... but we were warned when we moved here in 2002 that there was a den of coyotes at Walker Pond and that they regularly attack individual small pets. If the pack is together (dusk and late evening, like this incident), they'll go after pretty much any dog.
My former neighbor across the street had her two outdoor cats eaten.
Walnut Street is a couple miles east, but this is not really unexpected for Watertown. We have a number of places (conservation land) where coyotes can den. And, of course, the Charles River Greenway for the length of town.
I live in Lincoln, and hear coyotes nightly, and see them pretty frequently. Some of them are getting very large. I keep reading conflicting information on the "coywolf" population, but some of the coyotes I see are substantially larger than the others.
I have a giant pitbull (90lbs), and I don't let him go off leash on our property because of fears of him getting tangled up with one or many coyotes.
Long story short, I think we're getting close to the point where any dog could become a target of these coyotes.
I've heard of packs of coyotes attacking dogs in the winter, by luring them in, but never in the summer when food sources are more plentiful. I wonder what's up.
Bounties are for when there's an overpopulation problem that can only be controlled by enlisting the help of a large number of citizens.
What we have here is a single problem pack, at most. Animal Control can handle that, if warranted.
Also, bounties often result in people breeding and killing the animal in question in order to collect the bounty. If you don't think someone would start a coyote puppy mill (doesn't even need to be local) I've got some awful things to tell you about humans.
EDIT: Gonna quote from the Cobra Effect that I linked:
Eventually, however, enterprising people began to breed cobras for the income. When the government became aware of this, the reward program was scrapped. When cobra breeders set their now-worthless snakes free, the wild cobra population further increased.
But, have pity - Lanny's watched Swingers Getaway 4 so many times now that it doesn't do it anymore. Gotta think about murdering animals in sadistic but easy ways to get any satisfaction!
Being a standard urban coward, it would be about watching people sadistically murder animals, though.
Coyotes are so smart by living amongs people now that I'm willing to bet they watch the human walking the dogs more than the dog. They already know they can get the dog. It's like they're waiting for the human to be distracted so they can do it. Overpopulation of coyotes in urban areas can't be good.. Not even good for the coyote.
« The incident occurred on the same day that a coyote bit a five-year-old boy in Arlington. »
I hope the same coyote is involved in both cases. (Quite possible, since they happened six hours apart.) Otherwise, I don't know what would prompt this level of boldness.
I *suppose* it's possible there could be a horizontally transmitted cultural shift, that is, coyotes learning from each other to be bolder. Or is there something environmental, like some aspect of the weather reducing their usual prey population?
It's because people no longer walk anywhere, so it seems like there are fewer people around because they're all driving to malls. So to both coyotes and people, it is apparent there are fewer people. And people, especially lately, always avoid one another, never talk to or do anything with other people. Seem less likely to help.
That's the shift, it happened in people. We all became increasingly distrustful and distant. Now people are walking around in a fog listing to a podcast vaping walking the dog OMG and it gets eaten by a coyote WTH
And we're not sure is it funny? Isn't this dog bites man's dog?
They don't travel miles through urban areas - check the map for Arlington and Watertown.
I'm betting it has to do with adolescents striking out and trying to find new territory. Gawd knows that there are plenty of rabbits for everyone and then some.
My neighbors had an incident with one of their small dogs getting lured into the woods, and another one getting jumped a second time. The real problem there: dogs were not on their leashes.
Funny how much more people are using leashes in the Middlesex Fells now that the coyotes are running the dogs and picking them off. One day I came down my street and a guy had a dog going nuts. I saw two coyotes off in the woods. Guy was about to unclip the leash (not legal, but I don't go into that).
Me: that really isn't a good idea
Him: (spews standard off-leash blah blah babble blah blah)
Me: (points) THERE ARE TWO COYOTES RIGHT OVER THERE!
Him: Oh (swallows hard) thanks.
A seasonal thing, that could easily explain the timing.
Yeah, I wasn't sure how plausible it was for coyotes to travel around like that in this area -- but partly because I don't know how their territories work.
Whenever I see a coyote out here in the boonies, it's always alone. I have never seen more than one at a time, never a pack.
Not saying it doesn't happen, just relating what I see.
They work in packs, they don't show themselves in packs.
I've seen the luring behavior. They send one, often a female, to try to lure a dog to follow. They don't show up in a pack and say "hey come play with our much superior numbers".
Apparently out west the coyotes (the "real" coyotes, not the coywolfdogs we have here) will sometimes team up with badgers to hunt prairie dogs. :-)
I've also heard that the Eastern Coyote, having a significant amount of wolf ancestry, is just more prone to pack hunting. I don't know if that's actually true, though.
What exactly was the attack like? Coyotes luring a small unleashed dog into a trap is sort of normal, albeit scary. Coyotes attacking a large dog on leash with a human nearby would be much more alarming.
Comments
Oh my
That is awful
A stark reminder
That the natural world is the only truth.
What kind of dog?
Curious if the coyotes are targeting smaller dogs or whether it's any dog.
I can only speak for the Bemis Area...
... but we were warned when we moved here in 2002 that there was a den of coyotes at Walker Pond and that they regularly attack individual small pets. If the pack is together (dusk and late evening, like this incident), they'll go after pretty much any dog.
My former neighbor across the street had her two outdoor cats eaten.
Walnut Street is a couple miles east, but this is not really unexpected for Watertown. We have a number of places (conservation land) where coyotes can den. And, of course, the Charles River Greenway for the length of town.
