The coyotes that are being referred to are not the NHL (National Hockey League) hockey team out of Phoenix, Arizona, but actual carnivorous mammals. In fact, coyotes may just be the fastest growing population of city dwellers to hit New York City. Many eye witnesses have seen the animals roaming the streets, trotting through downtown parks and, somehow, even perched on rooftops of buildings. Just this past weekend, police captured a young coyote in a residential area of the city just outside of a NYC café.
Just like in other large cities and their suburbs, an increasing number of coyotes have created dens within a larger populous. The animals are not only running around free, they are using people’s pets as their snacks.
In NYC, the animals have been spotted in Lower Manhattan, Battery Park City at the North Cave Marina and other popular locales. So far the police in New York’s largest city are simply using a tranquilizing dart to take down the coyotes, cage them, examine them, and then set them free in a wilderness area in NYC.
Coyotes are meat eaters. They are mammals that grow to be about 40 pounds and live in the wild for about 12 years.
So why are these animals invading our city streets and parks? Well it is simply because their land is being taken over. Besides that the cities offer these wild animals “an abundance” of small prey for them to eat; mice, squirrels, rabbits, cats – and even dogs.
The coyotes are simply giving police and animal control workers a real run for their money. Without the animals being tagged, if the ensuing coyote gets away from the authorities, they cannot tell if the next one captured is the one that got away.
Coyotes are even becoming less timid and more aggressive than they have previously known to be. One coyote reportedly bit a man in Norwood, New Jersey last week. Of the two coyotes spotted in that area, one attacked the police car that arrived on that scene; even chewing on the police car’s tires. The coyote was put down and checked for rabies. The dog reportedly did not have rabies, thankfully. The issue is that they are not certain if this is the actual coyote that attacked and bit the man or the accompanying coyote.
Because of this attack and the mounting number of coyotes being spotted, people in New York and New Jersey should be on the lookout. Do not leave food or garbage where it could attract coyotes and do not let your pets out at night unaccompanied. Those precautions are simple ways to keep coyotes at bay from your residence.