In the East Dallas neighborhood of Lochwood, three coyotes have been found dead since August, two from gunshot wounds, a spokesperson for Dallas Animal Services told the Observer.
“Necropsies were performed on the first and third coyotes [that were found], confirming they were shot. The second coyote's cause of death is undetermined due to premature disposal,” Dallas Animal Services said. “There are no other neighborhoods [in Dallas] where similar coyote deaths are occurring.”
Dallas Animal Services and the Dallas County Game Warden are investigating the coyote deaths. Dallas maintains an online coyote tracker for coyote sightings, encounters and attacks across the city; there have been no coyote threats to humans or pets reported in the Lochwood area.
Still, neighbors are shaken by the string of mysterious coyote corpses. Lochwood resident Emily Levin told Fox 4 that one of the coyotes was found in her front yard, leaving her disturbed.
“I asked [the wildlife investigator] if she knew if it had been shot in our front yard or if it had walked. And she said it was hard to tell, which is not reassuring," Levin said.
Dallasites are able to report non-threatening coyote sightings by calling 469-676-9813, or by calling 311 if the animal appears to be sick or injured.
Listen Up Elmer Fudd: What To Know When Hunting Mountain Lions, Coyotes
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department classifies both mountain lions and coyotes as non-game animals that can be hunted with a hunting license. There are no closed seasons, bag limits or possession limits on non-game species.
In Texas, hunting a coyote is legal without a hunting license if it is attacking or has attacked a pet or livestock. Nuisance coyotes on private land can also be hunted, with the landowner's permission.
TPWD does not heavily regulate the hunting of coyotes, but new protections have recently been put into place for mountain lions. Texas is the only state that permits mountain lion trapping, and earlier this year, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission introduced new regulations. Among the changes are a 36-hour limit for checking live mountain lion traps, which previously had no time limits.
Hunters and trappers are now able to voluntarily report mountain lion harvest information such as the date of the hunt, where the lion was killed and its sex and age, which “will help advance [the department’s] understanding of lions in Texas.”
The changes came after years of advocacy work by the coalition Texans for Mountain Lions. The group requested that the state introduce harvest reporting requirements and improve monitoring of mountain lion populations across the state. Sightings of mountain lions have been a rare occurrence in North Texas because most of them live in rural areas of West Texas and South Texas.
“Trapping in West Texas is the leading cause of mortality for all mountain lions studied to date, and the mortality rates are all well beyond thresholds biologists have determined for maintaining sustainable mountain lion populations,” Dr. Mark Elbroch, a member of the Texans for Mountain Lions coalition and Puma Program Director for the global wildcat conservation organization Panthera, told the Observer in 2022.
Until the latest string of North Texas cougar sightings, it had been four years since a mountain lion was seen in the area. In 2020, a 160-pound mountain lion was spotted in Rowlett and Princeton before being legally harvested by a deer hunter.
