Here’s a sad article about two coyotes that were shot and killed in Golden Gate Park, after they attacked two dogs. The dogs were being walked by their owners, which makes this especially scary.
This is sad for the dogs, but it’s also sad for the coyotes, which, in the right places, are pretty neat animals. Here are two coyote shots from Yellowstone National Park. In the action shot, the coyote has jumped high in the air to pounce on a vole (small rodent).
Coyotes seem to be becoming more of a problem. A few months ago, a friend of mine was walking two small dogs on the golf course near my home, and he realized that a coyote was “stalking” him. He got so concerned that he yelled for help. It seems unlikely that the coyote would attack with an adult around, but that’s what happened in Golden Gate Park.
On my recent vacation at Lake Arrowhead, we noticed a man walking two Golden Retrievers on the opposite side of Willow Creek from where we were standing. Little did he know, that on our side of the creek, a coyote was watching his every move and following along in parallel. We were just about ready to warn the man, when the coyote spotted us and ran away from the man and his dogs, into the forest.
I guess it’s a good idea to be coyote aware, if you live in coyote country. I do know of one family that lost their full-grown Golden Retriever to coyotes in the Santa Monica mountains a number of years ago.
Yet, I enjoy watching these beautiful animals, so long as they behave themselves. One of my favorite wildlife images from my vacation (I couldn’t get to a camera fast enough) was watching two adult coyotes, a small kit, and a medium-sized kit walk down the hill through my property and into the National Forest. The four were staying close together, and the adults were obviously protecting the young ones.
