Keith, there are some who contend that coyotes crossed the Mississippi river in dog boxes in the back of pick up trucks carrying yotes to fox pens for release and hunting by dog packs. They are clever escape artists and many escaped from the fenced in acreage. There's one account in the book I mentioned where one coyote escaped three times from a pen and the pen owner paid the trapper a $100 each time it was re-trapped. On the third return after paying the trapper, he shot the coyote while still in the crate as he was determined not to pay for another escape. Coyotes are susceptible to all dog killing diseases in the south, especially heartworms. They don't live long but can reproduce fast. There's evidence to suggest that their dusk and night singing is key to population explosions and decreases. Apparently there is belief in some biologists that hormonal responses to the density of population in an area controls litter size. The amount of singing heard by the females triggers the hormonal response controlling litter size according to some. The fewer calls heard, the bigger the litter and vice versa. Gil