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I tend to believe. The Coyotes here have been going after sheep, chickens and cats. Sometimes in daylight. They gave my 50 lb boy a good look last night when he was calling his mom. They wouldn't come up on the deck, but they were circling below. Some of them really look like dogs.
My mother is having problems with them in Maine and that Chicago link above is just nuts. I grew up around there and it was rats back then.
we have bears but they are scared of our dogs.we really do enjoy them.at nite before the dogs go out we turn on all the out side lights.so far that has worked.dana
I don't know if this means anything, but the community board at the WWilson College river trail didn't have a notice up that a coyote had killed a dog on the trail. But it did still have the photo up of the missing German Shepard, which could be confused with a coyote, I think. Possibly... ???
For almost 14 years I lived in the Montford historic nighborhood, just outside of the downtown Asheville area. In clement weather, I always sat outside on my front porch with my dog and just read. A few days before the incident I wish to describe I met the dog of my new neighbor. The dog was black and brown, of mixed breeds, and seemed huge by comparison to my Bichon. I was petting him, saying things like, "Oh, Max, you are such a sweet dog." The owner replied, "Yeah, he's sweet OK; but he's an escape artist; and when he gets loose, it's hell to catch him again."
On the day about which I am writing, I happened to look up from my book and saw a large black and brown head peering over the top of the steps that led up from the sidewalk. I thought, "Oh, no! The neighbor's dog got loose." I thought maybe I could coax him onto the porch and get a leash on him and contact his owner at work and tell him I had his dog.
The "dog" came further up the steps, and I continued waving my left arm in what I thought was an inviting manner while holding back my Bichon with my right arm. I was saying things like, "Come up on the porch Max! Don't mind her! She'll be OK when you get up here."
The "dog" came the rest of the way up the steps and stood by my huge oak tree, about twenty feet from me, while my dog was practically doing flips. I still didn't get it. I thought, "Well, this dog is much bigger than Max even, but perhaps he belongs to another neighbor; and, if there is a collar with an address on on it -- under all that fur, I could get a leash on him and walk him home."
The "dog" just looked back and forth at me and at my dog a few times, gave a snort of derision, and trotted off to the next yard.
About three minutes later, a woman walking a standard poodle went by and called to me. I looked up from my book and said, "Yes, may I help you with something?" She said that the neighbors down on the corner were calling to her to get away from my house because a bear had just gone up into my yard. I said, "Holy @%z@g*! Is that what it was?"
I was feeling rather dumb for not being able to distiguish between a dog and bear until a few days later when the latest issue of The Montford News came out. It had a big headline, "Bear Roams Montford" and a picture of the critter. The article also contained an interview with a man who lived around the corner who had an experience similar to mine. He had been working in his yard when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw this critter enter his yard. He thought, "I guess somebody's big dog got loose," and he continued working for another five or ten minutes. When he looked up and saw the critter investigating his mulch pile, he realized it was bear and ran inside for his camera. The article explained that the bears who wander into town are usually yearlings that have recently been driven off by their mothers who now have new cubs to care for. The article also mentioned thay because the yearlings are so slender and do not yet have the huge backsides that adult bears have, they could be mistaken for big dogs. I didn't feel quite so dumb then.
Last May I moved to a retirement center in South Asheville. It owns a number of acres of wooded land and is adjacent to others. I love seeing the deer that frequently visit out campus to graze. Unfortunately, bears sometimes visit our campus also. I have not personlly encountered one YET, even though my dog insists on pulling me onto one or another of the wooded trails. I think the bears are as bautiful as the deer, and I do not wish them any harm. I just hope that someday, when I do encounter one, I can be as calm as I will need to be to act rationally in that situation.
Some people have told me that if I am walking with a dog, I will never see a bear because, as soon as the bear hears or sees or smells the dog, he will go in a different direction. Other people have said that bears do not like to be surprised and that a barking dog with a jangly tag or two around its neck might really irritate a bear. I don't know!
I wouldn't feel so bad about mistaking that bear for a large dog. I believe that way back in the canis line, a branch of canine derived from a branch of bear.
Could be wrong but I saw it a diagram when I looked it up. Our weimaraner male was 110 lbs and his face always reminded me of a bear's face.
I'm not sure I'd believe the Wwc coyote attack either. If it really happened the proper authorities should have been notified as it sounds like rabies. They would have put tons of signs up and news reports as they would be doing a community disservice by not reporting it. Furthermore the wildlife commission would be there trying to trap said animal if it really posed that much of a threat. Sounds fishy that its only showing up on Facebook.
The "dog" came the rest of the way up the steps and stood by my huge oak tree, about twenty feet from me, while my dog was practically doing flips. I still didn't get it.
...Some people have told me that if I am walking with a dog, I will never see a bear because, as soon as the bear hears or sees or smells the dog, he will go in a different direction. Other people have said that bears do not like to be surprised and that a barking dog with a jangly tag or two around its neck might really irritate a bear. I don't know!
Thanks for sharing this JF! Good to know a young bear looks similar to a dog. I had to laugh though, your little dog must have been, like, What are you doing, feeding me to this bear?!? I won't ever dig up your flowers again, I swear!!!
I'd like to know the answer to the bear not wanting to deal with a dog, or dogs with jangles annoying bears & making them aggressive, too. I keep meaning to get a small cow bell for my dog when hiking, because someone said that's a good bear deterrent. Although I've yet to see a bear, so maybe they just don't like my dog.
I'm not a fan of hunting so killing these bears does not make me feel better. I would rather have them in my yard then know they are being hunted.
Maybe I need to rethink moving to Asheville.
Last edited by organic_donna; 10-07-2013 at 03:57 PM..
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A bear by any other name ...
