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by losvedir 355 days ago
You... hang out with coyotes in the park? I live near a park with coyotes and all of us are wary of them. The people who walk their dogs frequently carry sticks. As a parent of a 1 yr old and 4 yr old who likes to let them have some degree of age appropriate freedom running around in the park, I can't help but think of the coyotes. Maybe I'm wrong, but they seem like they might be dangerous around people, particularly children.

Maybe it's HN's demographics speaking, but everyone here is talking about their pets, but what about children? Do coyotes not attack kids?

3 comments

I think coyotes can get desensitized to humans.

I live in a rather rural area in King county and we have packs of coyote that hunted down a deer one winter, and is generally weary of humans and dogs (the neighborhood has 2+ dog per household on average).

Then the past weekend we played a round of Golf at Newcastle and a pack of coyote pups pop up in broad daylight and one of them lied down to watch us tee off then left when we're done. It was very cute and we had to fight the urge to pet them like puppies

Coyotes are wary of people and can usually be scared off by making loud noises. Coyote attacks on people are very rare. Off leash, escaped, or stray domestic dogs are much more of a threat to children than coyotes.
We have coyotes in our backyard (literally as I write this one is sleeping in our flower beds). They are extremely shy (and not very big). We have cats go through the same yard all the time. That said, coyotes do kill cats. I would be wary if confronted by a coyote and keep children away from. But attacks are apparently extremely rare:

https://tchester.org/sgm/lists/coyote_attacks.html

Union Hill representing. I’m a bit envious! We hear but seldom see ours.