Just saw a coyote running down my street in Durham. Really. No kidding. (Chapel Hill: chapel, houses)

[raleighjayne]

I've lived here since 1998 and I have yet to see a raccoon or chipmunk around. I'm surprised since I live fairly close to the Neuse and we have deer in the neighborhood. I should be glad about the raccoons though, since they're mean and make a mess of your garbage.

I've seen a fox or two in the area, but never a coyote. That would freak me out I think.

[lamishra]

wow, we moved about 4 nuisance racoons off of our property just last year alone! Seen a few foxes, never seen or heard a coyote but several of my neighbors have said they've seen them close by.

[tigerlily]

One night my husband was reading and the next thing he knew a bushy tail protruded from the fireplace. A mother raccoon chose our chimney to have her babies. We were advised by Oregon Wildlife the best thing to do was leave her alone and when the babies were old enough she'd take them out herself. We heard her moving around in the fireplace but we never saw her again until about six weeks later up in a tree next to our deck. She took the babies out that day. Needless to say we had our chimney cleaned and capped. She moved to our neighbor's house the next year. LOL

Coyotes are abundant and a problem in our Portland neighborhood. I had heard and was hoping they weren't a problem in the Durham area. I saw my first coyote at twilight in September. At first I thought it was a dog, but they slink along unlike a dog. When we see a "missing" cat flier posted, we know what happened. My neighbor witnessed a coyote attacking her cat and couldn't help. Neighbors have seen coyotes in our hood during the day also.

[scorp200]

I saw a roadkill one in Hillsborough

[RDSLOTS]

Well I feel s-t-u-p-i-d. Never occurred to me a coyote might attack our pets, but it makes sense. I do think they generally avoid humans, don't they? I think the scariest thing I ever saw was an alligator my husband and brother-in-law encountered, and then later captured, on a body of water on our property down on the coast. He called me to tell me to keep the little one, then about 8, and the dogs and cats (if I could), close to the house, and away from the lake. After they trapped it, he took me to see the poor thing while they waited for the game warden to come relocate it. He had insisted it was a 'small' gator -- all 9 feet of him!

[mm34b]

Originally Posted by RDSLOTS

Well I feel s-t-u-p-i-d. Never occurred to me a coyote might attack our pets, but it makes sense. I do think they generally avoid humans, don't they?

Coyote profile from NC State University's web site - http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/nreos/wild/p...fe/COYOTES.PDF

[mommiewrites]

yes, we have coyotes, bears, raccoon, opossums, deer, rabbit, beavers, foxes, and loads of others I'm forgetting.

people are now living in what a few years ago (sometimes few months ago) was woodlands. Make sure your pets are vaccinated for rabies, report any animal acting 'strange' (ie: nocturnal animals out during the day, animals acting disoriented or unafraid of humans, etc), and don't let your children play outside unsupervised.

No reason to be scared of them, but caution is the name of the game.

[Waterboy526]

When my wife and I were walking our dogs in my parents neighborhood when we went home for Christmas break, we saw a coyote run right past us an into our parents yard (it was a baby Coyote, but my wife works with animals so she knew it was a coyote). My parents live in Fairfax City, VA which is a much older and dense suburb about 15 miles west of DC with only infill construction going on these days. If I can see one there, then I'm sure you'll find them here.

[kelly237]

We had a rabid raccoon last year that fought with our dog.
Whole family had to do the shots because we handled the dog while he was wet with
raccoon saliva. I never thought about the danger of that so beware and don't
make the mistake we did if your dog fights a raccoon.

[saturnfan]

I saw a gray fox dart between our apt community and the new BJ's Club center off Capital. He/she sure moved fast.