UW Urban Canid Project

08/26/2026

We are moving into a new phase in our urban canid research examining how rodenticide (aka rat poison) exposure affects non-target species like red foxes and coyotes. While we think non-target species are exposed to rodenticides primarily through the prey they eat, they may also be directly accessing rodenticide bait. We are interested in placing a wildlife camera over rodenticide baits to see which species come to the bait. If you live in Dane or Iowa County (WI) and are using rodenticide on your property, we would love to hear from you! If you're willing to let us access your property and place a wildlife camera over the rodenticide, please email David Drake at [email protected]. Your name and location will not be shared. Thank you very much!

06/02/2026

As many of you know, (perceived) mange can be relatively common in the red fox population in our greater Madison study area. Although we haven't received reports lately about red fox that look like they have mange, the disease seems to be episodic and will likely show up again in the future. As our project has received reports of mangy red fox in the past, we have also received requests to live trap affected animals and transport them to the Dane County Humane Society's Wildlife Center for medical assistance. For a variety of reasons (not sufficient resources, etc) our project isn’t able to help in that capacity. As an alternative, we have collaborated with the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Dane County Humane Society's Wildlife Center to publish an information sheet describing mange, what to do and not to do to help a red fox with perceived mange, and how to safely, legally, and ethically use a live trap to catch a red fox in need of medical intervention. We'd like to thank our collaborators at the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources and the Dane County Humane Society's Wildlife Center for developing this resource with us.

https://naturalresources.extension.wisc.edu/files/2026/06/RedFoxMange_infosheet_F2view-052726.pdf

10/12/2025

Hello all,
We are about to start our live trapping season for 2025-2026, and we'd like you to join us! To do so, please click on this link to access our sign-up calendar - https://schedule-collab2.onrender.com

Please note: If you joined us last year and already completed the pre- and post-survey, please DO NOT sign up yet. We will offer additional opportunities to join us in 2026. Thank you very much for your understanding.

For those signing up this year:
1. Before signing up, please read the text below. Prior to joining us in the field, we are asking that you commit to completing a pre- and post-survey. If you're 17 years of age or younger, you are still welcome to sign up but you will not be able to complete our surveys.
2. Please don't sign up for more than 3 days so we can provide the opportunity to as many people as possible
3. You will need to sign up through your Google account. Once you sign up, we will contact you via email with details about where and when to meet us for the day you signed up. We usually start checking traps by 7am and may be done in as little as 30 minutes if we don't catch a fox, or 1ish hour if we catch a fox.
4. We have only put up a calendar through December. We'll add dates after Jan. 1, 2026.
5. Thank you very much for helping with our research, and excited to see you in the field!

We are recruiting volunteers 18 years of age and older to participate in a research study conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The purpose of our study is to determine if hands-on learning improves one’s knowledge, opinion and attitude toward urban coyotes and red foxes and trapping. The criteria to be included in our study is that you are 18 years or older and are willing to complete a pre- and post-Qualtrics survey asking a variety of questions related to urban wildlife (specifically coyotes and red foxes) and trapping and join us for a morning of checking live traps. We expect the pre-survey to take 10-15 minutes to complete. You will then join us for a morning of checking live traps (and hopefully catching urban canids). This could last between 1-2 hours, depending on if we catch an animal or not. Following the in-field experience, you will be asked to complete a post-survey containing fewer but similar questions asked on the pre-survey. We expect the post-survey to take 5-10 minutes to complete. The surveys can be completed in your home or other place of comfort. The in-field, hands-on experience will occur within the greater Madison, WI area.
If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact:

Dr. David Drake
[email protected]
(608) 852-6848

05/15/2025

Happy Thursday.

Here's a short video of fox kits sent to us by a friend of our project (Thank you Ryan!) that will put a smile on your face. How many kits do you count?

04/30/2025

Hi all,

Thank you all for notifying us of road killed animals. This morning we sent livers to the Iowa State University Veterinary Diagnostic Lab to be tested for anticoagulant rodenticide. We should have the results in about 3 weeks and will share them once we receive them.

