I don't find humor in this as in my town several dogs were killed and a small child was attacked while playing in a park.

Sharing coyote sighting can be very useful. I understand that the police are busy. I would like to see a poster on what to do when you see one.

Eld, we have had such situations here, too. But just because you see a coyote doesn't mean you have to call the police. We do inform one another so we can avoid certain walking paths and keep our critters in.

Great sense of humor. It probably makes people remember to be careful more than the usual blah-blah warnings. We now have them around here and in the city. Hope I don't run across one although I imagine he would be more scared of me than I am of him. Well, maybe.

I think the poster was great. I had a good laugh. They are all over here, and while no children attacks, a lot of the pets missing I think is due to coyotes. They are being seen at all hours.

Eld, Here is a link to a post on our lost and found site. You might want to forward it to people you know.

https://www.facebook.com/notes/lost-and-found-pets-huntsville-almadison-county/what-to-do-if-you-encounter-a-coyote-while-walking-your-dog/877567239028026/

Made me laugh!! Coyotes are everywhere.....they even live in very heavily populated urban settings. One should always be aware that they are present, if not seen easily. We recently had an instance of a young boy walking his dog in a very open, grassy park that was chased home and bitten (really just nipped) by a coyote in broad daylight!! They can be very aggressive and territorial although not so often with humans. And no small pet is safe left outdoors on their own.

I think whatever notifications that will raise awareness or consciousness are appropriate....even those that make you chuckle!!

lol

Funny poster. My small shoreline town has a lot of wildlife habitat and that means coyotes as well. They den in the marsh areas and are bold enough to come out and lounge in people’s yards during the day. Small pets have gone missing.

People took to complaining to the town a couple of years ago until they finally got someone to come out and get rid of some of them. I think they killed about five of them. The problem is if you get rid of them, others move into the territory and you’re right back where you started.

I found droppings in my driveway several times last year, and they cut through my yard going from one side of the marshes to the other during the winter, leaving footprints in the snow. I’m in the live and let live camp, but I do feel for the people who have lost pets. I heard that collars were found in one of the dens. I would be devastated.

I've seen a pair of coyotes twice in my yard in a NJ suburb of Philly. Once they were crossing the street underneath the streetlight and the second time they were standing beneath my huge pine tree. Both times they ran off.

We see them frequently at our place in the mountains - along with bears, rattlesnakes, copperheads. I'd much rather see a coyote than stumble upon a snake.

Sorry, I doubt the LA Police made the poster.

Don't some people call Mexicans 'Coyotes'? Pretty sure it's not an enduring term.

or maybe I am sensitive?

eta: I know the coyote text is in reference to some cartoon, still would be surprised if the LA police would make it into a poster. Unless it was made 25 years ago.

We have a terrible coyote problem on my farm. Hunters come out and shoot deer (without our permission!), then they cut off the heads and leave the bodies lying. The coyotes have learned that our place is a great buffet. We have the fattest coyotes in the county.

a lot of the pets missing I think is due to coyotes.

I don't allow my dog to go out after dark (unless he's with us on a leash). Though he thinks he's a tough guy, he's small and blind from birth. A coyote could make short work of him.

Don't some people call Mexicans 'Coyotes'? Pretty sure it's not an enduring term.

Coyotes are people who are paid to lead Mexicans across the border illegally. No, it's not an endearing term.

In San Francisco, COYOTE meant "Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics" and was the theme for the annual Hookers' Ball, that I used to go to every year around Halloween.

I found coyote scat in my back yard only once, but my neighbors post sightings on NextDoor.com. I've not seen any here, but I see them regularly when we go to the desert and have had them follow us. They are definitely not afraid of humans, possibly because some people feed them.

My brother in Texas has friends who hunt them, and I believe there is a bounty on their pelts, although I have also seen the pelts hung on barbed wire fences in Texas.

Neighbors up the road from my parents in Texas had a dog that was half coyote that bit me once when I was taking a walk.

This thread reminds me of Ian Frazier's "Coyote v. Acme" that was in the New Yorker years ago. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1990/02/26/coyote-v-acme

Coyotes are not a huge problem where I live but we have alligators and cockroaches as big as your head so I feel the pain for those whom this is a serious problem.

They do eat small pets. Whether or not the sign was made by police, I guess the point of it is not to call the police just because you see a coyote. (I'm assuming this is in a coyote-filled area.)

I might add, though, if you see a mountain lion, do call the police or animal control. Those guys really should be safely relocated. :)

I saw a mountain lion the last time I visited Sequoia National Park, but it ran away up a hill very quickly. I do think there are some near Los Angeles, however, but they are extremely rare, compared to coyotes. I've never gone to Sequoia without seeing bears, and I got chased by one once. It chased me around the picnic table because it wanted my sandwich, but there was no way I was going to give it to him. He had a collar on also, and after chasing me for a while, he went on to the next picnic table.

