I just want to start off by saying that I am not afraid of wild animals, not even a little bit. However, this doesn't mean I'm stupid about them. I've been raised to respect animals, both domestic and wild. I do live in a city but seeing wildlife on my way to school is not unusual. Coyotes are always around, my best friend who lives just a street over from me had a deer in her backyard. This past year we had a lot of Moose find their way into the city and one even got lost downtown. There's plenty of wild animals at my dads, lots of coyotes, deer, moose and cougars. Even a few bears. I'm not afraid of them but I give them space and try not to end up in a conflict with them.
That said, I had an unnerving experience at the stable last night. When we got there it was already pitch black outside. D was the in the barn soaking Spirit's hoof (she had a major infection in her hoof and part of it fell off) and K was inside the ring riding Tango. There's a new door that's been installed in the barn that faces where all the cars are parked that we have to use for the horses now, and it's on the opposite end of the barn from where Socks and Jimmy's paddocks are. There is a light near them, but it doesn't throw that much light. Jay, the barn dog, came with us, and she immediatly ran past Sock's paddock and began barking. I didn't think anything about it because she barks at the neighbour's dogs all the time.
We caught the ponies and began leading them back around to the door. We were halfway there when something white ran in front of us and into a turnout paddock right in front of us. I actually had a moment of panic because it was really long and I thought it was a cougar. (At my dad's when you see an animal at night in the barnyard, 9 times out of 10 it's going to be a cougar, and I DO NOT hang around to see what they're going to do). Then I remembered it'd be extremely rare for a cougar to be this south, and I got a better look at it. It was a coyote.
Now here's a little side note, Western coyotes are not like Eastern coyotes. My cousins live on Prince Edward Island and they bascially live in fear of the coyotes on the island. They have some pretty scary stories of encounters with coyotes. The difference between Western and Eastern coyotes is that Eastern coyotes are often coyote-wolf hybrids. They breed with the Red Wolves, and this creates a larger, more aggressive coyote. Western coyotes aren't usually mixed with wolves so they're smaller and not as agressive. So in short, I'm cautious around coyotes but I've never had reason to fear them because they're usually running away from you by the time you see them. However, lately around my city we've been seeing bigger and bigger coyotes.
Anyway, back to the story. This coyote was BIG. Probably the biggest coyote I've ever seen. It was around the size of a German Shepherd. Not as bulky looking, but as tall. It circled the pen in front of us and then it ducked into the pen beside us. I was hoping it would keep going through the pens, but the little bugger turned and began trotting right at us. Socks and Jimmy were great, thank god. They're so used to coyotes and it would have been a much worse situation if they had started freaking out. But the coyote was still coming right at us. I yelled at it but it didn't stop.
We immediatly told D what had just happened and she in turn told K once K was finished riding. Jay was still outside barking away so K, being the fearless person she is, grabbed a shovel and went outside to chase the coyote away. I personally didn't think it was a good idea and I was giving her five minutes outside before I went to make sure she was okay. Luckily, she came back pretty quickly with Jay. This was the story she told us.
The coyote was still in the turnout pens, closer to Socks and Jimmy's paddocks. Jay was backed up against the barn barking. K threw a rock at the coyote and she missed. The coyote began to growl at her so she hit the shovel against a fence post and the noise was enough to finally make the coyote run off. She agreed with us that the coyote was larger than usual, and unusually fearless.
When it came time for us to put Socks and Jimmy out, we were the only ones at the stable. Jay came outside with us and began barking right away again. We didn't see the coyote again, but I'm sure he was still hanging around there. Coyotes aren't usually a problem. There are records of them attacking small dogs and children, but they rarely go after adults. There are only two recorded cases of coyotes killing people, three-year-old Kelly Keen and nineteen-year-old Taylor Mitchell (which was an extremely strange case). But the fact that this one was so fearless and even went as far as growling at K, was not alright. We'll be letting everyone at the stable know just so they can be careful. It gets dark around 5:30 now and lots of people have to go out into dark paddocks to get horses.
Sorry for the long story, but as you can tell, the encounter bothered me. I'm not afraid of coyotes but I respect them. I realize that we're building into the territories and encounters with them cannot be avoided. However, I do not like when they aren't afraid of me because if they aren't going to run from an adult, they're certainly not going to back down from a child.
