Mangy coyotes might be roaming your neighborhood, but state wildlife officials say they probably don’t need to know about it.
The Arizona Game and Fish department says in a news release that while it’s “appreciative of calls from the concerned public . . . unless (the coyotes) are threatening public safety or alive but not moving, AZGFD is discouraging the public from contacting the agency about coyotes with mange.”
The agency has taken about a dozen calls about “nuisance coyotes” over the past four weeks, mostly on the city’s east side, the release says.
But a gnarly-looking coyote on its own isn’t enough to call wildlife officials.
“Urban coyotes are prone to mange because they tend to have weakened immune systems. Eating garbage and other abnormal foods may be part of the problem,” said Anne Justice-Allen, the agency’s veterinarian and wildlife health program supervisor.
“We are unable to treat such cases, but know that such diseases are nature’s way of culling the weak and maladapted from wildlife populations.”
Neither rabies nor canine distemper was found in any of coyotes the agency examined.
Mange is a disease in canines caused by various types of the mites and a symptom of an infected coyote can be lesions and hair loss.
Failure of the animal’s immune system can lead to death, the agency said.
