecography in November, noted that coyotes are most abundant in the southwestern part of the country and least prevalent in the northeast. The findings also confirmed earlier reports of coyotes living in cities with natural edge habitats because of increased prey availability and ample green space to move among woodlots.

"Pittsburgh is a rare city with golf courses, many parks, abandoned lots, rivers and wildlife corridors," Keller said.

Anywhere there are streams, rivers, and creeks with brush along each side, wildlife can easily go undetected.

"Coyotes don't need much," he said. "They can work in small woodlots. They are masters of keeping themselves hidden and are primarily nocturnal."

Populations remain stable throughout the state with some areas likely at carrying capacity. But there's a possible uptick in the coyote population in the Philadelphia area, where they continue to adapt to a more urban environment, Keller said.

The Game Commission does not conduct formal population-estimate studies — a difficult task with limited staff time and resources, he said. But it does survey state game wardens on coyote sightings and complaints from the public as well as hunters and trappers.

Coyotes, Keller said, fill a niche once occupied by wolves.

When Pennsylvania converted from forest to agricultural lands, cougars and wolves — the coyote's main predators — lost habitat and were killed and removed from the state by the late 1800s.

Evidence of coyotes in the state was found in the 1930s and 1940s. They moved in from the West, breeding with larger coyotes interbred with wolves that expanded from Canada to New York.

The commission has studied coyotes' impact on white-tailed deer populations and found that they, along with bears and bobcats, are their primary predators, though "none of those predators impacted the deer population," Keller said.

"We need to come to reality we can't get rid of them, and try to manage them," though that is difficult through hunting and trapping, he said.

For Pennsylvania, it's open season most times of the year with no bag limits.

The study in Ecography echoed other research that found hunting does not decrease the coyote population — and may increase it.

There are limits, however, to their population growth.

"Knowing they have large territories and are territorial will limit the coyotes in the state," Keller said.

Fear of coyotes

About 62% of the people who complain to the commission about coyotes say they are afraid of the predators, Keller said. Most of those complaints originate from urban and suburban areas, where people were surprised by their presence.

The commission has few records of a coyote attacking a person, he said.

"Coyotes are like any other wildlife species in the fact that when they're cornered, they're sick or they become reliant on humans for food, they can attack."

In other parts of the country where attacks have occurred, it usually involved diseases such as rabies or the animal lost its fear of humans through regular feeding, Keller added.

To prevent conflict with all wildlife, residents should not leave out food scraps, pet food or water. The commission struggles with the public in urban areas to not feed or tame wildlife.

"When fed, once wildlife becomes dependent they act out. If there is no food, they will be aggressive," Keller said.

While social media features breezy videos of people taking in or mistaking coyotes for pet dogs, it's the wrong thing to do. Coyotes and other wildlife have a built-in fear of humans. Game Commission biologists want to keep it that way, Keller said.

Residents can take it a step further by not letting the animals feel comfortable on their property. For instance, the commission fields calls from people reporting coyotes walking by their deck or house.

"Make scary noises to get that fear back into the animals and make sure they are not welcome," he recommended.

Keep pet cats indoors. Coyotes, great-horned owls, foxes and bobcats will attack them, as well as small dogs.

"If they become too used to people, coyotes will be aggressive with dogs, usually around mating season," said Keller, adding that he recommends keeping dogs on a leash.

Coyotes in the city

Like the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote, these predators are stealthy.

Chicago has one of the longest-running studies on how well coyotes adapt in a city, Keller said.

"When we do telemetry work, it's incredible how coyotes adapt to urban and suburban environments. Coyotes are omnivores. They will eat anything."

The majority of coyote prey is rodents — rats, mice, shrews and voles — and deer. They will also take advantage of rabbits, trash, berries, nuts, pumpkins, sweet corn and bird food.

"We have so much edible trash at the end of the people's driveways. Every weekday somewhere in the city, people are putting out trash — it's a veritable buffet," said Jon Rice, urban bird conservation coordinator at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History.

He heads up BirdSafe Pittsburgh, a science program that studies bird-window collisions.

Pittsburgh's greenery, undeveloped steep hillsides and urban planning featuring old trees are attractive to birds and other wildlife, Rice said.

"We see migratory birds choosing to use the hyper-urban landscape in Pittsburgh that acts as a heat sink. The trees leaf out earlier, so you have an attractant for wildlife," he said.

It's an urban ecosystem that not only attracts migrating birds but also opossums, coyotes and the occasional wayward black bear, Rice said.

"There are things people don't believe should be in urban and suburban spaces, but they are part of the same system with white-tailed deer, bald eagles and raccoons."

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