No. Not NYC.
But pretty close– Rye Brook, Westchester County.
This place has had some coyote problems:
The first confrontation happened at 6:50 p.m. on Eagles Bluff, where a coyote lunged toward a 14-year-old boy who was playing with other children. The teen struck it in the face and the coyote ran off into the woods, police said. That boy was not injured but did have marks where the coyote made contact with him, police said.
About an hour later on Hillandale Road, a coyote lunged at the 2-year-old who was playing with her 28-year-old father in the driveway.
“The father was able to scare off the coyote but not before the coyote bit him on the back of the leg,” police said in a news release.
Father and daughter sought treatment at Greenwich Hospital; the father’s injury was superficial and the girl was not injured, though she too had a mark on her skin, police said.
Rye Brook police and trappers responded last night to both areas. Two trappers were out this morning when one of them discovered a coyote in the woods off Acker Drive.
The village developed what it called a “comprehensive tracking program” early last month in response to two attacks. A 6-year-old girl, Emily Hodulik, was attacked June 26 by two of the animals as she played outside her home on LaSalle Avenue in Rye. She was bitten on her shoulder and scratched on her back.
On June 30, a coyote bit 3-year-old Erika Attar on her neck and torso as she played in a backyard on North Street in Rye.
In light of last night’s confrontations, the village reminded people not to leave pet food or trash outside and said small children and pets should not be outside unattended.
Feinstein said the village’s latest three-week trapping program was to expire this week. “Given the incidents, we’ll re-examine that,” she said.
To solve this problem, the village is going trap that particular coyote or coyotes and then is going to institute a hazing program.
Not a bad idea.
But I post this article as a contrast to a coyote encounter I had Sunday evening.
I had the killer golden retriever out for a nice long evening walk.
She was off-leash of course, bounding ahead like the fool she is.
We cut through the pasture, where she likes to chase rabbits, but this time no rabbits were stupid enough to be sitting out on in the open. (After all, she does tend to make a lot of noise when she’s in one of her “wolf modes.”)
As she hit the end of the pasture, she stopped.
The her hackles raised. I’ve never seen Miley raise her hackles.
As I came around the turn, I saw four dog-like shapes in the tall grass at the end of pasture.
They were coyotes. Two were relatively large– probably the local mated pair– and two were a bit smaller. They were probably this year’s pups.
Miley barked.
The coyotes bolted for the woods.
And Miley bolted for me.
Now, think about how different the reactions were between my encounter with the coyote and those in Westchester County.
The ones in my part of the world are heavily persecuted.
I’m not excusing the paranoid hatred people have for these animals.
But because they are hated so much, these coyotes get taught an important lesson.
They have learned that whenever they see a person, that person is likely to start shooting at them.
Because some people now run foxhounds after coyotes, the coyotes have also learned that large dogs are not safe.
In Rye Brook, they have never experienced those lessons.
Nor could they ever.
Coyotes, dogs, and wolves are intelligent animals. Much of their reactions to certain stimuli are the result of learning.
Not all wolves, dogs, and coyotes are going to become aggressive towards people.
The coyotes and wolves that attack people have learned that people are no threat and the opportunist in them tells them that it might be okay to attack people as a food source.
Note that the coyote in Rye Brook was attacking children.
Most confirmed wolf attacks I’ve read about are actually on either women or children.
That’s not to say that wouldn’t attack a man, but women and children are easier targets.
Even though these attacks have occurred, they aren’t really all that common for a variety of reasons.
I oppose using these attacks to justify persecution.
This is simply taking advantage of a tragedy.
But I think one could make the case that limited hunting of wolves and coyotes might be good for them. Hunting them would teach them that people are not a potential prey source, and they would learn to avoid us at all costs. These wolves and coyotes could live in the same areas utilized by people, and conflicts would be greatly reduced.
And the anti-predator paranoia would subside a bit.
I know where I live, there are plenty of coyotes, but the coyotes themselves really don’t bother people.
I’ve heard of a few dogs coming up missing.
But that’s it.
No coyote attacks on people at all.
And that’s because these coyotes have learned that people are very dangerous animals.
We should not hate these animals.
We should not be drawn into persecuting them.
But to be able to live with them, we must have a certain understanding.
They have to be afraid of us. We do not have to be afraid of them.
Maybe hazing will teach the Rye Brook coyotes how to fear us.
Maybe trapping will remove the offending animals from that population.
But it is clear that we are going to figure out a way to live with these animals, and the public’s safety is quite important.
And we may have to do things that aren’t quite so politically correct in order to live with these magnificently resilient canines.
the incident with the coyote attacking a child WITH an adult in the immediate area [playing in the drive] sounds like an odd behavior – i would think of rabies, immediately.
then again, RABIES is very-hot in VA, and NY may not have the same level of wildlife who test positive for rabies.
despite the common rabies-incidence here, people do frankly stoopid things:
fail to keep the free-roaming Indoor-Outdoor CAT current on rabies?
lure large numbers of raccoons to the yard for a buffet?
free-feed stray or roaming or feral cats?
put garbage out without securing it properly?
habituate wildlife to handouts?
some $#%@! ‘nature-lover’ in that town may be feeding coyote for photo-opportunities to blog about it – it’s hardly rare. i hope they have clear humane-education and local ordinances to specifically ban outdoor feeding of any animals but perching or ground-feeding birds.
and i agree – paranoia and wiping-out predators never helps. prey species need predators; WE need predators, as we ourselves are ineffective and damaging when humans are the only predator of game-species.
