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OMG! He was one lucky guy - 6 coyotes - thank goodness they can't climb trees. That is the one thing that worries me about my daughter living up in the mountains - if she and her fiance run into a mountain lion or bobcat (are they different?) than they are pretty much screwed. He is park ranger and is not allowed to carry a weapon.
About nine years ago my wife and I encountered a mountain lion here in Northeastern PA. I know they don't exist in PA; which is what my Game Commission told me when I reported the sighting.
We were in our pickup truck going down a dirt road and I spotted what I originally thought was a coyote 200 yards in front of us on the road. I asked my wife to hold on while I got a closer look and we ended up chasing the animal down the dirt road at 35 mph. We were within 20 yards of it when it sprang off the road and disappeared into what we call red brush (I am sure there is a more scientific name). As we closed in on the animal I would have guessed it's weight at about 100 pounds. But we also saw a cat's gate and long curved tail. I waited for my wife to tell me what she thought because I did not want to plant it in her mind that we just saw a mountain lion. She confirmed my opinion.
Our Game Commission has a very valid point that they never retrieved one carcass off any of PA's roads. However; about three years ago a woman in Connecticut hit and killed one mountain lion that had DNA traced back to SD. So we feel if it can get to Connecticut; it could have crossed through PA.
But, the speed of the animal was the scariest part of our encounter; no way could somebody out run an animal that fast. Even if you were armed it could hit you before you realized what was happening. So, yes; I would worry. Maybe not so much about the bobcat; they are smaller and I don't remember hearing any accounts of attacks.
my aunt was gardening in her yard planting some flowers and this fox ran right by her and scared her and he looked at her and ran , she went inside to get her a glass of water and to tell my uncle what had just happened . Then they both looked out the window and there was a massive black bear walking past their house and my uncle figured he might have been chasing the fox . after that incident she carried a small handgun and bear spray . I was told that scared the stew out of her and she never went to the garden without her bear spray and her handgun .
Coyotes rarely attack humans. There are coyotes everywhere here (Phoenix) and as long as you don't feed them, they'll want nothing to do with you. Of course some idiot gets bit almost every year feeding a coyote in a park. Some little kid got bit when her parents fed the coyote so she could pet it.
The only thing I worry about is mountain lions. I run in the mountains, usually alone, and I'm relatively small. If I ever encounter a mountain lion on one of my runs, I'm dead.
I saw a nature show where a guy was in the jungle tracking Jaguar and noted they attack from behind so he attached a number of sharp bamboo spikes to his backpack as a defense.
I'll be honest, alone in the mountains I'd suggest carrying some pepper spray.
I live in the city, surrounded by businesses and shops. But it's a new area, and there are 2 undeveloped fields very near. I often see foxes, always just after dark or, on occasion, early in the morning before daylight. I've seen them walk, single file, right down the sidewalk in front of my apartment. Sometimes, they are alone. One neighbor once opened his front door and there was a fox on his porch.
I've warned my neighbors, who rarely leave their apartments or even open their blinds, to never, ever walk their dogs after dark. They look at me like I'm the crazy one. Oh, well. It's a matter of time.
I live in the city, surrounded by businesses and shops. But it's a new area, and there are 2 undeveloped fields very near. I often see foxes, always just after dark or, on occasion, early in the morning before daylight. I've seen them walk, single file, right down the sidewalk in front of my apartment. Sometimes, they are alone. One neighbor once opened his front door and there was a fox on his porch.
I've warned my neighbors ... to never, ever walk their dogs after dark. They look at me like I'm the crazy one. Oh, well. It's a matter of time.
Why shouldn't neighbors walk their dogs after dark? Assuming the neighbors are out WITH their dogs (what size dogs?), they will be fine.
One neighbor once opened his front door and there was a fox on his porch. I've warned my neighbors, who rarely leave their apartments or even open their blinds, to never, ever walk their dogs after dark. They look at me like I'm the crazy one. Oh, well. It's a matter of time.
Foxes rarely go after dogs -- I've seen a lot of urban and rural foxes out during the day and at dusk. They'll hang out on my hill, eating my blueberries and hunting grasshoppers and small rodents.
If rabid, they'll behave uncharacteristically; this would be true for any rabid animal, not just foxes.
Coyotes will usually leave humans alone. They're ambush predators and don't normally attack prey larger than themselves unless it's otherwise impaired (a deer stuck in a snow drift for example).
Carry a walking stick.
If you're out in the woods then it's a bit different where you are, what with (four legged) cougars.
Unless they are rabid. We just had a case here in the Albany area where a woman was out walking her dog and they got attacked by a coyote that turned out to be rabid.
Our poor wildlife should not be coming into urban areas and is a signal that there's something wrong in the environment. Tsk.
But I think we haven't come to a good solution for coexistence with the proximity. I don't know what that is.
