BackYardChickens Forum

If coyotes were a significant threat to people, I'd be dead.  So would everyone who lives here.  We have LOTS of coyotes.  We see them almost every day. Close. I don't know the circumstances of the attack.  I suspect they may have been starving.  Starvation makes all critters, including people, do outlandish things.  This is a tragedy, sure.  But considering all the coyotes there are and all the people there are, how often has anything like this happened? I have heard of them going after children, but I have NEVER heard of them going after an adult person before.

or maybe wolves? There are wolves here & in Alberta...so I am not sure if they weren't those or just feral dogs...

Yeah...I ALWAYS have a knife on me...it's a good-sized Gerber & I take the dogs with me all of the time...which is better than nothing! I'm scared of cougars, though more than coyotes. Our dogs kill coyotes all the time...but the cougars....

Some of you guys are forgetting that sometimes predators are different from region to region, and it probably has to do with food supply.

I've heard of coyotes attacking livestock like horses and cattle, but I've never heard of them doing it here where I live, and everyone in my area says they've never lost a horse or cattle to coyotes. There was a warning on the news last year about this time about buzzards attacking calves and kids. However, I've never had one attack and don't know of any who has either. But when they can't find any food, they'll attack something they can get a hold of.

Another example is deer. In the south they're more like prehistoric baby deer (sarcastic). They remind me (when I exaggerate) of the ones in the museum that are as small as a large dog. But in the north, like Illinois, they're big like moose. Yes, I'm exaggerating about how small the deer are here, but I'm not exaggerating about the ones in the north. Them are hearty for sure! Again, probably the food supply. In Illinois, you actually have to HUNT deer. In Tennessee, you just have to drive around until you see one because there are so many. That tends to thin out their grazing availablility.

It wouldn't surprise me that coyotes attacked a human, especially if they're food supply is lacking. Like some of you, I hear them nightly. My neighbors have seen them in their driveway in the middle of the day. I (knock on wood) don't have any problems from them, but I'd bet that would change if they were hungry ehough.