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Special Report filed by AAF Correspondent: Scott Tingley
from Press & Sun-Bulletin (New York)
Coyote attacks 18-month-old toddler
Tot bit in face at soccer practice
John Colebourn
Wedensday, September 20, 2000
The Province Police last night were tracking down a coyote after it attacked an 18-month-old baby and turned on an adult in Vancouver's Oakridge area.
The baby was taken to Children's Hospital and the injuries are believed to be minor. The attack left the baby with a cut above the eye.
Shocked witnesses watched in horror as the animal went for the child at a soccer practice taking place at 43rd Avenue and Montgomery Street.
The baby and parents were standing along the sidelines, when the coyote appeared.
Soccer coach Michael Bentley said the attack happened fast.
"Something needs to be done about these coyotes," he said.
"Unfortunately, they are a real concern."
He said it is not unusual for residents to see coyotes wandering around the alleys looking for prey. "People see them all the time around here," he said.
After the coyote left the soccer field it lunged at a dog on a leash and tried to go after a man.
Vancouver police have been told to kill the animal. But as of late last night they had yet to find the crazed critter.
Residents in wooded areas of the city are complaining about an alarming number of coyotes roaming around.
They often wander near homes looking for cats or small dogs.
Coyote Attacks 3-year old Boy
on Cape Cod
Associated Press, 07/30/98 04:25
SANDWICH, Mass. (AP) - Police shot and killed a coyote that attacked a 3-year-old boy playing in his back yard on Cape Cod.
The boy's mother told police she had to pry the coyote off her son Wednesday night.
Daniel Neal suffered scratches and bites, but did not appear seriously injured, Sandwich police Sgt. Daniel O'Connell said. The boy was listed in good condition early today at Children's Hospital in Boston.
Peter Trull, a coyote researcher, said it's the first documented coyote attack on a human in Massachusetts.
The female coyote was shot by a police officer who rushed to the home after a frantic call from the mother. The animal will be tested for rabies.
Police had increased patrols of the neighborhood after receiving about a dozen calls in recent days about an overly aggressive coyote.
Wildlife officials say the state's coyote population appears to be growing steadily. Some wildlife biologists said they have lost their ability to effectively manage the coyote population because a new law bars the use of leg traps. The ban's proponents said the traps were cruel.
Adaptable coyote eats pets, flourishes in New England
Associated Press, 08/17/97 21:45
WAKEFIELD, Mass. (AP) - There are predators here with a taste for household pets.
Able to adapt to life in almost any environment, they record the daily habits of homeowners, waiting for the best time to strike.
One was spotted last month peering from atop a boulder at a poodle chained in a back yard. The poodle's horrified owner called police to report it. Others are blamed for making cats disappear.
``They're so clever, so smart,'' said John Benedetto, a professional trapper who has worked for the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. ``A lot of people see them and think they're dogs.''
But they aren't. They're eastern coyotes.
``Coyotes view domestic pets as an alternative food source,'' said Erik Amati, state game biologist. ``In a lot of cases we've seen cats being taken and dogs being attacked and killed.''
One of the worst spates made headlines two years ago when animal control officials in Marshfield blamed coyotes for killing 45 domestic cats in just over a month. Animal control officers say coyotes are to blame for recent reports of vanishing cats in several Boston-area communities.
Bigger than their western cousins, the wild canines started filtering into Massachusetts from Northern New England a quarter century ago. Today wildlife officials estimate as many as 4,000 coyotes are thriving in the Bay State, breeding in every mainland county.
With coats that can be yellow, red, gray or black, the coyote resembles a medium-sized German shepherd with long hair, a narrow snout and straight, bushy tail. It lives in well-hidden burrows, brush piles and sometimes abandoned sheds. Its diet, nearly boundless, includes squirrel, rodents, birds, snakes and even berries and apples.
State wildlife officials are warning pet owners to keep an eye on their animals. A widely distributed poster topped with a drawing of a coyote cautions residents not leave pet food outside and not to feed or approach coyotes.
``They know the people's schedules in the residential areas and when people leave for work, they'll come out at 10 o'clock and forage,'' wildlife biologist Sue Langlois said.
In the countryside, some attack and kill sheep, forcing farmers to kill them. Coyotes have been known to bite humans, but no such encounters have been reported in Massachusetts.
State officials have no accurate estimate of the coyote population, but data taken annually from hunts, trapping and road kills, suggest their numbers are growing steadily, Langlois said.
While usually wary, coyotes will lose their inhibitions around humans if they are allowed to, a habit that will be passed on to future generations.
Wildlife officials say they have lost their ability to effectively manage and track the coyote population due to a new law barring leg traps.
Proponents of the ban, approved by voters last year, said the traps were cruel. But game officials and trappers say rubber-lined traps, approved by the Supreme Judicial Court, did the animals no harm.
