Coyotes on my Trail!!!!

[contesstant]

That sounds like an interesting show! I do love me some PBS nature shows. Especially since my daughter likes them AND I know they won't be offensive! :D

 

[whitewater girl]

coyotes, yes....& bobcats & bears aplenty...all here in central New York/northeast Pennsylvania...we even have a growing group of folks sure they've seen mountain lion (DEC says they're mistaken)...frankly, deer cause more casualties....

(and in Guilford, they have a single, male moose who migrates in every year for some unknown reason )

I've read a number of reports of coyotes in the east (particularly northeast) attacking people...odd behavior for coyotes; it's being attributed by some to their cross-breeding with wolves & feral dogs (DNA testing has proven the cross-breeding...and some of these crosses have taken to running in packs, which I gather is a factor in the attacks). Still very much the exception rather than the rule, but frightening to consider...

 

[Tammy]

That is really sad about the Kangaroo drowning your dog-- how horrible :(!

Last summer in Missoula, there was a young woman who was jogging in a wilderness area near town and was attacked by a black bear; she was in the wrong place at the wrong time in between mama bear and her cubs. She got away but her arms and chest were clawed up. She was also on the U.S. Ski Team.

That same summer I also managed to see a very large black bear near the road on a solo road bike ride into a wilderness area. I turned right around and pedaled as fast as humanly possible; clocked myself @ 35 mph out of there.

 

[gardenmary]

We have coyotes on the parcel just west of us - and on the big open land across the street (to the south). We think we've heard up to a dozen at night. Our black cat, the one with the bad attitude, got out one night and we heard her and a coyote hissing and yowling - we figured she was a goner. Nope! She scared that coyote away (probably sank her famous claws right into him). The coyotes won't come up on the pad any more - they sit on the other parcel and look at our place. It's like they're saying to each other, "Don't go up there! Stay away! That's where that CAT lives! She's got LONG CLAWS!"

There are some gorgeous wilderness areas up in the mountains between me and Palm Desert, at about 5000 feet, that look REALLY tempting for XC touring. But I would never go without a ski buddy and a sidearm, and I need a LOT more practice before I'm going to carry a sidearm.

Herons are WAY too skittish to hurt humans - they just take off. Geese, on the other hand - they can be really mean!

 

[litterbug]

That same summer I also managed to see a very large black bear near the road on a solo road bike ride into a wilderness area. I turned right around and pedaled as fast as humanly possible; clocked myself @ 35 mph out of there.

Adrenaline is a wonderful thing, isn't it? I was once camping in Yellowstone in May, and one night while in, um, an altered state, we were standing around the fire and I looked at Jeanie, and Jeanie looked at me, and Jeanie thought I looked scared because of the firelight and yelled "RUN", and next thing I knew I had seemingly flown across a rocky meadow in my long underwear with one sock on, and then we were in some scrubby pines and I had to hold onto Jeanie's belt to keep her from climbing a tree. It was the stupidest thing--I knew a bear would likely run after a running human--and hysterical in retrospect, but none of us slept much that night...

The coyotes won't come up on the pad any more - they sit on the other parcel and look at our place. It's like they're saying to each other, "Don't go up there! Stay away! That's where that CAT lives! She's got LONG CLAWS!"

:ROTF:

 

[Downunder Diva]

Adrenaline is a wonderful thing, isn't it? I was once camping in Yellowstone in May, and one night while in, um, an altered state, we were standing around the fire and I looked at Jeanie, and Jeanie looked at me, and Jeanie thought I looked scared because of the firelight and yelled "RUN", and next thing I knew I had seemingly flown across a rocky meadow in my long underwear with one sock on, and then we were in some scrubby pines and I had to hold onto Jeanie's belt to keep her from climbing a tree. It was the stupidest thing--I knew a bear would likely run after a running human--and hysterical in retrospect, but none of us slept much that night...
:ROTF:

OMG litterbug ... :ROTF: that is so funny but only because there wasn't a bear ... :ROTF: the power of suggestion is indeed a motivational force even in the absence of bears

 

[litterbug]

I left out the ending: Once Jeanie had been convinced there wasn't a bear there and stopped trying to climb the tree (which wasn't much taller than a bear anyway), Jeanie, Phil and I joined hands and slowly crept back across the meadow toward our fire, trying to sing "Keep On the Sunny Side." We had to keep Jeanie in the middle because every once in a while she would spook and try to run back to the trees.

 

[Downunder Diva]

:ROTF::ROTF: Hilarious LB ... But don't bears climb trees? (grizzlies not koala bears). Love the song choice ( reminds me of the Coen bros flick ' Oh brother where art thou')

 

[litterbug]

:ROTF::ROTF: Hilarious LB ... But don't bears climb trees? (grizzlies not koala bears).

Oh yes they do! That's the other reason it was stupid--I knew perfectly well that a bear can outrun a human and climb trees. I remembered that about halfway across the meadow, but at that point there was no point in stopping.

Love the song choice ( reminds me of the Coen bros flick ' Oh brother where art thou')

One of my favorite movies ever. I think I had the soundtrack before I saw the movie. But at the time we knew it from Will the Circle Be Unbroken by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, which I just happened to buy this week on iTunes. But what I would give for the album cover...

 

[playoutside]

So sad about your dog and the kangaroo. Makes me look at them a bit differently.

