A dead coyote was found washed ashore early this week on Lambert's Cove Beach, the second coyote to wash up in that location this year. An Island naturalist said the coyote likely came from Naushon, which hosts a large population of coyotes, and drowned.

As sorry as Mark Twain described coyotes in Roughing It may appear, there seems to be little sympathy for coyotes on Martha’s Vineyard.

A coyote washed up on Lambert's Cove Beach on Friday, reigniting theories about one or two living on the Island. But experts believe this coyote drifted over from the Elizabeth Islands.

There is at least one coyote living on Martha’s Vineyard. Gus Ben David is 100 per cent sure of that, although he has only 97 per cent proof.

The coyote, or coyotes, have established territory on the north side of the Island, in an area covering part of Chilmark and West Tisbury.

If coyotes get a foothold on the Vineyard, the results could be disastrous, for farmers, landowners and the native wild animal population on the Island.

This was the somber message from Augustus Ben David 2nd, a former director of the Massachusetts Audubon Society’s Felix Neck Wildlife Sanctuary and one of the Island’s most respected naturalists, who spoke at a gathering at the Howes House on Monday.

Island farmers were alarmed this week to learn of the possible presence of a visitor from the mainland: a coyote.