For now, the only way to control the growing number of coyotes is through an annual hunt or special permits issued in rural areas to shoot problem animals, Langlois said. There is virtually no way to catch coyotes in residential neighborhoods because many towns outlaw or limit discharging firearms, she said.
Today more than 600 leg traps hang from Benedetto's garage wall. He still traps in other states, but in Massachusetts he has traded the metal contraptions for a rifle, which he uses to shoot coyotes caught attacking sheep.
``Not every coyote is a livestock killer,'' he said. ``You want to get the ones that are going after the sheep. They'll all eat it, but only one or two will kill it.''
Benedetto said western coyotes, about two-thirds the size of those in the Northeast, are equally adaptable, making homes in the desert climate of the Mexican border as well as neighborhoods in central Los Angeles.
And Benedetto sees signs of coyotes in his own neighborhood. Near his family truck repair shop, he said coyotes killed a litter of feral cats, leaving behind only their paws.
A month ago, he was called to rescue a 2-month old coyote pup whose parents had been hit by cars. Benedetto said the animal was old enough to make it on its own. After checking it over and giving it a meal and a night's rest, he released it.
``You can't wipe them out,'' he said. ``That's one animal that will never be extinct.''
August 21, 1997
Cat-eating coyotes are on the prowl
By ROBIN MONTVILLE
STAFF WRITER
Activist warns pet owners of danger
A local cat-loving community activist has started a personal crusade against pet-hungry coyotes. Auburndale resident Anne Hynes has gone door to door to urge neighbors to impose an evening curfew on their pets after several local animals disappeared, including her own. Coyotes are the feared pet-snatchers.
"I personally have not seen a coyote, but my daughter has," Hynes said. "I am very concerned."
On July 9, Hyne's 10-year-old Tabby cat was out late unknown to its owner. The cat did not normally wander far from the house. Hyne's daughter heard a brief noise, like a cat howling, that evening and the cat was never seen again.
Hynes' Tabby was the second of her cats to vanish. Two years ago another cat refused to go inside the house one evening and never returned. At that time a neighbor alerted her to the coyote problem. She has been very careful to keep her cats inside since.
"Many cats have been lost," said Hynes. "Mine was. They usually can't find a body."
Hynes said many local residents believe the coyotes live in 20 acres of nearby city and privately owned land that once included the Pine St. dump. Coyotes tend to den in second growth woods, thickets along fields, marsh and bushy riparian corridors.
"My mother saw one in the backyard a couple of weeks ago," said Auburndale resident Judy Quinlan. "She said it looked like a German Shepard with a longer face and that it was big. She said she was afraid."
Coyotes range in color from silver, red, black or blond. The animal does look like a medium sized dog with a narrow snout and bushy tail. Neighbors claim a coyote was caught on video tape recently wandering in an Auburndale yard.
"I haven't seen any but I've heard about them," said Auburndale resident John Caira. "I know people are missing their pets."
Hynes was reluctant to publicize the coyote problem for fear she would not be believed. She said she contacted local animal control, the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, and a local state representative about the problem and was told there was nothing that could be presently done.
The Massachusetts Wildlife Protection Act restricts the preventative action of the Division of Fisheries and Wildlife. Hynes advocates for the use of non-harmful trapping methods which would help contain the animals.
Coyotes feed on small rodents, birds, frogs, fruit, berries, vegetables and domestic pets. Pet owners are encouraged to bring their pets inside between dusk and dawn. Pet food or containers should not be left outside and garbage should be secured in trash cans to prevent predators.
"They are animals that will hunt," said Hynes. "They will hunt for food when no one is around."
Although coyotes favor the dark and are wary of humans, the animal can detect people's schedules and will scout regardless of the hour. Over time, coyotes could lose their inhibitions around humans.
"They can adapt themselves to any neighborhood," Hynes said.
Coyotes came to Massachusetts from Northern New England approximately 25 years ago. Although the coyote population cannot be tracked because of state legislation, it estimated that there are as many as 4,000 coyotes breeding in the state. Coyotes are being blamed for the disappearance of cats across Massachusetts.
"It just makes my heart ache," Hynes said. Copyright © 1997 Community Newspaper Company
Animal was rabid
By JESSE A. FLOYD, CNC STAFF WRITER
Thursday, April 27, 2000
NEWTON -- A rabid fox attacked eight people, including a 3-year-old, in Newton Centre Tuesday, and six of the victims were being treated to prevent the onset of rabies.
Most of the victims suffered minor injuries in the attack which began just after 11 a.m. and ended when police shot the animal about 5 p.m. The 3-year-old was repeatedly bitten, according to officials.
Nina Slote, 10, and a playmate were enjoying a quiet afternoon, pushing their bicycles along Garland Road in front of Nina's house, when they heard a dog barking, according to the girl's mother, Karen Slote.
Turning to see the source of the commotion, Nina saw a small red fox skulking along the sidewalk behind them. Apparently without warning, the fox began to attack the two girls. One managed to escape, but Nina did not.
