Coyote Attacks: Residents On Edge In San Francisco Bay Area, Bold Predator Has Bitten 5 People

[appalachiablue]

- This coyote was one of several collared by wildlife biologists monitoring their behavior in the Bay Area headlands. Authorities are trying to catch an unusually bold coyote in the East Bay responsible for attacks on humans.
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- 'Search For Coyote Continues After Several Attacks In The San Francisco Bay Area,'- NPR, Feb. 27, 2021.

An unusually aggressive coyote roaming an eastern suburb of the San Francisco Bay has hikers and residents on edge after biting five people and sparking an urgent effort by police and wildlife officials to capture the elusive predator. DNA taken from the victims' bite wounds and clothing has linked all five attacks since last summer to a single coyote in a roughly two-mile radius in and around the East Bay cities of Moraga and Lafayette. The predator has bitten adults and kids, including children ages 2 and 3.

A man said he was bitten while doing his regular morning workout at a local high school football field. He was doing a push-up when he felt a sharp pain in his left leg. Attacks also have occurred at a playground and outside a grocery store. The latest last Friday was outside a Kwik Stop convenience store. All bite wound victims have recovered. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife, in partnership with the US Department of Agriculture and local police, are working to euthanize and then test the aggressive coyote for rabies.

That is, if they can capture it.

"We have a 24/7 operation happening right now in an attempt to catch the offending coyote via trapping," says Capt. Patrick Foy with California Fish and Wildlife. The mother of the 3-year-old attacked told a local CBS station the coyote seemed fearless, persistent and aggressive. "I had a stroller with the baby and I heard her scream! I turned around, she was right next to me and there was a coyote biting her," said a woman identified only as Jackie. "I screamed and yelled and the coyote retreated but it didn't go far. I kept screaming and yelling, waving a blanket. It would come right back at us, leave and come right back at us and it was not scared off by me at all!"

So far, baited traps have not worked. The series of attacks has some locals a little nervous. Hikers are carrying noisemakers and some parents with small children are sticking close to home. In December, a wildlife sniper tried to take the animal down and missed. If traps continue to fail, officials say they'll try the sniper again, if they can do so safely in a bustling suburban setting. But it's not always that easy, Capt. Foy says. "You've got to worry about ricochet and what's behind your shot." All tests on bite victims have, so far, come up negative for rabies. "So the movie Cujo, you know, where the animal is salivating at the mouth, we have no evidence to suggest any of those characteristics are occurring," he says. Wildlife experts and advocates say this kind of bold behavior is highly unusual for coyotes. Though it's not uncommon to see coyotes in populated areas, the animals are typically wary of people, keep their distance and avoid conflict with humans...

More, https://www.npr.org/2021/02/27/971854901/search-for-coyote-continues-after-several-attacks-in-the-san-francisco-bay-area

[Jilly_in_VA]

1. It is more than likely

rabid, sick, or hungry.

[appalachiablue]

3. It could be any of those and a good thing that

none of the people bitten have tested positive for rabies. This time of year, the dead of winter is when coyotes are very hungry and go after larger prey. But this rogue has been attacking and biting people since last summer; that's a long time to be sick yet able to hunt and avoid capture, but maybe possible.

[2naSalit]

8. I agree.

I think it may have been habituated, expects food from humans because someone fed it, and could have pups or just finds food from humans preferable. Coyotes can get really aggressive and deadly.

It's probably not rabid and more likely hungry and associates humans with food, even if it's that tasty little kid right there.

[Jilly_in_VA]

13. Good point

It's probably a "garbage hound" and maybe some idiot fed it, stupidly thinking it was a "big dog". Some people are just dumb.

[Bayard]

2. This one has learned that people usually have food on them

Or nearby anyway. The Greyhounds we used to have years ago learned quickly to check little kids' hands for cookies.

I'm guessing this is a mom with very early (or late) pups to feed. Just stupid to try shooting it in a residential area. If it were rabid, it would have died already. Same if it were sick otherwise. It wouldn't be attacking people, it would be looking for a quiet place to die.

Or maybe just hates people!

[appalachiablue]

4. The search for food for offspring sounds plausible.

The wildlife people surely know female coyote behavior..

[2naSalit]

9. All of the above.

[jpak]

5. Coyote Garou?

[appalachiablue]

6. Werewolf, maybe a robot gone rogue

[bedazzled]

14. That is a terrific image!

What is it?

Am watching dark shadows and have werewolves on the brain...

[appalachiablue]

15. It's an ancient style of Greek pottery, red figures

on black background. In Greek mythology, the man is 'Dolon' in a wolf skin. He fought for Troy in the Trojan War. All info. found on handy wikipedia.

Dolon wearing a wolf-skin. Attic red-figure vase, c. 460 BC.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolon_(mythology)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werewolf

[bedazzled]

17. Thank you!

That is perfectly amazing!

[Paladin]

7. Really strange to see that sort of behavior in coyotes.

Rabies would be my first bet; glad they're administering tests on the victims.

[murielm99]

10. We have coyotes all around us.

Only once in 42 years have I seen one come on our property. They avoid people.

One came to the very back of our property. It was early morning, barely light outside. Since it is uphill, I was able to see him pee on one of our apple trees. I was surprised.

Later, when I took my dog out, she made a beeline for that tree. She practically inhaled the area around the tree.

[Paladin]

11. Nothing's more adaptable than a coyote.

I've seen them in practically all environments, rural and urban. I believe coyotes will be around, long after humanity has wiped itself off the planet.

[Harker]

12. Eating Twinkies. n/t

[appalachiablue]

16. Ten years ago I saw one walking down

the sidewalk in summer about 10 am where there's wooded areas out back of a suburb. It was quite tall, thin and haggard looking. I didn't know whether it was a worn- out stray dog, or, more like it, a wolf.

Someone said it could be a 'Coy-wolf.' I knew it wasn't a fox, and 2 days before I had seen a red fox cutting through yards. So I read up on coyotes which I didn't know had migrated all over.

There were news stories about coyotes adapting to suburbs and cities like Chicago where they roam, and videos of them coming near homes and snatching small pets, dogs and approaching little kids.

Humans, spreading and encroaching on habitat and harming the world we live in.