Like many places coyotes are getting a lot of attention in the Boston suburbs. Everyday on my walk I see a new sign about a missing cat...some are surely lost to predators. I've attached a link to some beautiful shots of coyotes from the Mt Auburn Cemetery which is nearby. These are well fed, large coyotes. They may actually be what some are calling coy-dogs. They are significantly larger than the ones we see in NJ. They really are beautiful...hoping urban areas can find a way to coexist.

https://boston.com/yourtown/watertown/gallery/mount_auburn_coyotes/

 

[Downunder Diva]

Thanks divas for your empathic thoughts re: Digger Dog

Playoutside thanks for posting the pics of the coyotes - they are indeed magnificent - majestic with tails akin to foxes...

Litterbug - one of my all time fave films also I've lost count of the number of times I've viewed it! Love the Coen bros (the big Lebowski :ROTF: :ROTF

 

[Christy]

They really are beautiful...hoping urban areas can find a way to coexist.

Coyotes do an incredible job of rodent control in cities. I've read that in Chicago there are 3000 coyotes, which seems amazing. Every city has lots--they are great at hiding during the day and hunting at night. Seattle had a coyote pup with his head stuck in a jar last year, so that it couldn't eat or drink--it seemed like the whole city was on the lookout for it. Isn't the picture the saddest thing? A couple guys finally did manage to get the jar off.

https://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2015748458_coyote28m.html

 

[dloveski]

I've read a number of reports of coyotes in the east (particularly northeast) attacking people...odd behavior for coyotes; it's being attributed by some to their cross-breeding with wolves & feral dogs (DNA testing has proven the cross-breeding...and some of these crosses have taken to running in packs, which I gather is a factor in the attacks). Still very much the exception rather than the rule, but frightening to consider...

Wow. I raised two wolf hybrids (Alaskan Timberwolf + Malamute)--sled dog/wolf mixes from my days in Alaska/Denali. Best dogs EVER---so in tune with the 'pack' (aka family) and so loyal. It's the only time in my life I got to be the 'alpha female', these dogs worshipped me. They kept us safe when camping in the wilderness---patrolling around the tent keeping critters at bay. Never any aggression toward humans---but some issues with little yappy nasty @$$ yippy dogs. And both killed sheep around Heber Utah----kind of another story.

 

[MaineSkiLady]

but some issues with little yappy nasty @$$ yippy dogs.

We adopted a rescue dog who had been a sled dog - and even though he appeared to be Alaskan husky, the wolf component was questionable. Anyway, he'd been "on death row" at the Humane Society for supposedly having killed a small dog much like described above. The details were sketchy, and the death row dog's nature was never fully determined. We brought him home (after us being copiously screened), he was with us for 5 years before passing on. RIP, Polar. :( He was a loyal, One-Man (DH) dog.

 

[whitewater girl]

I've know some wolf/dog mixes (and one pure, tame, wolf) who were absolutely wonderful - smart, loyal, personable...I know some folks who swear their "domesticated" coy-dogs are the same...

I'm not sure what's different about the wild "mixes"...maybe just that they have never been socialized to people???

(or maybe the incidents of "coyote's" attaching people represent "a few bad eggs", and trying to "explain" it is nothing more than rationalizing...)

 

[pinto]

We have had more and more attacks here in the Denver area over the past few years. Coyotes are just getting more comfortable and thus bolder. Adults have been bitten, kids, etc. No one in my neighborhood buys small dogs anymore ... "Well, we wanted a pug, but we bought a Bernese because of the coyotes."

That said, the hot topic in Colorado is more in the mountains, where the aggressive sheep guard dogs are scaring the recreationalists. These dogs have mauled people on bikes, and even my brother and his family were very scarily threatened while backpacking in the Weminuche last summer. My brother is certain that had they not all had hiking poles, blood would have been spilled. It was very frightening.

Hopefully they can find a happy medium ... https://www.denverpost.com/recommended/ci_19022039

 

[litterbug]

A big factor with coyote problems is incursions into their habitat and their cleverness at learning where the food sources are. They get habituated to being around people, and because people aren't part of their packs, we're treated either as enemies or as food.

Canines are intensely socialized to their pack and completely submit to the alpha (assuming someone firmly assumes that role for them). If the alpha insists on controlling a dog or wild mix around other people, the canine will always defer to the alpha and attach to the rest of the "pack." Once that happens, the dog defends everyone identified as the pack and is loyal to all of them, although the alpha is the one who can get away with anything with them.

I get upset with people who don't train the dog, which means teaching the dog who's boss. A dog, coyote, or wolf is simply happier if it knows it's part of a pack, which means someone dominating them--or, if no one will, they will dominate anyone who will let them get away with it!

 

[Christy]

where the aggressive sheep guard dogs are scaring the recreationalists.

That's a big issue in the Sun Valley area too. It's all on public land so the Forest Service is trying to work it out with sheep herders.

 

[NZfarmgirl]

This is all so interesting to me, as in New Zealand we don't have any native predators. We do however have some introduced pests, like rabbits, possums, stoats, deer, wild pigs and rats, (none of which should be here) but these are a problem to our native birds at natural bush habitats, rather than to us or our pets.
The main problem we have with dogs is pig hunting dogs that run off from their owners in the bush and go feral. They kill lambs and sheep who are grazing on the edge of the forests. Some of our neighbours have been out on night hunts to shoot them.
FWI a pig hunting dog is trained to run through the bush tracking the pig, it then grabs the pig by the neck and waits for the hunter to come with his knife and kill it. it is very hands on hunting and the dogs are naturally quite vicious because of it.
Now before you get upset, the pigs are an officially listed pest and need to be culled - they are all eaten. Not wasted. We trap the stoats, poison the possums and shoot the deer and the rabbits.

Oh and we also don't have any snakes, crocs, or poisonous spiders-it's paradise.
Before humans came NZ was just full of birds and not much else.

 

[VickiK]

Aren't there ginormous insects? To feed those birds....

Still, I'd love to visit someday.