Coyote Scare

Granby wrote:

Saw a sign years ago that said "The Food Chain Stops Here" it was a picture
of the outside of a gate leading into the yard of a house with three cats.

I like that one! Maybe I should put that on my door.

Joyce

--
Excuse for Not Doing One's Homework:
My pit bull, here, ate it.
-- J.D. Berry, Springfield

Sherry wrote:

On Aug 23, 4:39?pm, wrote:

Makes sense - you have to protect yourself and your family first. There
are many things I admire from a distance, but don't want in my space or
near anyone I care about, such as mountain lions, grizzly bears, my
father, etc.

ROFL! That was unexpected. :-)

Actually, I didn't mean to say that I admire my father. But I try
to cut him some slack about why he acts the way he does, as long as I'm
not directly in the firing line.

Back on-topic, I really would love to see a mountain lion in the wild,
as I think they're magnificent. But I'd rather be on the inside of my car,
or otherwise protected - which of course make is that much less likely.

Joyce

--
Excuse for Not Doing One's Homework:
My pit bull, here, ate it.
-- J.D. Berry, Springfield

On 2010-08-23, EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque) wrote:

Oh wow! The poor things must have been desperate! Of course, they'd
not be "invading" our turf, if humans had not appropriated THEIRS, but
that's no reason to be complacent about pets at risk.

Coyotes are not native to New Haven. They're the newcomers.

Bud

wrote:
Cheryl P. wrote:

Coyotes aren't bothered in the least by human presence! The coyotes have
made massive encroachments into human territories that the coyotes have
never lived before!

But in that case, probably because they were displaced from their original
habitat when humans moved in. They've gotta go somewhere!

However, I agree that they've become more habituated to humans. I guess in
the story that Will told, those coyotes were nervous enough about humans
to run off when he approached. But as with many wild species, there are
populations of coyotes that have lived close to humans for a while and
have discovered that we're not really such a threat. Bad things happen
when predators stop being afraid of us.

Joyce

I don't think coyotes are displaced animals. Not unless you're rather
short of coyotes out in the American and Canadian west because they've
all come east!

Coyotes are one of the animals that has adapted extremely well to humans
- like pigeons, and urban foxes and raccoons. And rats.

I do agree that it is dangerous to habituate wild animals to humans - eg
by feeding bears human food and teaching them to associate humans with
dinner, and to lose their fear of us.

--
Cheryl P.

wrote:
Sherry wrote:

On Aug 23, 4:39?pm, wrote:

Makes sense - you have to protect yourself and your family first. There
are many things I admire from a distance, but don't want in my space or
near anyone I care about, such as mountain lions, grizzly bears, my
father, etc.

ROFL! That was unexpected. :-)

Actually, I didn't mean to say that I admire my father. But I try
to cut him some slack about why he acts the way he does, as long as I'm
not directly in the firing line.

Back on-topic, I really would love to see a mountain lion in the wild,
as I think they're magnificent. But I'd rather be on the inside of my car,
or otherwise protected - which of course make is that much less likely.

Joyce

I once, as a child in a boat, caught a glimpse of a lynx in the wild.
They aren't a danger to humans, although they're powerful enough to do a
lot of damage. They're very shy and their preferred habitat is forested
areas far from human habitation. From what I've read, mountain lions
(cougars) can be much more aggressive, especially towards children.

--
Cheryl P.

On Aug 23, 6:16*pm, "EvelynVogtGamble(Divamanque)"
wrote:
Matthew wrote:
"Will in New Haven" wrote in message
....
I was bringing the dogs out for their walk the other morning and it
was not quite dawn and raining, not great visibility. However, the
dogs alerted me that something was going on. Samantha, the Shi Tzu
puppy, was barking in a hostile manner that I have seldom heard from
her before and Bear, the goodwill ambassador Lab, was growling deep in
his chest in a manner that I had never heard from him before. No tail
was wagging.

Down the street, where Little Man the cat lives, there were two dog-
shapes looking up at the porch. I made sure that the dogs were well-
held by their leashes and that neither could get farther away from me
than a few feet. And then we headed down the street.

As we approached, with both dogs in full cry now, the coyotes looked
at us and ran off. I think it was Bear and I that scared them but
Samantha puffed out her little chest and took the credit.

Little Man was on a railing, _above_ his porch, and was probably quite
safe the whole time. But he still seemed happy to see the varmints
leave.

I have listened to the "song-dogs" quite happily on occasion and I
admire them for their cleverness and I understand that they are only
doing what comes naturally. But when they threaten our pets I get
hostile.

--
Will in New Haven

Need to be careful of those things. *We are having a big problem with them
here in Florida. *One neighborhood has had several pets killed where the
coyotes actually came through the dog door.

Oh wow! *The poor things must have been desperate! *Of course, they'd
not be "invading" our turf, if humans had not appropriated THEIRS, but
that's no reason to be complacent about pets at risk.


It's more complex than that. They were never in this part of the
coutry because their big brothers, the timber wolves, kill them
whenever they can. But humans killed off/drove off the timber wolves,
so now we have coyotes.

They didn't have to be desperate. Coyotes are extremely bold.

--
Will in New Haven

"Will in New Haven" wrote in message
...
I was bringing the dogs out for their walk the other morning and it
was not quite dawn and raining, not great visibility. However, the
dogs alerted me that something was going on. Samantha, the Shi Tzu
puppy, was barking in a hostile manner that I have seldom heard from
her before and Bear, the goodwill ambassador Lab, was growling deep in
his chest in a manner that I had never heard from him before. No tail
was wagging.

Down the street, where Little Man the cat lives, there were two dog-
shapes looking up at the porch. I made sure that the dogs were well-
held by their leashes and that neither could get farther away from me
than a few feet. And then we headed down the street.