What's wrong is that the human population keeps encroaching on wildlife habitats, to the point where they have little choice but to enter more urban areas. And then, of course, you have the idiots who put out food because they think it's "cute" or else they don't know how to put up their garbage in a way that makes it animal-proof, and that results in nuisance animals. There have been several bears in my area (upstate NY) that have had to be euthanized, because they are deemed to be a nuisance - they are relocated to other region or state (and tagged to indicate as such) yet they keep returning. Bears that do that must be euthanized, because they become a danger to the human populace.
We need to STOP clear-cutting and building new structures and work with what we already have now. Green space should be left exactly the way it is, and not built on. We need more areas to be deemed "forever wild," like in the Adirondacks, which means they cannot be developed.
I live in a huge urban wildlife interface area in Colorado; at the foot of Pikes Peak & National Forest & we have a lot of animals. Despite being the 2nd largest metro area in Colorado, there is one of the largest mountain lion "turfs" here that extends right into the heart of the city along a ridge of bluffs & a water way.
Deer hooves make this faint "click click" sound on sidewalks & they will peep in your windows. Had a black bear cross my path just 15 ft in front of me, he could have cared less that I was there. I'm pretty sure that he was the same hairy guy that came into an apartment building at dinner time & slowly walked down the halls sniffing at everybody's door.
Had a big fat momma raccoon who always had 3-4 babies following behind her living under the shed out back & she was MEAN! She hissed at me one night just because I had seen her before she saw me; I was standing on my porch & she came right out of the garage like she owned the place. Every year she got bigger, fatter & meaner. Raccoons sound really strange when they fight; they make this snapping sound with their teeth that really gets the point across.
But the coyotes have been a total pain. The Waldo Canyon Fire in 2012 displaced every creature in our part of the front range into city limits & there were several packs in our neighborhood that were very hungry & became sick. They attacked a 2 yr old girl in a nearby park despite being right in front of her parents & took a small dog; leash & all, right out of it's owners hands during a walk.
I'm personally begining to wonder if the advice from experts about keeping dogs leashed is acurate. I know when I take my dog to the dog park that she will be timid & submissive to the already unleashed dogs but that her behavior (and theirs) will change once her leash is off. Collars are a no-brainer: It's like giving a predator a handle with which to take your pet straight to the ground. I've seen it happen with cats; a cat will "hold" another cats collar with it's front paws, flip them on their side, pin them with their back legs & start biting the face & neck.
But what do you do? If you're in city limits you have to have leashed dogs with tags.
Coyotes didn't used to approach humans unless they were sick but that has changed because they are losing their natural instincts to be afraid of us. Our position at the top of the food chain is now being challenged because we don't defend ourselves anymore. Coyotes have always been problematic for ranchers & farmers & in the past, if you saw one you shot it. My BIL & SIL (early 70's) remember their mom walking them to school every morning with a loaded shotgun in rural Kansas due to Coyotes.
It's also thought that suburban sprawl has actually served to attract coyotes because our lawns & landscaping on what used to be dry prarie offers a more rich location for bunnies & rodents to live & the coyotes are just following the food source.
In our area, about the only animal that did not like having to adapt to city life was a local Bighorn herd; they were seen in neighborhoods only briefly after the fire & have mostly returned to the mountains a bit south of where they had been. The burn scar area is rebounding but the blackened & bare pine trees don't offer much food nor protection. The fire actually turned into a "firestorm" due to a weather event on the day we evacuated & burned so hot it turned the dirt into glass so the animals are adapting to the city & seem to be making themselves at home.
More accurately; humans made themselves at home in their home first; so what should we expect?
Coyotes are pack animals & if you see one there will be more close by. My neighbor took a video with her cell phone that made the news when she was walking with her 2 rat terriers behind our houses: You can't actually see the coyotes due to the long grass but as she walked you can see 5 or 6 moving "shadows" in the grass just feet away from the trail. They were circling her, in constant motion; as she walked they stayed right with her but moving in a clockwise circle around her & her two small dogs. It was a pretty creepy sight.
Here, it's against the law to discharge a firearm within city limits but Bear Spray works to deter them as well. I just heard about a product that won't cause injury to humans & it sounds kind of interesting; it's a spray can that doesn't spray any substance but the nozzle is designed mimic the hiss of a certain snake which is a natural predator of the coyote.
I was actually going to look for that today. We had an "urban bunny" explosion in our neighborhood about 6 weeks ago & sure enough; we've had coyotes in our yard every night for the last few weeks as well.
I saw a nature show where a guy was in the jungle tracking Jaguar and noted they attack from behind so he attached a number of sharp bamboo spikes to his backpack as a defense.
I'll be honest, alone in the mountains I'd suggest carrying some pepper spray.
You can protect your dog by turning them into a porcupine!:
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All bets are off if rabid
