Woman Found What She Thought was a Stray Dog, and Called Animal Control - Turns Out it was a Coyote - It had to be Euthanized Because it Showed Signs of Rabies

Fort Worth, Texas - A woman recently found that what she thought was a dog turned out to be a coyote.

Cheyenne Harboe says she just wanted to do a good thing for a dog in need. But when it comes to wild animals in large cities, cute can quickly turn to dangerous.

"I thought it was a puppy at first,” said Harboe. “Then I got closer, and he was really skinny, and I thought he was probably sick.”

Harboe says when she saw the baby animal on her way into work, right behind a Posados Café in north Fort Worth, she wanted to help.

“When i got up to it, like I could tell, ‘I don't think this is a dog, or if it is, it's a really, really skinny dog,’” said Harboe.

With the animal wrapped in a blanket, Harboe named him Taco and took him to Summerfields Animal Hospital.

There, it was confirmed that Taco was, in fact, a coyote.

“The fact that he just even let me come close to him, I knew that something was probably wrong with him,” said Harboe.

Again, her suspicions were confirmed.

Dr. Karen Metzler, who works at Summerfields, saw several signs of rabies in the little coyote pup.

Woman Found What She Thought Was a Stray Dog, Called Animal Control - Turned Out it was a Baby Coyote - It Had to be Euthanized Because it Showed Signs of Rabies

Ft. Worth, Texas - "The lack of fear in this puppy sets off alarm bells for the potential for rabies,” said Metzler.

That revelation means the coyote is a danger to anyone it's exposed to.

"The potential for rabies exposure is present in wildlife, and coyotes are known to be a high reservoir host for rabies,” said Metzler.

Animal control was called, and the little guy was taken away. It’s not exactly the ending that Harboe had envisioned.

"I kind of regretted like trying to help him out ‘cause of the whole animal control thing,” she said.

State law says coyotes are a high risk animal for rabies.

The only way to test for rabies is to sample the brain tissue, so the coyote was euthanized and will be tested.

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Pet Owner Fights Off Two Coyotes Attacking His Dog

Greenfield, WI - Scott Schach, like many homeowners, had spied coyotes around his home a few times over the years. The dog-like predators can be jarring to see wandering around your yard, but they also tend to keep to themselves.

That’s not what happened this time, when Schach found himself locked in a battle with two coyotes who attacked his dog Princess on his own property in Greenfield, Wisc., The Journal Sentinel reported.

 Princess

“At first, I didn’t even know that it was coyotes. I just heard the ruckus,” he told WISN.

Then he said he realized what was going on: Two coyotes had descended on his 90-pound German shepherd, Princess — and Princess was in trouble, the station reported.

Schach plunged right into the fray. He kicked and punched at the coyotes, but they were caught up in the frenzy and didn’t flinch. He tried something else.

“Somehow I got a hold of one of their tails, turned around (and) she bit my arm, got a hold of her leg and I just flung her, just gave her a fling, she bounced off my pickup truck, went up the front windshield into the night and that’s the last I saw of that one,” he told CBS 58.

Princess hadn’t been able to take both of them, but with only one left, she got the upper hand. Schach told WISN he turned to find Princess pinning the other coyote down as it whined and yipped at her. He told her to let it go.

“She let go and sat down, and the other one took off up the driveway, up the road,” he told the station.

That was the last he saw of either coyote. Police said the dog came away with no injuries and the fight only lasted about half-a-minute, the Journal-Sentinel reported.

“I was just scared. I was scared for her. I had a buddy of mine up in Greendale that lost a dog a couple of years ago to coyotes. And I was just worried about her being all bit up and such,” Schach told CBS 58.

Schach told WISN the bite he got during the scuffle didn’t actually break any skin, and that he comes out with a baseball bat these days just in case.

The Humane Society says coyotes have become used to humans because it is easy to find food around populated areas. But if you see “brazen” coyotes wandering fearlessly through your yard, you should take some precautions and encourage them to move along.

The best method is to haze them repeatedly, according to the Humane Society. That means yelling at them, chasing them away, throwing small rubber balls or cans at them, or spraying them with water. Eventually, they will learn they are not welcome in that area.

                                                    

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A Family in Laguna Beach Says a Coyote Attacked Their Dog in Their Home

Los Angeles, California - A family in Laguna Beach says a coyote attacked their dog in their home.

Dog owner John Fischer says the coyote must've ran up the steps in his front yard to get inside his house and snatch his Chihuahua.

Fischer says when he heard the commotion in the middle of the night, he hurried down the hall and was stunned at what he saw.

"I saw him [the coyote] bolt and he definitely had something in his mouth, and it was white," Fischer told CBS Los Angeles.