Coyotes are common around where I live, and most people who have lived here for awhile don't worry too much about it (except as noted, small pets.) Last year, however, there were confirmed sightings of both a cougar and a wolf in our woods. I'm still skeptical of the wolf sighting, but we came upon definitive evidence of the cougar (fresh deer kill) during our hike, and then later found cougar scat in the woods closer to our house. The HOA above posted fliers with pictures and the dates and places they were seen and warned people that way. Silly us; we just assumed everyone was mistaken until we were proven wrong.

I hear nearby coyotes often but have only seen them a couple of times. My cat - a very street-wise neutered tom that has always been an indoor/outdoor cat - had a very close encounter with a coyote last summer. Both my dog and I were close by in my garden and we heard a big commotion in the bushes bordering the big greenbelt adjacent (where the local coyote herd lives) and investigating, saw my cat in the coyote's jaws!! I screamed blue murder, the coyote dropped the cat and ran into the woods and the cat ran in the opposite direction under the deck. He was relatively unscathed although seriously shook up by the experience (as was I!!) and hid out for an hour or so. Since he is a senior cat person, he is now 100% indoors!! My dog is always on a leash when outside and if at night, I am with him.

So yes, missing small pets can definitely be attributed to coyote predation. Eagles are fond of small, tasty morsels as well and there are numerous local reports of finding bones and pet collars in abandoned or fallen nests. I have a friend who witnessed her King Charles spaniel being taken away by an eagle as it was playing on the beach.

I once saw a poster about a black bear sighting in another neighborhood where I lived and routinely walked my dog. I immediately stopped that practice, as I am truly terrified of bears!! I could probably hold my own against a coyote......but a bear?? Not so much :-(

My electrician told me that a woman who lives near him had her chihuahua snatched by a coyote when they were exiting her car and walking toward the house after dark. I can’t even imagine having that happen to my pet. I have always had small dogs, all of them gone now from old age. Because of the coyote problem in my area, I have thought that if I decide to get another dog it wil be a larger one that would not be so much in danger. My late cat was always indoors. The one time he slipped out I found him desperately banging on the door trying to get back in.

My Mom has a Maltese, and she never lets her off the deck unless she is out there with her, even though the yard is fenced.

Years ago, we didn't have that many coyotes in CT but it's a different story now. We've seen them numerous times in the last couple of years. Our backyard borders on some Water Co property that's pretty heavily wooded. Sometimes a coyote will prowl around right behind our fence. It's only a see-through border type fence-a coyote could easily jump it. My daughter was about to pull in our driveway in the front one time when she spotted one standing right there. He would not move..she honked the horn and even yelled at it. He finally headed down the street, which is a dead end and we're the last house. But only after she sorta nudged him without touching him and followed him with her car, he finally walked away. He was very nonchalant about it.

MrsM, I’m in CT also. Population really has grown here.

Lotta bears in CT too saypoint! (though I haven't spotted one yet).

We were outside with the cat one day when she was gazing up at the telephone pole. We followed her gaze to find...a hawk. We herded her in.

Hawks, coyotes, fox, cars, not to mention Canada geese, deer, and chipmunks (we have to replace the stoop due to chipmunks). It's dangerous out there in nature, people.

When I lived in CT, we had coyotes in the neighborhood. My friend's small dog was grabbed by a coyote in the early sunrise hours. They had an invisible fence, and it was only the fear of a shock that made the dog struggle to the point of release. He survived with a few puncture wounds.

There have been thousands of bear sightings here. The population is estimated at about 700 in CT. Also often seen are bobcats and a number of reports of cougar sightings. Fisher cats are also a problem for small pets but I have never seen one myself. My vet used to post warnings about them in their office for people who weren’t aware of their presence. In a way it’s nice to see wildlife thriving as their habitat improves somewhat and they adapt, but it makes it a bit scary for walking with pets with some sort of protection. Would pepper spray deter a coyote?

I was stalked very closely by a couple while hiking with my dog. They have no fear. I yelled and threw rocks in their direction and realized I had nothing on me to protect my dog or myself, if they decided to get closer. I now carry pepper gel and recently added a knife, after several mountain lion sightings in the same area.

I'm not giving up my hikes, but I am as prepared as possible and aware of my surroundings ... unlike so many that hike while using headphones or talking on the phone ... they'll never see the predator coming!

And don't run, like the cyclists in the Seattle area, who did everything wrong, in their mountain lion encounter, and one of them paid for those errors with his life.

Saypoint, cans of bear spray would be better, but they are larger than the standard pepper gel ones, so not as easy to carry. I saw a video recently of a guy who stopped a mountain lion attack with bear spray.

We have seen a few of them on our property. They typically run when we go out there. Our dogs are on fenced in acreage, including 18 inches of fencing and rebar below ground to prevent anything digging in. They are all large,powerful dogs,but I wouldn't want them tangling with anything wild.

One morning,when I was returing from work,it was still dark outside. While I was going up the driveway,I saw what I thought was a dog sitting by the side of the drive. It was pretty large. Anywho,as I got closer,it swivelled it's head around and I realized it was a monster owl,and it flew away with something in it's claws. I couldn't tell what it was. It was either a rabbit or one of the stray cats that wanders through from time to time. Ticked me off. Nature sucks sometimes.

I thought the poster was funny though. It would never occur to me to call the police over a coyote.

