Coyotes are Roaming My Neighborhood
I've Moved! The Boomer Chronicles has closed after 6 years, but you can keep up with me on my new blog at http://www.rheabecker.com
I don’t live in a rural area. I live in Boston. So when I see wild animals running around, I sit up and take notice.
Right now, coyotes and wild turkeys are all over my neighborhood of Jamaica Plain. Why? Because we humans have built on their habitats.
My beloved dog and I had our own close encounter with coyotes a few months ago. Here’s what happened:
I took my pup — who is a Certified Therapy Dog in his spare time — to an assisted living facility less than a mile from where I live. We found a nice wooded area off the parking lot, so we went for the all-important walk to let him relieve himself before we started our visit to the Alzheimer’s unit.
On our walk I heard a rustle. I looked to my right and saw a German shepherd stand up in the tall grass. Except it was kind of mangy for a dog. Then I realized that it must be a coyote. Then a second coyote stood up. My pup strained in the direction of the coyotes. Thankfully, he was on a leash, because at 11 pounds, my pet would have made a nice snack for a couple of coyotes.
If you are experiencing wild animals in your non-rural area, check out these resources:
Coyotes in the Suburbs
Coyotes in Urban areas
How to Keep Coyotes Away
June 8th, 2007 at 10:53 am
You’re absolutely correct… we have pushed the animals out of their natural habitat and where are they supposed to go? Quite a dilemma…
June 8th, 2007 at 10:55 am
That is so cool that you have a therapy dog. My daughter does too – a golden – and they go to the hospital. She calls it “going to school.”
Therapy dogs are also helping in schools:
http://moochie.typepad.com/moochie_co/2007/06/therapy_dog_hel.html
June 8th, 2007 at 11:01 am
Bears and moose seem to be invading Connecticut at an alarming rate. I never knew moose went this far south but I am not surprised by the bears; they were here first I’m pretty sure!
June 8th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
I think there was a deer in our very suburban neighborhood one Christmas. My grandmother found it’s tracks in the snow…though, she claimed they were
reindeer prints.
June 8th, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Crikey, the most dangerous wildlife we get is the occasional fox.
June 8th, 2007 at 1:13 pm
It’s crazy. We have coyotes here in Chicago!
June 8th, 2007 at 1:26 pm
I walk the dogs at Great Brook in Carlisle, where coyotes and black bears have been seen! EEK!
Also, I hear coyotes late at night howling in the woods behind my house and I’m always seeing turkeys (the bird kind) wandering in my neighborhood; even say a turkey vulture once! I’m in a more suburban area that you but still!
June 8th, 2007 at 2:25 pm
Coyotes abound here because we leave close to a fowl game preserve where birds take sanctuary from hunters, so the coyotes often come for a nightly feeding of eggs and birds.
They wake us sometimes at night with their howling which is kind of cool-as long as your pets are inside. Recently I heard a girl screaming outside and a few of us in the neighbourhood ran out to help. She was walking her small dog (off leash) when a coyote nabbed it and she could only stand there watching as she saw it disappear into the marsh with her dog in its mouth. You and she are good examples (with clearly different outcomes) why you should always leash your dogs.
June 8th, 2007 at 2:52 pm
I guess you are not talking about those ugly girls that dance on bars as they throw beer at you.
June 8th, 2007 at 4:29 pm
Mizmell: Yeah. Where will all the animals live. I hate when people want to kill them because they’ve wandered in their backyard. Although I understand their fear.
Mark: Therapy dogs are cool. It’s fun to do, too.
Linda: Bears!?
Silver: Deer are everywhere now.
Akel: Yup.
Therapydoc: I think all the cities have them now!
Janet: Black bears in Carlisle?! I will have to go check that out.
Brian: Sad story. I keeping picturing my pup getting snatched from me like that. I do have him off leash at times.
Nessa: Ha.
June 8th, 2007 at 6:00 pm
You know coyotes are the least of my worries….when a cat as in cougar, is in the area all of the neighbors send out “be careful” messages. We had one roaming last summer….scares me to pieces.
June 8th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Wow…you’ve got coyotes, we’ve got alligators…it’s all crazy.
June 9th, 2007 at 1:39 pm
Its been a few months but I spotted a coyote in the mall parking lot. But I’m in the NW and they wander a bit around here! Coyotes in Boston definitely points to encroachment extreme. The animal most effected by local building in our neighborhood is the mighty moose -
June 9th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
We have them here too along with deer of course. Of course I live pretty far out from the closest city. Even the suburbs that are closer are having problems with coyotes. There have been several dogs killed
Alligators and cougars would scare the beejesus out of me!
