Latest news with #coyotes
CBS News
04-07-2025
- General
- CBS News
Coyotes reclaiming San Francisco spaces as residents contemplate how to coexist
Coyotes have made a steady comeback in San Francisco after once being nearly wiped out, renewing a debate between those who want to protect coyotes and others who see them as a growing threat. Three years ago, Alison Lufkin was walking her dog Oliver in the city's Presidio when something happened that she said she'll remember the rest of her life. A coyote slipped out of the brush, and, in an instant, Oliver was gone. "I tore back toward him, screaming, and he turned around and looked at me with my dog in his mouth," said Lufkin. "My dog's eyes met my eyes, and it was just so heartbreaking. Then he ran off with my dog." Lufkin still visits the site with her two current dogs, leaving flowers in Oliver's memory. She doesn't blame the coyotes. Oliver wasn't on a leash - a choice she said she still regrets. "That day was probably the worst day of my life," she said. Lufkin is part of a growing number of people calling for something, anything, to prevent this from happening again. According to San Francisco Animal Care and Control, in 2024, over 1,000 coyote sightings were reported in the city, a 40% jump from the year before, though that may be due to better reporting. There was also one case near the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park where a 5-year-old girl was bitten. Decades ago, coyotes were nearly wiped out by hunting and widespread poisoning. But in the early 2000s, they returned from a few bold strays to about 100, staking their claim in a city still unsure about how to handle them. For 18 years, Janet Kessler has been tracking and photographing coyotes, saying the real problem isn't the coyotes, it's us. Around here, she's simply known as the Coyote Lady. "I feel protective because they are the most persecuted animal in America," said Kessler. "They have been shot on sight just for being coyotes." Doctors Tali Caspi and Christine Wilkinson have studied how coyotes and people cross paths - and not just here in San Francisco. "It sort of captivated people around the world is the fact that these animals are here in big cities and not just in San Francisco where you can see them in Golden Gate Park where we are right now, but they're in New York City and they're in Chicago and they're in Los Angeles," Caspi said. And that raises the question: what, if anything, can be done? "Some people are gonna look at this and they're gonna say, why not just get rid of them?" Caspi said. "Even if we wanted to remove every coyote in here and you were able to do it somehow, they would come right back," Wilkinson said. Relocating them doesn't work either. Not only is it illegal, but many of them may not survive it. The good news, experts said, is that coyote numbers have likely stabilized. The Coyote Lady believes coexistence isn't just possible, it's practical. Don't feed them. Keep dogs tethered. And remember: serious incidents are rare. "I'm hoping that enough people can come to a respectable understanding of them," she said, "and if they don't learn to like the coyotes, at least learn how to live with them."
CBC
30-06-2025
- CBC
Boy, 12, bit by coyote in King Township: police
Police are warning the public to watch out for coyotes in part of King Township after a 12-year-old boy was bit by one on Sunday afternoon. The incident around 12:15 p.m. near Highway 27 and King Road in Nobleton, York Regional Police said in a post on X. The boy was taken to hospital with minor leg injuries. Toronto Wildlife and Vaughan Animal Services have been notified, police said. King Township said it is working with both agencies in a post on Facebook on Sunday. Police are advising people to use caution in the area after there have been "frequent" coyotes sightings there. Anyone who has video or photographs of coyotes in the area is asked to contact Vaughan Animal Services, including details about the date, time and location of the sighting, King Township said.
CBS News
30-05-2025
- General
- CBS News
San Francisco dog owners urged to stay alert amid coyote pupping season
It's coyote pupping season, and this is the time of year people may encounter more confrontations with them. Those at Golden Gate Park recently noticed park rangers educating dog owners about an incident over the past weekend. Howling coyotes at Golden Gate Park near Lindley Meadows, a popular spot where dog owners walk and play with their pups. Brandon Hartstein and his dog Oden encountered a pack of coyotes in the area about a year ago. "We were walking on a trail that's not too popular and all of a sudden, three coyotes just appeared and started kind of stalking us," said Hartstein. Similar stories of coyote encounters are surfacing this year. Lauren Roche watched her dog get chased by coyotes. "She was running along the grassy area and I was running in the path that doesn't have cars, and there were two coyotes that started chasing after her," said Roche. "And I look over, wow, they're going so fast, and it was two coyotes chasing after her. Luckily, she was fast enough to outrun them, and I called her back over and they ended up going away." Signs like these are posted in Golden Gate Park to warn people about these potential run-ins with coyotes. Experts say coyotes are just protective during pupping season and are not displaying unprovoked aggression. They say the best thing to do is to shorten the leash and walk in the other direction. Something Hartstein tried to do. "We kept on walking away," said Hartstein. "I was making loud sounds trying to scare them off, and eventually we started running. Luckily, a biker came by and I flagged him down and he helped to chase them off." Some dog owners have noticed coyotes getting bolder and becoming used to humans in their territory. They say with these canines all over the Bay Area, the key is to limit conflicts and coexist with each other. "I just kind of try to adjust my way of living because it's part of where they live," said Roche. "I wouldn't have to adjust for someone coming into my home."
New York Times
29-05-2025
- General
- New York Times
How We Photographed Coyotes in San Francisco
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together. Two years ago, when the freelance photographer Loren Elliott moved back to San Francisco after a stint in Sydney, Australia, he quickly noticed a new feature of city life: signs warning people of coyotes were everywhere. He had always loved wildlife journalism and had honed his skills while photographing koalas and platypuses that had weathered the ferocious Australian wildfires of 2020. Could he pull off a documentary look at urban coyotes, too? The answer, as New York Times readers saw last week in the story 'The Coyotes of San Francisco,' proved a definitive yes. He managed to capture photographs of coyotes living in one of the densest cities in the country — climbing out of their dens on golf courses, hanging out on baseball fields and howling mere feet from a woman jogging past. After writing the words to accompany Loren's stunning photography, my inbox was filled with different versions of the same question: How did he do that? Frankly, I only knew the general outlines of the answer, so I interviewed him to get more details. Loren explained to me that he had tried several times in the fall of 2023 to photograph coyotes at Bernal Hill, one of the city's prime locations for the wild canines. He didn't see a single one. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
24-05-2025
- Science
- New York Times
Quote of the Day: Prowling Neighbor a City Thought It Shed
'Did they walk over the Golden Gate Bridge? That's my top theory.' CHRISTINE WILKINSON, a carnivore ecologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz, on the mystery of coyotes re-emerging in San Francisco in the early 2000s after vanishing for 75 years.