As we approached, with both dogs in full cry now, the coyotes looked
at us and ran off. I think it was Bear and I that scared them but
Samantha puffed out her little chest and took the credit.

Little Man was on a railing, _above_ his porch, and was probably quite
safe the whole time. But he still seemed happy to see the varmints
leave.

I have listened to the "song-dogs" quite happily on occasion and I
admire them for their cleverness and I understand that they are only
doing what comes naturally. But when they threaten our pets I get
hostile.


I would hate to have the sort of big wildlife you get in the US. I get
hostile about foxes as they forced me to keep my what were free range
chickens in huts and runs with concrete slabs so the barstewards cannot dig
in and weldmesh so they cannot bite through it.

Foxes here will sometimes take cats when they have cubs to feed. Boyfie is
not a candidate as he would shoot up to the top of one of my many trees
immediately but if I'd allowed KFC out in her later years she would have
made a nice meal for those fox cubs and a very easy target when she got
confused.

"Cheryl P." wrote in message
...
Sherry wrote:
On Aug 23, 3:42 pm, Will in New Haven
wrote:
I was bringing the dogs out for their walk the other morning and it
was not quite dawn and raining, not great visibility. However, the
dogs alerted me that something was going on. Samantha, the Shi Tzu
puppy, was barking in a hostile manner that I have seldom heard from
her before and Bear, the goodwill ambassador Lab, was growling deep in
his chest in a manner that I had never heard from him before. No tail
was wagging.

Down the street, where Little Man the cat lives, there were two dog-
shapes looking up at the porch. I made sure that the dogs were well-
held by their leashes and that neither could get farther away from me
than a few feet. And then we headed down the street.

As we approached, with both dogs in full cry now, the coyotes looked
at us and ran off. I think it was Bear and I that scared them but
Samantha puffed out her little chest and took the credit.

Little Man was on a railing, _above_ his porch, and was probably quite
safe the whole time. But he still seemed happy to see the varmints
leave.

I have listened to the "song-dogs" quite happily on occasion and I
admire them for their cleverness and I understand that they are only
doing what comes naturally. But when they threaten our pets I get
hostile.

--
Will in New Haven

I understand. You have to respect a species that not only survives,
but
thrives, despite encroachment of their territory and efforts to
exterminate
them. But I get hostile too.

Sherry

Coyotes aren't bothered in the least by human presence! The coyotes have
made massive encroachments into human territories that the coyotes have
never lived before!

And, yes, they can be a fatal threat to pets. Even to humans sometimes.

If that happened to me, I'm sorry to say I would allow a piece of lead to go
into their ear from my *fox man*, if they were threatening Boyfriend's life
or mine.
Feel free to disagree. I do not mind.

Tweed

Christina Websell wrote:
"Cheryl P." wrote in message
...
Sherry wrote:
On Aug 23, 3:42 pm, Will in New Haven
wrote:
I was bringing the dogs out for their walk the other morning and it
was not quite dawn and raining, not great visibility. However, the
dogs alerted me that something was going on. Samantha, the Shi Tzu
puppy, was barking in a hostile manner that I have seldom heard from
her before and Bear, the goodwill ambassador Lab, was growling deep in
his chest in a manner that I had never heard from him before. No tail
was wagging.

Down the street, where Little Man the cat lives, there were two dog-
shapes looking up at the porch. I made sure that the dogs were well-
held by their leashes and that neither could get farther away from me
than a few feet. And then we headed down the street.

As we approached, with both dogs in full cry now, the coyotes looked
at us and ran off. I think it was Bear and I that scared them but
Samantha puffed out her little chest and took the credit.

Little Man was on a railing, _above_ his porch, and was probably quite
safe the whole time. But he still seemed happy to see the varmints
leave.

I have listened to the "song-dogs" quite happily on occasion and I
admire them for their cleverness and I understand that they are only
doing what comes naturally. But when they threaten our pets I get
hostile.

--
Will in New Haven
I understand. You have to respect a species that not only survives,
but
thrives, despite encroachment of their territory and efforts to
exterminate
them. But I get hostile too.

Sherry
Coyotes aren't bothered in the least by human presence! The coyotes have
made massive encroachments into human territories that the coyotes have
never lived before!

And, yes, they can be a fatal threat to pets. Even to humans sometimes.

If that happened to me, I'm sorry to say I would allow a piece of lead to go
into their ear from my *fox man*, if they were threatening Boyfriend's life
or mine.
Feel free to disagree. I do not mind.

Tweed

The authorities shot the coyotes - or some of them, at least, that
killed that hiker in Cape Breton a while back. There weren't many
complaints - I think the young woman's mother said that she wouldn't
have wanted the animals killed for doing what comes naturally, but most
people seemed to think it was a really bad idea to let coyotes who had
gotten the idea that they can safely prey on humans survive.

I don't know if they located the ones that tried to drag away another
young woman quite recently. She survived with minor bites.

--
Cheryl P.

Christina Websell wrote:

"Cheryl P." wrote in message

Coyotes aren't bothered in the least by human presence! The coyotes have
made massive encroachments into human territories that the coyotes have
never lived before!

And, yes, they can be a fatal threat to pets. Even to humans sometimes.

If that happened to me, I'm sorry to say I would allow a piece of lead to go
into their ear from my *fox man*, if they were threatening Boyfriend's life
or mine.
Feel free to disagree. I do not mind.

No disagreement here. If an animal threatened one of my cats' lives, I'd
hurt them if I had to - and if I could. I don't have a gun, though, so
that might be difficult.

Joyce

--
Teach a child to be polite and courteous in the home and, when he
grows up, he'll never be able to merge his car onto a freeway.