My neighborhood was crawling with news trucks recently. The neighborhood coyotes decided it’s OK for them to enter our space. This unfortunate discovery was made as one of our neighbors took her two year old twin daughters and dog for a walk.
One of the girls went to retrieve a dog-waste bag and was bending over when a coyote came out of the bushes, jumped on top of her and grabbed her by the neck, said Lt. Kent Smirl of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife on Saturday. The mother and several other people ran up to the coyote and scared the animal off, he said. – OC Register
The girl wasn’t bitten. No rabies tests are necessary. It’s still very scary.
We hear the coyotes nearly every night. It starts with one, but is quickly turned into a chorus of blood thirsty howling. It sounds ghoulish.
Helaine and I were walking with Doppler last night when we came upon a neighbor walking his dog. He said a coyote had trailed him recently. He tried yelling and looking big. The coyote didn’t care. When we saw him he was carrying a baseball bat!
“We’ve encroached into their space,” he said. Yes, we have.
Animal Control has been driving through the neighborhood recently. They’re looking. So is everyone else here. We’re all a little bit freaked.
I agree with you—when they howl at night, it sounds eerie. I used to hear the pack moving when I lived closer to a bridle/walking trail in Middlebury—now I hear them at a distance. I have seen one on my street, and no longer go into my back yard at night. I have a cairn terr. who acts ferocious with any dog–can only hope I don’t experience cayote near me when I walk. Several folk do carry big sticks–we have bob cat & foxes also—and a bear was seen on the East side of town (Naugatuck)-fairly close to Prospect line–it is worse since more housing went in nearby–we are taking their space.
My parents live in Santa Clarita. Her friend a few houses away had a little white dog. She let her dog out in the backyard which isn’t at all large. Very small in that complex. She went into the house to grab a drink. Only a few minutes. Her dog started crying and yelping. She ran out to the yard and literally watched the coyote carry her little dog away. She screamed, threw rocks, tried running after this coyote. It wasn’t letting go of that poor little white dog. That’s the last she ever saw of her beloved pet. Coyotes do not kill kindly. Never, and I mean never ever leave Doppler alone outdoors. You never know when a coyote will show up and it doesn’t matter how big you make yourself. If Doppler is grabbed, that coyote will not let go.
My brothers often see them in New Jersey and I see them now and then in the marsh areas in Clinton along the Connecticut coast. As others have said, I would keep small pets away, they will attack anything they think they can carry away.
Meanwhile, in the weather news, Geoff – when are we going to get some rain in the Tri-STate area! Connecticut and New Jersey are close to having their driest May on record. Only 0.50 inches of rain in Bridgeport, CT in the last 38 days. The lawns have the deep mid summer burned look and the soil in so dry. I’m enjoying all the sunshine, but my bamboo needs RAIN!.