Illinois Coyote Warning for Pet Owners
The following recently appeared on Dogster’s For the Love of Dog Blog, and since it applies to cats as well, I’m reposting here. Although this was a warning specific to Wheaton, IL, coyotes everywhere are a threat to housecats, even in urban areas (there are coyotes in San Francisco).
Janice just barked this important information to me for Dogster readers in the Wheaton, Illinois area.
A warning has been issued by the Wheaton Chief of Police, Mark Field.
Coyote Alert
WHEATON, Ill. – The highly adaptable coyote continues to flourish in the western suburbs within populated areas, mostly because of the interesting menu available in the form of dog and cat food, or easy-to-open garbage cans.
Coyotes can survive on whatever food is available, from rodents to rubbish, from insects to fruit to carrion. They can be a threat to family pets. Although no attacks have been reported within the City of Wheaton, in isolated but tragic cases elsewhere, coyotes have attacked small children.
Essentially unimpeded by control measures, abundant food has encouraged coyotes to become accustomed to the sight and sounds of humans. Consequently, coyote populations and range have expanded in recent years in the western suburbs.
While coyotes are valuable in decreasing the rodent population, their presence in populated areas can be minimized.
DO feed pets indoors or promptly remove dishes when pets complete their meal outside. Store bags of pet food indoors.
DO clear brush and dense weeds from around property. This deprives rodents of shelter and reduces protective cover for coyotes.
DON’T leave domestic pet food outside. Wildlife will soon depend upon it.
DO use trash barrels equipped with tight clamping devices on the lids, which will prevent spills should they be tipped over by large animals.
DO try to educate your friends and neighbors about the problems associated with feeding coyotes. If you belong to a homeowner’s association or neighborhood watch, bring up the subject during one of the meetings.
DON’T feed or provide water for coyotes or other wildlife. This practice abnormally attracts coyotes and promotes increased numbers of rodents, birds, snakes, and other creatures that can provide major portions of the coyote’s natural diet.
TO PROTECT PETS
Keep small pets (cats, rabbits, small dogs) indoors. Don’t allow them to run free at any time. They are easy, favored prey. Some coyotes hunt cats in residential areas.
Large dogs should be brought inside after dark and never allowed to run loose.
DON’T leave domestic pet food outside. Wildlife will soon depend upon it.
Definitely some great advice for those that live in the area. Please be sure to pass this important information on to your friends and neighbors so they can keep their pets safe too.
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A very real threat. Macallan was lost when a coyote tore a hole in the screen and snatched him from his loving home. He was a dear friend and his mom is still dealing with his loss. Even in the home, it’s not safe. Something that was recommended was to clean outdoor patios, etc the cat or catfood smell may be with bleach. This will help to at least not entice a coyote to come right up to the home looking for smaller prey.
Good advice, Taillee. What happened to Macallan was very sad.
that is sad.
that is so tragic, it must have been horrible to see. we have coyotes, foxes, and wolves around here, so we’re never safe. we also have domestic dogs who kill cats for fun and hawks and eagles that will snatch an unsuspecting kitten from it’s mother, or an inexperienced fighter. many people don’t think of birds as a threat to household pets, but they can be. there have been stories of the red-tail hawks and bald and golden eagles snatching cats from their yard. there are also the scattered bobcat attacks (keep in mind, this is a rural area in west-central Indiana). keep an eye on the skys and an ear to the wind (you’ll hear a coyote or wolf pack long before you see them), that will also help. my person’s dad keeps a pellot gun at the ready for any unsupecting predator. a pellot or bb gun causes the animal pain, which will teach it that what it was doing was bad, but does no permanent damage. i understand many people will not want to resort to these methods, so keep an eye out and heed any warnings. also keep in mind that a coyote’s howl can be heard up to two miles away on a calm night, so just because you hear it doesn’t mean it’s an immediate threat. you should have time to protect your pet(s) from the possible predator.
