The poor lady who cuts my hair just yesterday lost her toy poodle to a coyote...

[CTyankee]

She was keeping appointments today but close to tears the entire time. She almost lost him about a year ago to a pit bull. He was pretty banged up since it took her and the pit bull's owner both to pull him away. The coyote just appeared quickly, snatched the little poodle and was gone. All she heard was a little yelp. She was in hysterics. A neighbor called the police and they came and were extremely sympathetic.

Her little dog was the sweetest and cutest little fellow. He was hypoallergenic so came to her salon every day and was always curled up in his little basket at my feet when I was getting my hair styled. Everybody loved little Elliot. He drank take out coffee with heavy cream every day, to no ill effect.

I am hoping that the coyote killed his prey quickly so he didn't have to suffer...she said she would be getting another toy poodle but in the mean time she is really grieving.

I know the coyote just saw the little dog as a meal but it's hard manage that emotionally...

[TwilightGardener]

1. Poor little guy. I have lots of coyotes around, they occasionally run through the property,

Last edited Wed Sep 2, 2015, 03:13 PM - Edit history (1)

so I leash my dachshunds outside most of the time, and I don't let my cats out at all.

[yeoman6987]

2. We have bobcats and they will take little dogs to play

with but end up not a good conclusion.

[TwilightGardener]

6. Yep, bobcats are a threat too--lady in my town lost a little dog to one.

Most people where I live are pretty good at keeping pets from roaming free, except my neighbor with his free-roaming pit bull. Another reason I keep my dogs under close watch, unfortunately--they will lose that fight. AND the plague is another reason pets can't run free where I live--can't have dogs/cats coming into contact with flea-ridden rodent carcasses.

[CTyankee]

13. our CT coyotes have been more aggressive this past year...but that was a story in late

April after a tough winter. But, that said, coyotes are predators. The food chain and all that...hell, I've seen critters of the wild around the Yale Golf Course...

[dorkzilla]

22. they've hybridized with wolves, our Eastern coyotes...

So much so that they're often referred to as coywolves.

My dogs are bigger that they typically are but I still go outside with them and the kitties are never allowed outside.

Eta also I have an 8foot stockade fence around the dog's area (our backyard) and I've seen 3 coywolves in the past year jump over my 3 foot picket fence in our front garden only to turn back when they realized there was no way they could get in the back yard. They ran up the street, each one of them being repelled into the woods by our neighbor's Great Dane barking at them.

Bigger dogs are better in this case, but not always, especially since we have rabies here.

[Warpy]

3. Their favorite food is small pets

It's one reason my cats were indoor beasties here in NM.

They do kill pretty efficiently, meaning quickly. That's about the only thing to cling to as the circle of life reasserts itself on a four footed family member.

[SheilaT]

4. Where I live there are coyotes,

and people frequently lose cats and dogs to them. The most important thing is not to let your animal roam. Which won't help a lot of they come on your property. Don't know about your hairdresser, but I am amazed at how many people here do let their animals roam.

[tblue37]

14. It's red foxes here. nt

[WiffenPoof]

32. Also...

Never leave pet food out. I live in Crestline,CA. up here in the mountains, pets are taken regularly.

Paige

[KamaAina]

5. Will Pitt lost his cat to a coyote.

Then again, he lives in rural New Hampshire. I assume your hairdresser lives in the 'burbs, although there was a coyote sighting in SF recently, so why not New Haven?

[CTyankee]

9. She is in Old Saybrook, which is why having a woman screaming at 5:30 in the morning

gets police attention. Some places in New Haven might not, sadly.

Hey, KamaAina, The Game is played in the Bowl this year. Yet another year of dejected Yalies...the torture continues...still, the Yale Precision Marching Band will be kinda fun...

[HassleCat]

7. Get a standard sized poodle

Better yet, get two. The coyotes will avoid that house.

[beevul]

11. Thats not strictly true.

I've seen pairs of large cattle dogs, large and imposing, dead from coyote predation.

Where I live, I have to kill the occasional coyote. When they're sitting at the fence, waiting for you to let the dogs outside, or they don't run away when you put yourself between them and your dogs, they've become too brazen.

They supposedly average 8 to 44 pounds, but I have seen them in person, much larger than that, probably in the 60-80 pound range.

And far more often than not, they aren't alone.

[hedgehog]

12. I think the ones here in New York are larger than the ones out West -

less competition for the top tier in the food chain.

I get a kick out of people here objecting to deer hunting and/or attempts to cull deer roaming the city. All that protein on the hoof is going to start attracting predators. I just hope we get more coyotes and no cougars!

[tblue37]

15. Maybe some of them are coywolves. They are bigger. nt

[bullwinkle428]

8. Coyotes are not the least bit shy about running around in populous areas -

I was riding my bike through an industrial part of town along the river, and saw this coyote just kind of galloping along the railroad tracks parallel to the stretch of pathway I was on at the time. I was like, "Holy shit...that's a coyote!"

Very sorry that your hairdresser had to go through such a traumatic experience. I would never allow my cat to roam outside at all, no matter where I happened to live - way too many potential threats.