"Her friend ran out into the road, and the fox went after Nina," said Karen Slote. "It just kept going after her leg."
That is when Slote's next door neighbor, Louis D'Attilio, tried to help.
"They were screaming bloody murder. I ran over to see what I could do and that's when he came running out through the bushes at me," D'Attilio said. " I didn't want to get bitten, so I gave him a kick and he went for a loop."
The fox then resumed its attack at D'Attilio, who tripped over some rubble while backing away.
"I was on my back and kicking at him. I still got outfoxed," he said. "He bit me several times just above the ankle."
The fox then ran off.
According to Lucille Riddle, the Newton animal control officer, the fox was shot by a Newton police officer after the animal took refuge under a shed on Carthay Circle.
The animal's body was sent to the state lab in Jamaica Plain for rabies testing. Victims of the attack began anti-rabies treatments immediately.
"They're a lot easier now than they used to be," said D'Attilio. " You get one in each arm, one in the buttocks and one in the thigh. I got to go Friday for more."
Even before the release of the results, Dr. Michael McGuill, a public health veterinarian with the state Department of Public Health, said the animal, in all likelihood, suffered from rabies, a debilitating and ultimately fatal virus that destroys the central nervous system.
McGuill's organization tests for and monitors rabies and other infectious diseases in the state.
According to Karen Slote, her daughter suffered a gash on her calf more than an inch long and almost a half-inch deep plus other, assorted scratches. She also began the battery of rabies shots Tuesday night.
"She went to school (yesterday), I think because she didn't want to miss being the center of attention," Karen Slote said.
The first call of a rampaging fox came at 11:13 a.m., Riddle said. In addition to the 3-year-old and the 10-year-old, a babysitter and three other people were being treated for rabies.
At times, as many as eight officers were searching the area, trying to corner the rampaging fox.
"We couldn't let this one get away. We had to shoot it or stop it from hurting other people," Riddle said.
The end came about 5 p.m. when Paul Enos, a resident of Carthay Circle, was approached by the animal. Enos beat the fox with a squeegee, driving it under a shed, where it was shot, Riddle said.
Riddle, a police officer assigned to the animal control division, has been at the job for 18 years. The animal attack sequence was the first of its kind in her memory.
"There are two forms of rabies," she said. "I had never seen this aggressive form before. Usually what you see is the dumb kind, when the wild animals become lethargic and even acts tame."
Louis Pastuer, the famous French scientist, first described the two forms of rabies, McGuill said. That dual description is still used today.
In Karen Slote's mind, the attack, while serious, could have been much worse. At nearby Mason Rice School, students have a half-day each. If they had all been walking home at 3 p.m., they would have walked right into the fox's line of attack, she said.
"We walked to school this morning. She was very glad it had been caught, or I don't think we would have been walking," she said.
According to Marian Larson, the outreach coordinator for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, attacks by animals on humans are rare. The most recent attack by a wild canine on a person happened on the Cape when a boy was bitten by a coyote. That animal tested negative for rabies.
"Remember, there are 6 million people in Massachusetts sharing 5 million acres of land with wildlife," Larson said.
There are, in fact, more raccoons per square mile in a city like Newton than in many rural areas. Food, shelter and water are in abundant supply there, she said.
Riddle warned that spring can be an unusual time. Normally nocturnal animals, such as raccoons, may spend their evenings guarding newly born young, then searching for food during the day while a mate watches the brood.
According to Riddle, people should only be concerned if the animal is clearly acting strange: staggering; foaming; biting; or attacking and stumbling are common signs of neurological illness.
(Tribune Editor Lucas Mearian contributed to this report).
Copyright © 1995-1999, Community Newspaper Company. All rights reserved.
Fear of US epidemic grows after
young girl is bitten by rabid fox
FROM TUNKU VARADARAJAN IN NEW YORK
A GIRL of seven, attacked by a rabid fox in Asheboro, North Carolina, is the latest victim in America's worst rabies epidemic in four decades.
The epidemic has alarmed officials to such an extent that free rabies vaccinations are being offered. There were 839 rabies cases in North Carolina last year, and that figure seems likely to double in 1998. In 1990, there were only ten recorded cases. The attack on the girl occurred at the weekend at the North Carolina State Zoological Park, about 65 miles west of Raleigh.
The girl, who was celebrating her birthday at the park, had just emerged from a baboon exhibit when a grey fox darted out of the woods and bit her left leg. The animal released its grip only after an adult chaperone swatted it hard with a water bottle. The fox was captured minutes later. It tested positive for rabies and was shot dead. The child was treated and is recovering.
The rabies problem is so serious that officials in neighbouring Tennessee are on "rabid racoon alert". Rabid animals from North Carolina have apparently crossed state lines. In the most spectacular incident of all, a rabid beaver attacked two fisherman last year after leaping into their boat on Jordan Lake, west of Raleigh.
Copyright 1998 Times Newspapers Limited.
Copyright © 2000 Herb Newsam. All Rights Reserved.