Coyotes are invading Long Island partly thanks to this surprising talent and NYC rats

Coyotes are increasingly popping up on Long Island — one of the few US land territories they have yet to colonize — thanks in part to a surprising talent and New York City rats.There have been at least five breeding pairs of the non-native species found in northwest Nassau County alone this year, in addition to further sightings further east, according to Michael Bottini of the Seatuck Environmental Association.“They’re actually quite good swimmers — that’s probably how they’re getting over to Long Island at its west end from The Bronx,” said Bottini, who noted that one was rescued from the East River two years ago, to The Post.Coyotes may also subtly be part of the bridge-and-tunnel crowd, using large railway crossings to make their way eastbound.There had been some sporadic individual sightings in neighboring Queens and in the Island’s tony Hamptons in the late 2000s and early 2010s, but a 2016 incident became one of the species’ potential environmental game-changer locally, experts said.A breeding pair with eight pups and a yearling were thriving near a LaGuardia Airport employee parking lot in Queens because of the all-you-can-eat buffet of rats it offered.“The area is known for having a huge rat population,” Bottini said of the northwest Queens waterfront.“Eight pups, that’s a large litter — and large litters usually reflect a lot of prey resource in the area.”Then “the employees started noticing these cute coyote pups, and people started tossing them food,” he said.The coyotes soon “lost their fear and started associating people with food.”Soon after, things became coyote ugly.

The Port Authority “felt it was a dangerous situation” and captured and killed all but one of the 11 coyotes, Bottini said.But “it’s possible” the lone survivor who got away trekked east of Citi Field and a few miles over into Nassau, helping to launch a brood, he said.A few years later, in 2021, four pups and a breeding pair were confi...