You do have to be careful though because they are starving and I'm sure would certainly attack a young child, espcially if one gets trapped in your yard hiding somewhere. It's a big concern where we are because there is a giant pack where we live and so many wild bunnies around here we always keep a look out even in the day time.

Bpathome, we are not neighbors, as I had thought. The name of the grocery store may be the same but I am in the Midwest. Sorry OT

I see them occasionally. One evening we were coming home shortly before dusk after a neighborhood walk, and spotted one on the street behind ours - and we live off a very busy city street. I've seen them running through fields near the runways of Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport and see them on my workplace property from time to time. I think they're lovely creatures, and it always makes me sad to see them wandering in a suburban or urban environment. We encroached on their territory, after all.

They have no fear.

No, they don't. Many years ago I lived in a very isolated area with both timber wolves and coyotes. To see a wolf slinking away was a privilege, but I was very afraid of the coyotes.

IdaClaire, they are in many areas where they never were before, like FL. After the demise of the native wolf population, there were no native canines down here, but now there are many, many coyotes everywhere (although not out here on the island where I live, not yet). However, they do eat iguanas so some people in S FL welcome them.

I would assume they migrate to areas where they were not previously living because they are forced out of other areas. Is this the case?

No not forced out of other areas. They are very adaptable and opportunistic hunters. They are happy to go after little Fifi in a backyard than have to hunt and run down a rabbit. They will learn people's schedules and stalk at the right time.

Mon, if you have wild rabbits then your Coyotes aren't starving.

I don't know of any area that has been able to force them out, even with lots of trying. If they can manage Manhattan, I can't think of how development would discourage them, IdaClaire.

That's true, writersblock. I was just curious as to the hows and whys of their migration habits.

We have a lot of coyotes where we live in Orange County, CA. I grew up here in a neighborhood close to my current home and the increase in volume of coyotes attacking pets is huge, as a kid we never heard of a pet being killed by a coyote. Now I can not let my pets outside without supervision, neighbors pets have been killed at all times of the day.

In our last house we did not have any coyote problems in the 23 years we lived there, so our pets could go back and forth between the house and the outdoors at will. We have lived here 2 1/2 years and my poor dogs still miss the freedom they had and so do I. The problem is so bad that a student was attacked by a coyote at a near-by university. The authorities tracked and killed a pair of coyotes at the school, one was injured and they think that caused the unusual behavior. That said coyotes have also been stalking walkers including those without pets. Very scary.

Here the authorities request that we report all coyote sightings to our County as they are trying to understand the extent of the issue.

We also get an occasional mountain lion, my mom has a picture of one in her backyard a few months back.

Anyone watch weather channel?

How to survive?

Westsider, the image says LA but could easily be here! I don't kno where the FB poster in my group found it. We are neighbors-ish :) I'm pretty sure. There's also a regular fox report coming from the West side (if that's your same west side), including one about watching the kits (pups?) playing so cutely.

I thought IdaClaire meant forced out of less populated natural habitats. Around here, development has done away w/ most of the wild areas, so we're seeing more predators and other animals that were not around here when I was a kid. They've gotten used to us humans out of necessity, it seems.

And our NextDoor.com also shares coyote sightings, among other things.

Maddielee it definitely has nothing to do with the human smuggling/coyotaje and everything to do with Wile E. Coyote from the old Looney Tunes cartoons (who didn’t have a Mexican accent or anything).

The coyotes in Nova Scotia are large, appear to have cross bred with wolves and have killed a teenager here (attacked her in her sleep). They are all over the province and often heard but rarely seen. They are serious business, but the sign is still funny (someone posted it in our cottage community where we have coyote, bear, and lots of other wildlife).

Robo, I’ve heard that they may have cross bred with wolves. That’s scary.

But carol_b, you don't see coyotes in the Big Cypress or the Everglades, only in urban areas in FL, for example. If they preferred an unsullied habitat there were other places they could go besides Lake Worth or Safety Harbor.

That's right, Jen. With urban areas popping up all around big cities, the coyotes are technically on "their" land, which is why people are seeing them more. Same with Bear's from my understanding.

I'm from Tulsa, a city girl transplanted to rural OKC, wheat and pasture all around our couple of acres. My first week here I saw a coyote in the pasture and totally freaked out, called DH at work to tell him to get home! He just laughed. lol

Now's the time of the year they don't travel in packs and you'll see lone coyotes. I love laying in bed at night and listening to them howl. But I'm deadly afraid of them too and won't go outside after dark.

Speaking of, we used to let our cats out at night but one morning our cat was outside with a broken back. Pretty sure a coyote got it. That was me being naive before I turned into a country girl. :(

I've never gone to Sequoia without seeing bears, and I got chased by
one once. It chased me around the picnic table because it wanted my
sandwich, but there was no way I was going to give it to him.

Holy cow, Lars! I hope I'm never as hungry as you were.

We have eastern coyotes and anyone is permitted to shot them at any time. From what I read is that eastern coyotes are a cross bred between wolfs from Canada that traveled south and western coyote that traveled east. They are larger than western coyotes. They do become less fearful of humans like any wild animal that lives in a populated area.