Has to be smaller dogs
And probably a smaller/older owner.
Mass Coyotes
I live in Lincoln, and hear coyotes nightly, and see them pretty frequently. Some of them are getting very large. I keep reading conflicting information on the "coywolf" population, but some of the coyotes I see are substantially larger than the others.
I have a giant pitbull (90lbs), and I don't let him go off leash on our property because of fears of him getting tangled up with one or many coyotes.
Long story short, I think we're getting close to the point where any dog could become a target of these coyotes.
My money’s on the Pit
n/t
Really odd
I've heard of packs of coyotes attacking dogs in the winter, by luring them in, but never in the summer when food sources are more plentiful. I wonder what's up.
If there was only a device to scare off/stop such an attack
any caliber will scare off attacking yotes.
You're right, better carry a stick
Unless you were perhaps suggesting discharging a firearm in an urban area?
“I know what will solve this!”
Guns!
Dumbass.
Right
Scares the coyotes, kills the neighbor's kid.
I grew up around guns, had them in the house, hunted with them ... this is 100% pure stupid.
Need a bounty on coyotes
Say fifty bucks for two ears and a tail. Or all four paws. These vermin need to be eliminated.
Bounties aren't appropriate here
Bounties are for when there's an overpopulation problem that can only be controlled by enlisting the help of a large number of citizens.
What we have here is a single problem pack, at most. Animal Control can handle that, if warranted.
Also, bounties often result in people breeding and killing the animal in question in order to collect the bounty. If you don't think someone would start a coyote puppy mill (doesn't even need to be local) I've got some awful things to tell you about humans.
EDIT: Gonna quote from the Cobra Effect that I linked:
Animal abusers …
… would just love that.
Yep
But, have pity - Lanny's watched Swingers Getaway 4 so many times now that it doesn't do it anymore. Gotta think about murdering animals in sadistic but easy ways to get any satisfaction!
Being a standard urban coward, it would be about watching people sadistically murder animals, though.
You're that jackass...
...who decided to kill all the rattlesnakes, aren't you?
You don't know anything at all about hunting or about wildlife if you think such a "bounty" would work.
Coyotes are so smart by
Coyotes are so smart by living amongs people now that I'm willing to bet they watch the human walking the dogs more than the dog. They already know they can get the dog. It's like they're waiting for the human to be distracted so they can do it. Overpopulation of coyotes in urban areas can't be good.. Not even good for the coyote.
Definitely unsettling
« The incident occurred on the same day that a coyote bit a five-year-old boy in Arlington. »
I hope the same coyote is involved in both cases. (Quite possible, since they happened six hours apart.) Otherwise, I don't know what would prompt this level of boldness.
I *suppose* it's possible there could be a horizontally transmitted cultural shift, that is, coyotes learning from each other to be bolder. Or is there something environmental, like some aspect of the weather reducing their usual prey population?
It's because people no longer
It's because people no longer walk anywhere, so it seems like there are fewer people around because they're all driving to malls. So to both coyotes and people, it is apparent there are fewer people. And people, especially lately, always avoid one another, never talk to or do anything with other people. Seem less likely to help.
That's the shift, it happened in people. We all became increasingly distrustful and distant. Now people are walking around in a fog listing to a podcast vaping walking the dog OMG and it gets eaten by a coyote WTH
And we're not sure is it funny? Isn't this dog bites man's dog?
You're talking about a longer term shift
which is unlikely to present as two coyote attacks on the same day.
Not the same coyote
They don't travel miles through urban areas - check the map for Arlington and Watertown.
I'm betting it has to do with adolescents striking out and trying to find new territory. Gawd knows that there are plenty of rabbits for everyone and then some.
My neighbors had an incident with one of their small dogs getting lured into the woods, and another one getting jumped a second time. The real problem there: dogs were not on their leashes.
Funny how much more people are using leashes in the Middlesex Fells now that the coyotes are running the dogs and picking them off. One day I came down my street and a guy had a dog going nuts. I saw two coyotes off in the woods. Guy was about to unclip the leash (not legal, but I don't go into that).
Me: that really isn't a good idea
Him: (spews standard off-leash blah blah babble blah blah)
Me: (points) THERE ARE TWO COYOTES RIGHT OVER THERE!
Him: Oh (swallows hard) thanks.
Aha
A seasonal thing, that could easily explain the timing.
Yeah, I wasn't sure how plausible it was for coyotes to travel around like that in this area -- but partly because I don't know how their territories work.
I have never seen a pack
Whenever I see a coyote out here in the boonies, it's always alone. I have never seen more than one at a time, never a pack.
Not saying it doesn't happen, just relating what I see.
You won't
They work in packs, they don't show themselves in packs.
I've seen the luring behavior. They send one, often a female, to try to lure a dog to follow. They don't show up in a pack and say "hey come play with our much superior numbers".
Coyotes have flexible hunting behavior
Apparently out west the coyotes (the "real" coyotes, not the coywolfdogs we have here) will sometimes team up with badgers to hunt prairie dogs. :-)
I've also heard that the Eastern Coyote, having a significant amount of wolf ancestry, is just more prone to pack hunting. I don't know if that's actually true, though.
Were the details published anywhere?
What exactly was the attack like? Coyotes luring a small unleashed dog into a trap is sort of normal, albeit scary. Coyotes attacking a large dog on leash with a human nearby would be much more alarming.