Coyote roller for containing fence-hopping pets - videos and photo

[Jon]

How to solve pets jumping fences? 18-second video of the problem:

So it looks like a decent solution is something called a "coyote roller". 1:53 before-and-after video of a coyote roller installed at a fence top:

This looks pretty easy to DIY:



The solution is slightly different for cats. In part perhaps because they use a jump-grab-climb action for fence-hopping, and also maybe because their escape methods seem to be more intellectually driven. In this case, the roller includes tabs or paddles, and the main commercial supplier is an Australian company called Oscillot.

An excellent 4-second video of a cat's escape foiled by an Oscillot:

And another 22-second video:

[mklotz]

"Coyote roller" seems a perfect name. Not only does it keep pets in the yard, it discourages coyotes from entering the yard.

Here in SoCal suburban sprawl is continuously encroaching on coyote habitat and they have taken to hunting and killing household pets. Both of my daughters live in areas where they've been seen stalking in broad daylight. The dry canyons near us are havens for them and there have been numerous instances of pet dogs and cats disappearing.

I've never seen a coyote roller installed on a fence but it certainly seems like something salable in this area. Of course, guys like us would just build our own but the millennials here can't even hammer in a screw successfully.

[Jon]

There is also this slightly more unusual solution; an electrified spiked vest sold as a "CoyoteZapper":

More at CoyoteVest.com
Patent pending as a "predator deterrent vest": https://patentimages.storage.googlea...70181404A1.pdf

[Paul Jones]

Marv,

We see a lot of coyotes everyday in Southern California because we live on properties ranging from 1.5 to 4 acres that go down into a box canyon. A lot of our land is left as natural brush and trees. After doing our fire prevention brush clearing I can always see all the narrow coyote trails throughout the properties. a few weeks ago around 5 AM I was taking some trash out to our garbage can when coming around a blind corner I just about ran into what I thought at first was a coyote. It was about two feet away and it just casually started to walk away when I noticed it had almost no tail. I took a closer look in the dim morning light and discovered it was a beautiful bobcat. Years ago we used to see more bobcats and foxes on the properties but it is now mainly coyote territory and they have become very bold.

Regards, Paul

Postscript: About 12 years while brush clearing down in the lower part of our property that goes into a steep box canyon behind our house, I saw my neighbor on the other side of the box canyon waving his arms. I thought he was going to yell at me because we we deep into fire season and always the potential of accidentally starting a fire with the hot equipment. I cupped my ears to hear what he was yelling about. He was trying to warn me about a mountain lion heading my way. I had been having trouble with my equipment all day and had been down on the ground trying to adjust the carburetor. Not a good situation in this case. I never ran so fast up the 40 degree slope to get to the upper part of the property. When I got up to the top I could see parked across the way two sheriffs patrol cars, a California Department of Fish and Wildlife car, and then about thirty minutes later a news helicopter flying circles overhead. They didn't find the big cat and I wasn't planning on going back down anytime soon. The road down our hill has a deer crossing sign near the bottom and early in the morning I occasionally see the deer trying to cross the road to where this is water. The deer remind me of them being part of the food chain.

[mklotz]

My most memorable encounter with a coyote occurred while driving through Joshua Tree National Park. My wife noticed a coyote limping along the side of the road.

Slowing down, it paused and sat there looking as forlorn as a lost puppy.

She felt really sorry for the poor thing and asked me to stop so she could throw some bits of leftover sandwich out the window for it. I pointed out that, besides being illegal, it would just encourage the animal to interact with humans.

As I drove off I glanced in the rear view mirror only to see the coyote running at full tilt down the road towards another car approaching in the distance.

Later, I recounted this encounter to one of the park rangers. "Oh, yeah, that's slippery Jack. He learned that act to con visitors out of bits of food. Did you notice that he's overweight?"

[Frank S]

we have a few packs of hte critters around here can hear calls from at least 3 different places at the same time one night late we were sitting outside just looking a the billions of stars when about a mile away we could hear them on a kill. then we heard the distinctive cry of a large cat the next day I decided to go to town by the south route. after about 3 miles where the road had turned back in the direction of the house making it about 3/4 mile as the crow flies we saw the carnage way off the side of the road I stopped to see if it may have been a neighbor's beef Nope 10 very dead coyotes and some bloody cat tracks leading back towards the mountain. no body knows how many Puma still run in the arroyos or up on the mountain A rancher will kill one every few years when one attacks his beef heard but it was sure a welcome sight to see 10 dead coyotes. they are responsible for a lot of calves being lost in this county

[Jon]

Somewhat of an opposite problem. Cuteness overload with this clever kitten rescue technique.

[Frank S]

Kittens can get that climbing up thing, a lot sooner than they learn the climbing down thing.

[Jon]

Awww...