In the meantime, here is an accounting of the types and number of roadkill we collected, mostly in Dane Cty but a few in Iowa Cty:

12 possums
14 raccoons
7 coyotes
2 red foxes
1 mink
1 otter

04/24/2025

Hi all,

In the last week, we have received reports in the Hill Farms neighborhood and Hartmeyer Roth Park (Sherman Ave and Roth St) in Madison of coyotes acting aggressively. The Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources, Public Health Madison and Dane County, and Madison Parks have been alerted.

In both situations a dog was present. In the situation at Hartmeyer Roth, it is very likely the aggressive coyote was defending an active den. We don't want anyone to be overly concerned, but want you to be aware of these occurrences.

In the case of Hartmeyer Roth Park, it would be best to avoid walking your dog in that area for the next month or so.

In addition, we want to provide the following tips to empower you, especially if you are in the Hill Farms or Hartmeyer Roth areas:

1. Make sure to remove any attractants from your yard. For example, make sure no pet food or other food sources are present that may attract coyotes into your yard and neighborhood. You may also need to take your birdfeeders down for 2-4 weeks and let coyotes settle into another pattern of movement. Bird feeders provide seed that coyotes will eat directly, but also attract small mammals that serve as a prey base for coyotes. Additionally, make sure coyotes don't have access to your outdoor grill, compost pile, or other attractants that aren't as obvious as pet food and bird feeders.


2. Be vigilant with your pets. DO NOT allow your cats to be outside of the house. Keep your dog on a leash anytime you're walking your dog. If you see a coyote while walking your dog, either shorten the leash and keep your dog at your side, or pick up your dog and hold it in your arms if it is a smaller breed. If you let your dog outside in your own yard, it would be a good idea to be outside with your dog, especially at night when coyote activity is most common, and even if you have a fenced in yard. Coyotes can easily and quickly scale or jump many types of fences.


3. Anytime you see a coyote and it is not moving away from humans AND IT DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE INJURED, please haze the animal to reinforce the fear of humans in the animal. Instilling and reinforcing the fear in humans in coyotes is the best way to ensure a positive human-coyote co-existence. While some may perceive hazing to be inhumane, it is not. To understand what hazing is and how to haze a coyote, please watch this short video produced by the Madison and Dane County Public Health Dept - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlC8KTDiIRs&t=3s


4. If a coyote is acting aggressively toward a human and it is an immediate safety concern, please call 9-1-1. If you are concerned about coyote behavior and would like to discuss, you can reach out to WI DNR, [email protected] or by calling 608-267-0866


5. Please report sightings of coyotes (and red foxes) in the greater Madison area to the UW Urban Canid Project's iNaturalist page - https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/uw-urban-canid-project. If you don't already have an account, you can create one in less than 30 seconds by clicking on "sign up" in the upper right-hand corner.

In Dane County, Wisconsin, to report a sick or injured coyote, call: Public Health Madison & Dane County Animal Services Dispatch: 608-255-2345. For a coyote...

04/08/2025

HI everyone,

We are looking for road-killed coyotes, red foxes, skunks, and opossums in Dane and Iowa County (WI). If you see one of these species that is (relatively speaking) recently killed and in decent (again, relatively speaking) shape, please email David Drake ([email protected]) with the type of animal and the location. Nearest cross road or mile marker would work, but specific location with latitude and longitude would be better.

Why are we looking for these animals? The UW Urban Canid Project and colleagues are interested in extracting the liver from road-killed species of interest to examine anticoagulant rodenticide (aka rat poison) exposure that predators and scavengers may ingest as they eat prey species like small rodents. There is some suggestion in the literature that species like coyotes and red foxes that have been exposed to rodenticides may be more susceptible to mange. Because we commonly see mange in red fox and coyotes in our study area, we want to begin collecting preliminary data for a grant proposal to see if there is a link between rodenticide exposure and mange.

Thank you in advance

01/29/2025

Hi all,

Here's an update on the coyote that was caught at Vilas Park on January 3. He was released last evening at an undisclosed location south of Madison's Beltline. As you may recall, he was a juvenile male who was malnourished and had an over-abundance of internal and external parasites, including a mild case of heartworm. The coyote spent more than 3 weeks in rehabilitation at Dane County Humane Society's Wildlife Center where he was treated by their awesome staff and zoological medicine veterinarians from UW Veterinary Care. He completed his anti-parasitic treatment and had put on considerable weight. He weighed a very healthy 37 pounds at time of release!