[CTyankee]

10. He wasn't roaming altho she didn't have him on a leash. He was pretty good about

staying right with her, but she didn't have him on a leash and it's dark here at 5:30 a.m....not much light until 6 this time of year...

[Arugula Latte]

18. We have had them come through our backyard, and we live in city limits.

Our kitties are indoor/enclosed catio kitties only, too.

[CTyankee]

16. I'm thinking she should get two new puppies. One a replacement of her toy and the

other a much larger dog, raise them together from puppies so they bond and then take them both out for walks together. Coyotes wouldn't attack a larger dog so that protects the smaller dog.

Good idea?

[Arugula Latte]

17. Nature is brutal.

I know someone whose little chihuahua dog got carried off by a giant bird of prey (I think it was an eagle). Same thing, gotta hope the animal dies quickly. We had a hawk in our backyard with a squirrel in its talons. It dropped it from one of our giant trees (I guess to kill it).

I wish all life forms had evolved as vegetarians. It just plain sucks that some animals suffer and die to be food for other animals.

[CTyankee]

19. Yeah, I know...that's why I wondered if having a larger dog that the coyote wouldn't

want to mess with would be a possible answer. The coyote takes a look and then slips back into the woods...

[magical thyme]

24. a coyote passed through my pasture yesterday

both my dogs started to go after it. I screamed "NO!!!!" and then "STAY!!!!" and thank goodness Jake, who usually doesn't listen to me, stopped in his tracks. Luna was behind Jake and follows him everywhere, so he stopped to.

The coyote definitely wouldn't have stuck around outnumbered, but I was really afraid they would go after it.

And I almost lost Jake as a pup to an entire pack of coydogs. They were in the woods just behind my barn. A dog started barking in the middle of the pack, and Jake made a run for them. I had one shot to grab him and just managed to slip my hand into his collar as he raced by.

Then they started howling and yipping. I dragged him back into the barn and shut us all inside. We were trapped in there for half an hour in the dark before things got quiet and I could make a run for the house.

Just minutes before, I had been cussing myself for forgetting my gloves. If I'd had them on, my hand would never have made it under his collar...

[CTyankee]

21. well, it is normal for humans to be sensitive to animal suffering. It is how we differ from other

primates...

[Lulu Belle]

20. My Neighbor keeps a .22/250

In his ranch vehicle for coyotes.
We have killed them out to 700+ yards on his property. There are several packs in the area.
Feral hogs are worse than coyotes, though.

[magical thyme]

23. man, how sad...

poor pup, and poor mom...

[Contrary1]

25. Not too far from me

Coyotes climbed over a 6 foot privacy fence, and got in through a pet door to go after a couple of toy breeds.

The owner was gone for just a few minutes, and came home to the carnage. She found her two pitbulls safe in a bedroom.

It never occurred to her that something like this could happen. If you have a pet door, make sure it is locked before you leave the house. Even better, block the entry with something heavy that the coyotes can't push through.

[Liberal_in_LA]

26. sad!

[CTyankee]

27. Yeah, she was pretty much devastated. I think her regular clients understood.

[DirkGently]

28. They're very dangerous to pets. We have them in Florida now.

I remember during the Casey Anthony trial, when now-State Attorney Jeff Ashton laughed uproariously at the defense contention that coyotes could have scattered a child's bones, because there couldn't possibly be any coyotes in Orlando.

Within a few days before or after, one crossed the road right in front of me, a couple of miles from the location in question.

[Coventina]

29. Jeepers that's horrible!

I can't imagine the pain she's in.
I hope she keeps her next dog leashed.
It's not a guarantee, but it's something.

We had a friend who's tiny pom was carried off by an owl one night from their backyard.

Horribly sad.

[B Calm]

30. I have lost cats before. Often wonder if coyotes got them.

[Boudica the Lyoness]

31. Too bad about the little dog. He would have died quick.

Coyotes belong here in the west and are no problem on our ranch/farm. They keep to our bluffs and sage brush mostly, but can be seen hunting gophers in the meadows - close to our cats. They will come close to the house at night to eat apples and cherries from under the trees. There is plenty for them to eat here in their natural habitat and I suppose that is why they behave themselves.

Years ago we had a dog that would chase them and she returned a few times with some coyote bites on her rump. The coyotes were protecting their territory and their dens. She was big, a Irish setter cross. When the coyotes are young, still pups, I've seen them come for walks behind our dogs. Where the dogs sniff they sniff - all going walkies. About 15 years ago the three dogs I had attacked a badger and while I was running up to break the fight up, an adult coyote joined the fight. Poor badger had three dogs and a coyote hanging on to him. He made it okay with a few wounds. The coyote hauled arse when he saw me running up.

Last month our cat, who was 18 years old, died in his sleep and he was an outdoor/indoor cat. He'd would roam for about a 1/4 or more from the house and obviously was never eaten.

We have cattle, ducks, chickens, dogs, cats and horses.

If I lived in the suburbs, where the coyotes are moving into, I would never have a little dog. Our dogs are Australian Shepherds and respect the coyotes and visa versa. I'm always on the side of nature and I'm always surprised that Liberals are not more tolerant of certain creatures.

It puzzles me why the coyotes have moved east.

BTW, we pronounce them ki oates here.