– terry
terry pride, APDT-Aus, apdt#1827, CVA, TDF
They are attacking children, as in consciously choosing them.
That sounds more like typical predatory behavior to me, not rabies.
Rabies is possible, but I doubt it.
Wild animals can be unpredictable even to those of us who are knowledgable. This past February I learned that the hard way. I had been walking my dog in our usual stomping grounds where we’ve often encountered coyotes before. This is close to the city so there is no hunting pressure in this particular area. The coyotes have always been wary of us up until this time. Sometimes we’ve surprised them and they stop to yap at us but a rock in their direction sends them on their way. Some neighborhood dogs have almost fallen prey to them even on the end of their owner’s leash, its always old people with tiny dogs, and others have been taken from their yards.
Anyway; we had been in the field for about 45 min and were about to go when I spied in the distance a small group coming towards us, normally we see coyotes and they’re going in the other direction as fast as they can. I thought this was unusual and decided to stand on higher ground and watch them carry on, but to my surprise the first two of the group made a beeline for us while three others hung back. I thought they must not be able to see me so I stood above the horizon on the traintracks, they weren’t intimidated and were now only 50 meters or so and closing. I yelled, threw snow and rocks, but the closest to me only turned back momentarily to make sure his second was following. At that piont I clipped the leash on and ran as fast as I could.
Thinking back on the situation: My dog is an unnuetured male and it was the hight of mating season, I’m sure I wasn’t in any danger but my dog sure was if he didn’t beat it. The coyotes followed us only a short distance after we started running I’m sure they weren’t determined for a fight, nor were they in predator mode because our flight would have sent them into a chase, they simply stopped once we got back on the walking path.
Anyway, I should have known but I really didn’t expect a coyote to ignore my threats.
Wolves will also rush in on people with dogs–seemingly totally oblivious to the people, and concentrating on attacking the dog. This is certainly more likely to occur during breeding season(for most of the U. S. for both wolves and coyotes–in January through February). Another scenario where coyotes seemingly attack people(as opposed to really doing it….) is when people and/or their dogs get near a coyote den containing pups. I have read of people “terrified” by coyotes yapping and circling them in the woods, appearing and dissapearing in a disturbing fashion. Classic coyote, fox, and wolf “decoy” behaviour in trying to lure people or other things they consider threatening, away from the den! Although in trying to “lure” people away, they actually frighten them away instead, I’m sure the end results suit the coyotes just fine! They will certainly outright attack dogs savagely that get too close to an occupied den……
Well move those critter down to NYC. One week in Manhattan or the Bronx and, should they manage to high-tail it out of there, they will henceforth never come near another human being ever again.
Force them to take a yellow cab–that should do the trick.
yup.. move them to the city!!! that will for sure do the trick!!
One night in Rochester, NY me and my friends were hanging out in the garage. My dad warned me of any coyotes up there but never think i would actually see one. We heard a strange noise over and over again. So me and my friends picked up a metal bat just incase if it was dangerous. We ran to my house and i looked over and saw something bolt at us and i knew it was a coyote instantly with its scary eyes and massive teeth it almost got us bu tahnkfully nobody was hurt.
Some coyotes in Canada killed a folk singer:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8331106.stm
They aren’t incredibly dangerous to people, but they can learn to be aggressive towards us.
So always be cautious around them.
There are coyotes in the Detroit suburbs of Michigan. I saw one at three o’clock in the morning when I heard one of my three outdoor;indoor cats howling load and stranger than i had ever heard any animal cry out.
I stepped out on my upper deck. There to my horror was very larger than life, mean and nasty coyote standing over my cat.
The only way up to my upper deck is up the cat walk that I made. He began his ascent up the walkway not at all frightened.
I began sceaming at him. He finally backed away with a foamed mouth.
My poor kitten was never the same. Always wanting to be held and touched 24\7. Three months later he died.
If I would have froze up, the coyote would have climed the cat walk and attacked.
At three in the morning, it’s like a very bad dream.’]
The following months that past I lost another cat through strange behavior. The third is still with me.
Tim
I had no idea they are such pretty animals. Long legs and pretty fox like faces. I swear, humans are the only ugly mammals there are. OK, maybe chimps are pretty horrid. Just why are we so unattractive?
Me and my friend were chased by one and we live in scarborough it howled at us but we made it home. a few minutes later there were police cars and CP24 outfront video taping the incident.
Me and my friend were chased when we were at a park I saw a brown thing run towards us one and we live in scarborough it howled at us but we made it home. a few minutes later there were police cars and CP24 outfront video taping the incident.
They have learnt there lesson but it’s all a humans fault. Everyone who hunts for sport are selfish people who think for themselves.
HUMANS ARE UGLY STUPID ASSESS THEY ARE SO STUPID SO BACK OFF HUMANS WITHOUT THEM AND PLANTS YOU’D BE DEAD ULL SO REGRET DOING ALL THIS
OVER SIX BILLION PEOPLE LIVE AND THEY CAN’T TAKE CARE OF ONE PLANET? I KNOW WHY ITS COZ HUMANS ARE DUMB AND CAN’T BLOODY SHARE SO THEY RUN EVERYTHING DOWN AND THINK THEY RULE THE END.
WELL THAT WON;T SOLVE ANYTHING IT’LL MAKE THINGS WORSE SO JUST STOP BEING UR FUCKIN SHIT HUMANS ITS NOT GONA HELP. DOGS AND COYOTES AND WOLFS ARE BETTER AND THEY ONLY ATTACK WHEN THEY GET RABIES a disease which means nothing is listed so it aint there fault
Maybe there is more of a human problem than coyotes
aww…