We did not have any working radio-collars, but we did place an old, inoperable collar on him while he was being evaluated for release. We wrapped the collar in orange duct tape so he could hopefully be identified if people see him. If you see a coyote wearing a collar like the one in the pictures, please email David Drake ([email protected]) with date, time and location of sighting. Thank you very much!

01/08/2025

Hi all,

Sorry in advance for the long post. We'd like to provide an update on the coyote seen at Vilas Park in Madison over the past few weeks that was reported to be potentially sick or injured. Thanks to the dedicated staff at Madison Parks and Animal Service Officers with Public Health Madison & Dane County, the coyote was safely captured at the tennis courts last Friday, January 3rd. The coyote was then transported to Dane County Humane Society’s Wildlife Center for a full medical evaluation. With assistance from Zoological Medicine Specialists at UW Veterinary Care, the Wildlife Center’s caring and professional staff examined the coyote and discovered that it is a juvenile male who is malnourished, has a relatively high ectoparasite load, and presents with a mild case of heartworm.

The coyote’s medical condition, age, and proximity to humans may all be contributing factors as to why he was seen so regularly and during the day at Vilas Park. First, being a juvenile male he was likely forced to disperse from his natal range (the area where he was born and raised). Being young, he is inexperienced in moving across the landscape but may have found that Vilas Park provided some refuge. Secondly, he was probably not feeling his best, and being malnourished may have made him look for food that didn't require much energy to procure. Vilas Park offers a variety of natural and human-sourced food options that may be enticing to an urban canid.

Interestingly, we conducted a disease study a number of years ago on coyotes and red foxes in the area. We live-trapped individuals as part of our research and found that 35% of the coyotes we tested had heart worms. You can read more about diseases of urban coyotes and red foxes at this link - https://academic.oup.com/jue/article/5/1/juz022/5644445

While this coyote receives treatment for his condition at DCHS with the goal of release back to the wild, we’d like to use the opportunity to gather more data about coyotes in the area. We believe that more than one coyote has been reported during daylight hours in the vicinity of Quann dog park/Alliant Energy Center, Vilas Park/Nakoma neighborhood, and the Odana Hills golf course. However, it is possible that this single, juvenile male was seen in all of those areas at different times as he was dispersing. To help us determine if more than one coyote inhabits these areas, please report any coyote(s) sightings during the day to David Drake at [email protected]

12/23/2024

Hello all,

We are taking a break for the holiday season from trapping red foxes, but will start up again early January and would like you to join us! To do so, please click on this link to access our sign-up calendar - https://schedule-collab.vercel.app/

1. Before signing up, please read the text below. Prior to joining us in the field, we are asking that you commit to completing a pre- and post-survey. If you're 17 years of age or younger, you are still welcome to sign up but you will not be able to complete our surveys.

2. If you have already been out with us this trapping season, please wait until Jan 15, 2025 to sign up again to give others a chance to join us.

3. Once you sign up, we will contact you via email with details about where and when to meet us for the day you signed up. We usually start checking traps by 7am and may be done in as little as 30 minutes if we don't catch a fox, or 1ish hour if we catch a fox.

4. Thank you very much for helping with our research, and excited to see you in the field!

We are recruiting volunteers 18 years of age and older to participate in a research study conducted by researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The purpose of our study is to determine if hands-on learning improves one’s knowledge, opinion and attitude toward urban coyotes and red foxes and trapping. The criteria to be included in our study is that you are 18 years or older and are willing to complete a pre- and post-Qualtrics survey asking a variety of questions related to urban wildlife (specifically coyotes and red foxes) and trapping and join us for a morning of checking live traps. We expect the pre-survey to take 10-15 minutes to complete. You will then join us for a morning of checking live traps (and hopefully catching urban canids). This could last between 1-2 hours, depending on if we catch an animal or not. Following the in-field experience, you will be asked to complete a post-survey containing fewer but similar questions asked on the pre-survey. We expect the post-survey to take 5-10 minutes to complete. The surveys can be completed in your home or other place of comfort. The in-field, hands-on experience will occur within the greater Madison, WI area.

If you have questions or would like additional information, please contact:

Dr. David Drake
[email protected]
(608) 852-6848