The Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic and Urbanization Vary Among Coyotes, Red Foxes, and Gray Foxes Across the Contiguous United States

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic altered human behavior, resulting in opportunities for natural experiments to examine how changes in human activity impacted the diel activity of wildlife—including wild canids. We used data from standardized surveys (Snapshot USA) in the autumns of 2019–2021 across the contiguous United States to assess the diel activity of three species of canids in urban and rural areas before, during, and immediately following the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. Gray foxes (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) exhibited over twice as large a shift in diel activity during the pandemic (22%) than red foxes (Vulpes vulpes) and coyotes (Canis latrans; 8%–9%), while coyotes showed greater shifts and variability in diel activity in urban than rural areas. While we found evidence that all three canids changed their diel patterns to some degree, the degree of change varied across these species—suggesting that this might be mediated by inherent differences in their sensitivity to humans.

Keywords

activity patterns / anthropause / anthropogenic development / canid / COVID-19

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2025 The Author(s). Wildlife Letters published by Northeast Forestry University and John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd.