Community Chat

[songbird]

We had an appointment (my husband was getting his real ID renewed)  We backed out of our garage.  Suddenly a coyote jumped up in front of us.  Totally unnerved us.  Yes, they are around.  But usually in the evening to night fall.  This was in the afternoon.  They have been showing up increasingly more and more in urban areas.  He looked like one.  A little smaller then a medium size dog.  A German Shepherd face and a kind of long bushy tail. This one looked a bit more yellowish then the ones I saw in New Mexico. It was very skinny and looked like it was starving.  It's ribs were sticking out.  He ran away from us.  We don't think this animal will be around much longer. But a coyote was the last thing we expected to see.  We asked our neighbors and they say it's been around the neighborhood.  They bite!  I just read today one was caught in Chicago of all places.

[elainemasey]

We have them here in Mass as well. Unfortunately we are taking more and more of their habitats. There was a rabid one caught in my town last week.   Coyotes are not nocturnal- I've seen them all different times.  When they get howling it's a really creepy, cool sound.  Funny, I grew up in this town and we never had coyote sightings, but like I said we are pushing them out of their homes.  

[songbird]

@elainemasey   The first I ever saw one was in New Mexico when I went to visit my sister there.  They scared me.  I heard them howl too.  The ones there come out at night.  Everyone has to keep their pets indoors at night.  My sister told me what to do if come across one.  They aren't that aggressive and they really are afraid of people.  But if you see one, DON'T turn your back on them.  Just back away slowly. Make a noise, any kind so long as it's loud.  That should frighten them.  Now the ones here  are rare, but they do seem to appear in all hours, not just at night.  This is my second sighting of one.  The other one was a couple years ago.  That was at night.  It was in our back yard. My property borders a state park.  So all kind of animals appear. (including a black bear a few years ago.)   But that coyote back then was big with a weird looking thin face. My husband said he thinks it looked big was because it was well fed.  This one I saw today. was starving.  I bet he won't last another day.

[hayseed00]

@songbirdWe live in the country and have quite a few Coyotes around,  Although they can be very elusive I sometimes see them out during the day in the back pasture with our horses poking in the tall grass looking for mice.  Our horses don't seem to mind them and I think the horses moving and grazing stir up the mice for the Coyotes to catch.  When they howl at night the sound seems so sad and lonely to me.

[Kachina624]

Today someone posted on our neighborhood app a newsfeed from (i think) CBS News about how coyotes have attacked several people in the Chicago area.

My theory is that somebody has been feeding them and they've lost their fear of people.  One attack was a child; the rest were adults who were not seriously injured.

[msgb]

In the Chicago area it has been happening more and more to see a coyote. A young boy was attacked by one the other day as was a man. 

[maximillian]

Animals are under stress.  We are taking their territory to expand our living space.  Then when the animals show up in our neighborhoods, roads, suburbs and towns, we trap, kill and poison them.  To me it is very sad and I feel as if I too am guilty.; I am part of their problem.  We have coyotes where we live.  We also have bears.  We have deer.  So many deer are killed on our roads; it is heartbreaking.  We have rabbits, skunks, possums and raccoons.  They won't be around too long.  Housing developments are expanding and more people will be here to kill more animals. 

[patbz]

Since I've lived in the desert for 40 years, I've seen plenty of coyotes.  We don't leave our dogs outside (and no body in my family would think about approaching them), no problem.  I'd much rather see a coyote than a bear, or a snake, or a Javelina, or (my favorite nuisance) an Elk (they really mess up your car if you hit one).

[MJDinVegas]

Hi, @songbird !  I had a similar scare this past fall.  I live with my husband and our Westie in a gated townhome community in Henderson, NV just east of Vegas.  I was out walking Auggie on Sunday morning around 6:30 am.  We were up by our clubhouse pool near one of the entry gates; the complex is surrounded by 6 foot walls.  To my surprise, when I looked toward the gate, a coyote came bounding over the wall and was walking down the street like he live here!  He was good size - looked well-fed.  I picked Auggie up hoping that I appeared large enough not to mess with (I'm 5'5", 130pounds; Auggie weighs 20 pounds).  He disappeared down one of the culdesacs in the complex.

My husband took Auggie out one evening on the grass just outside our patio about a week before only to have 2 coyotes come walking up the street from the opposite direction.

In all fairness to the coyotes, we live near a Mesa and wilderness area and there was utility work being done at the time and the heavy equipment was being stored very close if not in their normal habitats around us.  Still scary to have such a close encounter.

[RedTop]

Coyotes, bison, elk, and rattlesnakes are among the wildlife released throughout West Virginia counties by the Department of Natural Resources within the last 20 years.  

Farmers were very unhappy to have coyotes  here to begin with, and it didn’t take long for their presence to have an impact on livestock numbers.   Coyotes show up on security cameras and trail cams every day, but the sure fired way to know they are in your neighborhood is to walk outside after an emergency vehicle has passed by, and you will hear the coyotes echoing the sound of the siren.   They will howl as long as they can hear that siren.