6 comments:
That is really weird and unnerving. I've never heard of a coyote that was so persistent. Even cougars aren't usually that fearless. At least you know they're not much of a threat to the horses.
That's weird behavoir for a coyote. The only time I seen anything like that is when pups get orphaned over the summer and then they are friendly because they don't know to be afraid. But if this one is full grown, then I'm not sure what's going on. Maybe coyotes in my area are just more afraid because farmers and ranchers will shoot them if they hang around too much.
On a side note, I am very scared of cougars (thank goodness I've never seen one) and grizzly bears (only saw one from inside a vehicle in K-country).
Cjay – First, I applaud your respect of wildlife. I wish there were more like you out there.
Coyotes are one of my favourite animals. I love their tenacity, their problem-solving ability, their resilience and their sense of family. Coyotes play a very important part in keeping populations of certain animals under control. Old-time cultures believe that any coyote or wolf is a threat and must be eliminated. However, when coyote families are hunted out of a region, there is always a spike in rabbit, squirrel, Canada geese, rodent and gopher populations. These population explosions can have a devastating affect on farming.
We have actually taught coyotes not to be afraid of us. We leave dog/cat food out in barns or sheds which encourages them to come closer. We hang bird feeders near our homes (seeds and berries make up a big portion of their diet). We leave cats and small dogs outside unattended or on leads. We don’t lock up our garbage. Mice and squirrels come closer to our warm homes as the temperatures drop. We provide a food source for them. Why wouldn’t a coyote want to hang around us? :-)
To avoid conflicts and work towards co-existing with coyotes, it is our responsibility to re-train them and make it unacceptable to hang around our space. Make any type of food source unavailable or inaccessible. Be prepared for encounters by carrying a stick or an umbrella, which when you open it will scare the crap out of the coyote. :-) Having a big barking dog also helps! These coyotes will teach their young to stay away from crazy humans, and the next generation will teach their young and so on.
Sorry for the long post!! I guess you can tell I am passionate about coyotes! :-)
I remember hearing about Taylor Mitchell on a tv show once.
The closest thing we have to coyotes are foxes haha. I really could not imagine what I would do if I ran into a cougar or bear =O
Ooh, I forgot to mention, on the tv show with Taylor Mitchell, there was also a case about a cougar that tried to attack a full grown man, that was trying to scare it off with a chainsaw!
The fact that it was unafraid of that creeped me out a bit. .
Canadian Megan- If he had been a puppy I wouldn't have thought it was that strange, but he was defintely an adult. I know the farmers out here still shoot at them a lot, but I wonder if it's because we were closer to the city that he was so fearless.
I am afraid of cougars. I honestly wasn't until I saw my first wild one and it was HUGE. Socks and I actually chased one once (I'll tell that story sometime).
I've seen many Grizzly Bears, mostly in Kananaskis and in the Crowsnest, I've had a few close encounters too that I'd like to avoid again, but it's honestly black bears that freak me out more. I've heard more stories of them attacking than grizzlies, although I'd still rather not run into a bear of any kind.
Wolfie- Our stable is pretty good about not being wild animal-friendly. All of the food, except for the hay, is locked up in the barn, which isn't like a normal barn but more like a a giant metal building and Jay the barn dog is a pretty good sized dog. The only thing I have to say is that the two barn cats do hang outside sometimes. However, I don't know what the neighbours are like and how they might attract coyotes.
I love coyotes too, I love seeing them but I do not like them to be in my barnyard since both at the stable and at my dad's, there are often small children running around. I never thought of carrying an umbrella around, that's a good idea!
Australian Megan- Taylor Mitchell was a very strange and very tragic death. They think it was adolescent coyotes hunting in a pack.
Cougars freak me out because they're much harder to fight off if you do get attacked and you often don't know they're there until they're ontop of you.
There was a man here in Alberta, who lived in Banff National Park who was in his house when he heard his son screaming. He came out to find his son being attacked by a cougar and he just snapped. He beat on the cougar and it actually tried to run but he kept beating it until it was dead.
My general rule with cougars is that if there is one around, I'm not around.
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