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vidual landowners can suffer significant losses at one time. One bear can cause thousands of dollars worth of damage.”
“Bears are opportunists,” said Bankston. “They go after anything left outside — cat food, dog food, fruit, garbage.”
“Nuisance” situations are categorized in four ways: agricultural (livestock and crops); apiaries or bee hives; developed areas, including property damage to parks, picnic areas, or rural housing developments; and urban areas.
Coyotes are becoming an increasing problem in Northern Virginia and have made off with peoples’ cats and small dogs in more heavily populated areas. Bankston said they haven’t been a real problem in Rappahannock yet. “They usually get into sheep and poultry and we don’t have those here to any extent, so they mostly go after mice and rabbits.”
Bankston said he has seen coyotes, dead and alive in the county, and there have been reported sightings documented. He said cougar sightings have also been reported but they have no pictures of those as yet and no physical evidence to support the reports.
“But I have talked to people who know what they are and have hunted cougars where it is legal to do so (out west) and have reported that they have seen them here. They are credible reports — they know what they’ve seen,” he said.
Coyotes may be killed but cougars are protected here and it is illegal to kill them.
Trapping is often successful for larger animals such as bears, but installation of electric fencing, particularly around orchards, apiaries and vineyards, has been shown to be more effective and less expen
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