Karen and the "Killer" Coyotes

On a chilly mid October morning, just before sunrise, Karen Smith sends her high school daughter off to school. A light fog blankets her cul de sac in a small affluent subdivision and she spots a small family of deer grazing in the field behind her back yard. With the eldest driving away with her friends, Karen’s next objective is to make sure her youngest catches the bus in the next 30 minutes for middle school.

After arguing over the ingredients in his lunch, and a frantic search for missing algebra homework, Karen ushers her son out the front door. The fog has since lifted, the deer in the field have vanished, the sun is starting to peek out over the horizon. As she walks to the end of the street with her son to await the bus, standing in the middle of the intersection there seems to be a stray dog. Karen makes a mental note to post on the neighborhood Facebook group that the HOA requires dogs to not be wandering loose in the neighborhood and she would appreciate her neighbors following the rules. Then another stray dog arrives, followed by a third. 

As Karen and her son cautiously move forward, they realize these are not stray dogs, they are coyotes. The mother and son stop in their tracks. Karen yells to the dogs to “shoo”. Instead of sending them off running, the coyotes look at her inquisitively. There is about a 150 yard span between Karen and her son, and the now worrisome pack of coyotes. She tells her son to run back to the house and go inside, she will be driving him to school. As her son turns on his heels to run, one of the coyotes starts trotting towards them, then the other two join it. 

Karen throws her “Mamma Bear” coffee cup she got on their summer trip to Gatlinburg in the coyote’s direction and starts running towards her home and her son, determined to beat the wild dogs to the destination. As she reaches her front door, panicked and afraid, she turns to look behind her. The coyotes are gone. Seemingly vanished as quickly as the fog did.

This is a true story, (name changed for anonymity) told to me by a Cincinnati area mom mid week last week. “Karen” called us and was determined to hire us to trap and kill “those dangerous dogs that attacked her and her son”. She is adamant that they were the size of german shepherds and were “hunting” her and her son.

Calls like these will likely increase for Huntsman Wildlife as we move into November and I do not want to seem callous or unconcerned, but I would like to offer some fact based information in order to hopefully calm the nerves of our neighbors here in Queen City.

First and foremost, all encounters with wild animals need to be measured and cautious. I can tell you, in my 14 years in this industry, I have been attacked, bitten, and scratched by more squirrels in my life than I ever have coyotes, fox, bobcats, or other predator species. 

Wild animals, like humans, are instinctually lazy. If they think they are going to spend more energy, time and resources to acquire prey, than the caloric reward that prey offers, they will not engage. Though Karen is convinced that the coyotes ran after her and her son, it could have been a variety of reasons that the dogs picked up their pace. 

An approaching car might have directed their retreat towards Karen. The deer that were previously grazing in the field may have been their target and started moving and the dogs were not even paying attention to Karen’s son. Or, even more likely, when Karen’s son turned to run, the “prey instinct” in the coyotes kicked in and they decided to give chase.

That is why it is recommended that when you encounter coyotes to “Get Big and Get Loud”. Rise your arms and wave them around, stomp your feet, shout, yell, clap, make yourself look big and angry. Remember, even if you are only 5’6 and 130 pounds, you are three times as tall and 4 times as big as a coyote. This is not a jail yard. The coyotes are not going to pick a fight with the biggest and meanest hombre in the block. They are likely going to run off.

Despite Karen’s conviction that the coyotes in her neighborhood were “as big as german shepherds”, coyotes average only about 30-45 pounds and are rarely taller than 2 feet from the ground to their head. People often mistake the size of these dogs because the only focus at the time is on the animal (fear is funny like that) and they are not paying attention to surrounding objects to use as a size reference. Had Karen compared the coyotes to the mailbox they stood next to, she would have seen their true size. When you see a coyote in an open field, there is nothing to compare it to. So our brain, and our fear response, tells us the threat is bigger than it is.

Lastly, I understand the concern and worry that Karen holds for the safety and security of her family. I truly do. But trapping coyotes on her property is not something that would be safe or effective in this situation. Karen has a .75 acre lot in a subdivision. The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (who regulate my actions here in Cincinnati) requires I trap only on land with permission of the property owner. Karen does not own the field behind her, she does not have claim to the woods surrounding that field. Karen can only hire me to trap on the .75 acres she owns. Likely, Karen would not want me to attract the coyotes to her property in order to trap them either. 

Also, Huntsman Wildlife is not a “Wildlife Trapping Company”. We are a “Nuisance Wildlife Company” and do not trap unless the animal is considered a nuisance. Nuisance wildlife is wildlife that is damaging property or is an immediate danger to the health and safety of pets and people. Though these coyotes were in Karen’s neighborhood and Karen believes they were “hunting” her and her son. There was no obvious danger, no one was attacked or injured, and the threat has not arisen since. 

We chose to live in areas with wildlife. Some closer than others. It is the price we have to pay. If you want to wake up in the morning to deer grazing in your backyard, rabbits and squirrels running around all day like Disney characters, and choirs of birds in your trees,  then you also have to accept the presence of predator species. 

Till next time… See ya folks.