June 9th, 2007 at 8:13 pm
We have mountain lions. They are protected by law. The rest of us aren’t.
June 9th, 2007 at 10:07 pm
I remember when my mom started mentioning that she was seeing coyotes in her backyard. She lives on the South Shore near Plymouth and even though it is more rural it was still a surprise. She has unfortunately found some of the neighbors pets that have not fared s well in their meetings with the coyotes and has to keep her little dog under careful watch.
Here in western NJ it is more of a bear problem we are facing although I have just begun hearing of people with coyotes on their properties.
Keep your pup safe.
June 10th, 2007 at 5:32 am
It’s their world, too, isn’t it?
I’ve seen coyotes on Cape Cod, and lots of other places. We have lots of bear crossing signs near where I live in Florida, and bears are seen frequently.
Note: There has never been a reported instance of a Florida black bear attacking a human being.
Deer are so common as to seem unremarkable.
I actually am glad wildlife can thrive despite all we’ve done.
June 10th, 2007 at 7:34 am
I saw a coyote on night running in an alley in downtown Denver. I guess the city has them all over the place.
June 10th, 2007 at 10:31 am
I am in more rural area and we have them all, Bears, Coyotes, Turkeys, Fox, Bobcats, and I know people that have even seen Mountain Lions.
We lost our last cat to either Coyotes or Racoons. We keep out new cat inside or outside supervised on a leash.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Must say I I wouldn’t think you would spot coyotes wild turkeys in Boston… but what are they supposed to do we’re taking up all of their land!
June 10th, 2007 at 11:32 am
Yikes! Glad you both were ok.
June 10th, 2007 at 11:40 am
Me again. A couple or so summers ago there was a story in the Falmouth newspaper. People were complaining that coyotes were killing off their cats. A wildlife officer investigated, including examining some fox dens, and determined the foxes were the culprits (in that case). So there was a quote from him: “The foxes are giving the coyotes a bad name.” That struck me as funny.
June 10th, 2007 at 3:24 pm
cool! I would have freaked! Nice site!
June 10th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Hi Rhea,
I’m delighted to trade links–in fact, I’ve had you on my blog roll since nearly the beginning. Love your blog! (p.s.: Just got my AARP card, so I’ve clearly arrived in MidLifeLand. . .)
Craig
June 10th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Thought I’d check you out, since you found my blog from somewhere too! no probs with Coyotes on this side of the pond though
June 10th, 2007 at 7:21 pm
We used to see skunks and possums when we lived in an urban area. It’s interesting to see how well they’ve adapted to urban living. Now that we have a slice of the suburbs, we’re practically swimming in wildlife, coyotes included.
June 10th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
We have a lot of deer roaming town, but then there are only 1200 people in town, so it’s fairly rural. Coyotes in Boston though, that surprises me. I’m sure glad your dog was on a leash.
June 10th, 2007 at 9:01 pm
It sounds as if we’re mixing with all kinds of wildlife, depending on where one lives. Bobcat,s bears, coyotes. Sheesh.
June 11th, 2007 at 11:14 am
I wonder if I could get the coyotes to come on over to Watertown and eat a few of the skunks?
June 11th, 2007 at 2:29 pm
We lived in the heart of Denver until 2005, 10 minutes from downtown.
I regularly saw foxes and coyotes. The former were terrified of the latter.
I walk a very large dog and we used to have a coyote companionably follow us in the early morning hours. We’d see her munching on pizza, etc.
I was not scared of her (for some reason, she seemed like a female to me) and she trotted at a distance, always veering off at the same spot each time. My dog was interested in her, it almost seemed as if he knew she wasn’t precisely the same species. We always kept our distance, partly to be on the safe side, partly because I was worried about breaking some sort of spell.
June 11th, 2007 at 3:27 pm
We live on 50 acres so are used to seeing and living with the wildlife out here – but have watched people move out side our nearest town, and then complain because of the animals in their yards! Get real. They were here first. A new subdivision is being built on Peone Prairie this year, and it’s sad to watch – it’s right where the elk crossing was. Wonder where the elk will go now? To town?
June 12th, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Where in JP did you see it? Was it by Franklin Park?
June 25th, 2007 at 11:33 am
We as humans, need to take a long and hard look at what we are taking away from our wildlife…their homes. It is truly unfair to the animals that get “negative coverage” when they happen to roam our neighborhoods and streets at times. This is a huge wake up call for humans…stop reproducing at such an alarming rate!
July 11th, 2007 at 9:26 pm
Humans need to be killed in the billions so that coyotes can live in peace with turkeys.