Coyote Attack In My Neighborhood
 

I was driving to work, about 7:30 this morning, when I saw something that looked like a dog crossing the road...but it looked unusual...it was carrying something. As I got closer, it was prancing right across someone's front yard, carrying in it's mouth...a very floppy and dead-looking cat. But this thing wasn't a dog. It's legs were much too long, it had tall pointy ears and a thin, pointy snout. It was mottled gray, and a little smaller than a large-sized dog...with those long legs...trotting along right there a few blocks away from my house with a dead cat in it's mouth. In broad daylight.

Now, I've heard from several people in the neighborhood that they've had cats attacked "by dogs" according to them. And, everybody I see going for a walk always carries some kind of beating stick. We're adjacent to some wooded, undeveloped areas here. I think we have a coyote problem.

You need to get on the phone to Acme industries.

Right...I forgot to mention he was wearing rocket-skates.

a beating stick? I doubt very much coyotes would attack a human walking around unless they were rabid. Which is a possibility, I suppose.

but people should keep their pet kitties inside anyway.

Foxes are smarter.

I think the "beating stick" is intended to fend off a dog, which is what they think is attacking cats. Surely, coyote attacks on humans are rare, but they do happen...very rarely. Usually don't cause much harm, but hey, what would your stick/no stick preference be? At any rate, this thing was prancing around in broad daylight.

my preference? a BIG stick! :D

Thank you, Cloud, but wrong thread.

;)

for dogs, you dog!

I'm more worried about mountain lion attacks in my nick of the woods. now those things WILL attack people.

claw hammer for me, thanks.

i see coyotes in my neighborhood daily. sometimes they'll get a small dog, but they've never gotten mine. Hell, I even tied a raw steak around his back and set him loose on the hillside but he found his way back safely.

Cats? That must have been one old, sick cat to get taken by a coyote. i've seen my neighbor's cat take on two coyotes and walk away flipping them off. If more than two come around she just jumps up on the roof.

Humans? Very rare. I run at night on the mountain trails which is effectively their turf and they scatter when they see me. Coyotes will usually go for the easy pray like rabbits, and squirrels.

You may have a very aggressive beast there, but it would be an unusual one. Oh, and it doesn't matter day or night. they'll eat when they're hungry.

I can't imagine cats taste very good. But meat is meat, I guess. Hope it was a feral cat and not someone's pet, though.

maybe it was a roadkill cat?

Coyotes are pretty skittish from what I have seen. So many more animals are making their way into the urban setting because we humans are crowding their living space.

I think I'd go for a pocket nuke actually. It's a dog eat cat world out there and I've always been a pussy, so I wouldn't take any chances.