I’m a person who encourages wildlife and plant my garden for insects:pollinators and others as well as birds. I live in the center of town but by a number of parks and large cemeteries so we get foxes, hawks and coyotes. I wish my cat could read this because she gets so mad at me for not allowing her out at night. I’ve enclosed my small back yard with 8 foot high mesh fencing. There are way too many people who don’t care enough for their pets to heed these warnings. I have little houses for those unfortunates along the side of my house and put out a small bowl of kibble for them on my front porch at night.
Everyone faults the predators for taking small animals as food but they have to make a living too and are part of nature’s broader scheme. I fault the absurd human beings who have no business even owning pets if they’re not going to care for them and love them. Sorry to get carried away, it drives me nuts!
Animals are very intelligent beings so it’s wise to take precautions about entries into the house and the like. It’s so sad that a predator would get into a house and snatch a pet but as the article says, they’ve become more desensitized to humans. We build further and further into their territory and they’re left without a decent place to hunt. I put this down to stupid humans sometimes too. Sorry to get carried away on this one as well. It seems to me so often that it’s us humans who have more to learn about how we can fit into nature better.
Master Naturalist Mother of Willie
A good sized dog in his yard next door to us got attacked by a coyote. Pets go missing all the time here from their yards and their humans don’t seem to understand the danger of coyotes. The HOA has warned homeowners many times.We moved from AZ so we had lots of coyotes there too. They’d just be walking in the middle of town.
It is scary when the coyotes start attacking humans. You have to be careful with little children. Also a man in a hottub was attacked in our area by a coyote!
Good post by Willie above.
“Everyone faults the predators for taking small animals as food but they have to make a living too and are part of nature’s broader scheme. I fault the absurd human beings who have no business even owning pets if they’re not going to care for them and love them. Sorry to get carried away, it drives me nuts!”
How right you are, Willie. Take care of your pets, watch them like a hawk and never,never leave them out at night.
“Animals are very intelligent beings so it’s wise to take precautions about entries into the house and the like. It’s so sad that a predator would get into a house and snatch a pet but as the article says, they’ve become more desensitized to humans. We build further and further into their territory and they’re left without a decent place to hunt. I put this down to stupid humans sometimes too. Sorry to get carried away on this one as well. It seems to me so often that it’s us humans who have more to learn about how we can fit into nature better.
Master Naturalist Mother of Willie”
Willie, I should have read your post more carefully before I posted because this quote from you further demolishes the strange idea that when we humans arrived on the scene, nature somehow changed the rules.
Look after your pets as though they were your own children. By that I don’t mean inflict harm on the predators; just keep your pets out of harms way. Rant over!
shoot the bastards
nasty vermin
Tippy was a large buff cocker, 9 years old and was the best dog I ever had. On the night of May 27 Tippy was attacted by 3 coyotes. We let him and another smaller cocker (Lady his best friend) out at 11:00 just like every day. In less than a minute they attacted and ripped out his throat. I ran outside screaming and they ran off. I was to late. Tippy can to me and did not make a sound. My husband and I ran him to our vet in Beecher, IL. The vet work on him for a hour. His throat was crushed. He was breathing through a bit mark in his throat. We had to put him down. Since his death I have lost 4 barn cats. We have been awaken at least 3 nights a week by a screaming animal of some kind and then the next day we find the remains in our yard. We are finding it hard to find help in this matter from any one in the state of Illinois gov. They don’t care it was not there dog. We are not even able to go out of our house after dark. We need help with this but no one loved Tippy like we did so no one cares………….
I shoot as many as I can. They are a serious menace around me, and a very real threat to my family and dogs. I’ve had some very scary encounters that prompted me to go buy a small rifle. Will not go into it, but I was attacked by a small pack (luckily all were small in size). Never been a hunter, but competetion rifle shooting experience in my past has enabled me to use a small quiet firearm to drop these with clean head shots. They are NOT indigenous to here, and they are not going to keep coming into my yard.
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Thanks for the tips and info, we need to do all we can to keep our pets safe.