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Coyotes spotted in Fulton
10/13/2016 8:34 AM by John M
From the Greater Fulton Hill Facebook group:
Just an FYI to Fulton Hill residents. Last night our neighbors dogs woke him at 4 am with non-stop barking. He went outside to make sure our cars weren’t being broken into…again…he walked around and saw several coyotes that ran into the circle on then woods at the end of Rawlings (past Kemp). Keep an eye on your pets if you let them out at night….
* NOT AN ACTUAL PHOTO FROM FULTON
A NOVA program recently showed Coyotes running around Manhattan at night! Apparently they are extremely adaptable and deserve the monikor “wiley Coyote”.
Liz?
Wonderful news! Coyotes help to keep the balance of nature. Coyotes almost certainly do humans more good than harm, however, they are opportunistic feeders. They will feed on whatever is most readily available and easy to obtain. Though they have been known to prey on unprotected pets, their primary foods are fruits, berries, rodents and insects. They will scavenge on animal remains as well as garbage and pet foods left outdoors. .
They are intelligent, adaptable creatures with many interesting habits. Perhaps at some point in time, we can all learn to live in harmony with coyotes and other creatures that, like us, just want to find a safe place to raise their young.
I hope that is not an “actual photo from Fulton” since that is a wolf. And if there were wolves in Fulton, then it would only be a matter of time before “sportsmen” would feel the need to come and shoot them for us.
Our dog has been barking a lot since the weekend. The other night around 4:00 he started barking and we went outside and heard coyotes howling. We live on Rawlings Street
I don’t know about east coast coyotes, but when I lived in Los Angeles, you did not leave your dog(s) outside after dark if you lived in the hills. One can usually be scared away but two+ is a pack and they’ll go for anything. I once had one track me on Santa Monica Blvd. You’ve never seen a girl get an old dog to run so fast. If your dogs are not protected by a high, impenetrable fence, bring them in.
All the post about coyotes not being a harm… It’s crazy talk. Coyotes are over populated in Virginia and are hurting the deer and wild animal population like crazy. The “sportsmen” y’all talk about coming to shoot them are protecting the population as long as you and your animals. I have hunted deer and coyotes and just about anything else. Coyotes will kill your pets from chickens, cats, dogs, any deer around here, and even small children( in packs). If y’all do not think this is true ask any farmer, or Hunter how destructive they are to live stock and deer. Even Google will tell you. If they’re as many traveling in a pack as they said then they will take down just about anything even humans. Living in a neighborhood they are use to scents and people and noises. So they aren’t gonna get scared easily. Thank y’all and be careful.
How can they be good when they may eat a Chihuahua and it already seems that a lot of you are being woke up at night by your dogs. A single coyote roaming through is not a threat. But seems we already have a pack. But they are everywhere else in Virginia at this point so why wouldn’t they be in Richmond. I couldn’t imagine one of my neighbors loosing a small pet. BTW many wolves species in America are protected. As for the coyotes of VA, many counties have a bounty on them. Doesn’t matter though, coyotes are very adaptable and can even control the size of their litters based on local population. They here to stay. Just be aware.
I am not surprised. We have such a robust ecosystem in the area… 🙂 Here’s an interesting tidbit- arguably, the only specie of wolf in America is gray wolf. The others have since been found to be wolf-coyote hybrids. http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-wolf-species-20160727-snap-story-20160727-snap-story.html (For what it’s worth, red wolves are endangered and present as a small re-released population in North Carolina.)
Coyote attacks on people are extremely rare. There have been a small number of attacks on people in the U.S. and Canada, with most of the attacks involving small children under 5 years of age. Since 3 million children are bitten by dogs every year, a child is millions of times more likely to get hurt by the family pet than by a coyote.
http://tchester.org/sgm/lists/coyote_attacks.html
Children encounter dogs far more often than coyotes, thus the stats are unsurprising. Dustin is right; coyotes are a huge issue in our area and the problem is increasing.