The Fischer family's little white chihuahua Eloise was gone.

Surprisingly, this is not an uncommon story in the Laguna Beach area.

In the past, police have warned Laguna Beach residents to keep their small pets inside, after a series of small dogs were attacked by coyotes.

No matter what, Fischer says, pets in his neighborhood are getting attacked on a weekly basis and he is demanding the city step in to help.

"I'd hope that they'd be removed safely, but taken to where they belong," Fischer said.

"It's like two worlds colliding and it's just not working," he added.

Fischer says he will now keep his doors closed at all hours of the day, and is warning other residents to do the same.

We tried talking to animal services, but no one was available.

"We feel victimized at this point and it's to where I don't feel safe in my own house," Fischer said.

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Did You Know That These Hybrid Animals Are Still in Existence?

Hybrid is defined as “the offspring of two animals or plants of different breeds, varieties, species, or genera, especially as produced through human manipulation for specific genetic characteristics.” Take a look at some of these animals that still exist today.

Liger

The animal made famous by Napoleon Dynamite is actually real. Ligers are the offspring of male lions and female tigers. While there are legends of Ligers prowling the wilds, they currently only exist in captivity, where they are deliberately bred.

  

There is a myth that Ligers never stop growing their entire lives, which is untrue. They just grow to freakish sizes in their normal growth window. Ligers are the largest cat in the world. Hercules, the biggest individual Liger, weighed 922 pounds.

Tigon

When a male tiger and a female lion mate, the tigon is the result. It used to be believed that tigons were smaller than their parent species, but they can grow just as large. They are, however, smaller than ligers.

Both ligers and tigons are capable of producing their own offspring, leading to confusingly-named hybrids such as titigons and liligers.

  

Zebroid

A Zebroid is a cross between a zebra and any other equine. Zebroids have been around for a long time – they were even mentioned in some of Darwin’s writings. They tend to be male and to have the physiology of the non-zebra parent, with zebra stripes adorning parts of their body. Zebroids are more wild than domestic, are hard to tame, and are more aggressive than horses.

Coywolf

Coyotes are very genetically close to red and eastern wolves, with whom they diverged only about 150-300,000 years ago. Interbreeding between them is not only possible, but becoming more common as wolf populations rebound. Coyotes are not, however, very compatible with gray wolves, which have about 1-2 million years of genetic estrangement separating them. Some hybrids do exist, though they are rare

There are a number of different coywolf hybrids, and their populations dot North America. Generally, they are larger than coyotes but smaller than wolves, and share behavioral characteristics of both species.

Grolar Bear

Grolar bears, also called “pizzly bears” by the less charitable, are a cross between polar and brown bears. Their natural ranges rarely, if ever, overlap, and most grolar bears live in zoos. However, there have been a handful of confirmed sightings in the wild. In 2006, an Alaskan hunter shot one.

They look pretty much like an even split between polar and grizzly bears. Behaviorally, they are closer to polar bears than to browns.

Savannah Cat

This uncommon but awesome breed of housecat is a cross between a domestic cat and a Serval, a kind of wild cat that lives in Africa. They are exceptionally large and behave remarkably like dogs, following their owners around the house, wagging their tails to express pleasure, and even playing catch. Savannahs also do not fear water, and will invite themselves into the shower with you. Unfortunately, they are extremely expensive.

Wholphin

When a male false killer whale and a female bottlenose dolphin love each other very much, they produce a wolphin. “Wolphin” is a portmanteau of “whale” and “dolphin,” which is misleading. False killer whales are actually not a whale, and are in the same family as dolphins.

Nevertheless, they are extremely rare. They are occasionally spotted in the wild, and there is currently only one individual in captivity.

   

Beefalo

Beefalo are crosses between buffalo and cows. They’ve been around since the 1800s, when they were called “cattalo.” Beefalo are heartier than cattle, and do less ecological damage to the prairies they graze on. However, beefalo breeding has led to conservation problems for wild bison. It is now estimated that only four total herds still exist that are not polluted by cow genes.

Hinny

Hinnies are basically reverse mules. A mule is a product of a male donkey and a female horse, and a hinny is a product of a male horse and a female donkey. Their heads look like horse heads, and they are slightly smaller than mules. They’re also much less common.

Narluga

Narwhals and Belugas are the only two members of the monodontidae family of whales, so it should be no surprise that they are able to crossbreed. However, they are extraordinarily rare. Sightings have been increasing in the Northern Atlantic recently, which some researchers consider a warning sign of climate change.

Cama

Camas did not exist until 1998. Some mad scientist at the Camel Reproduction Centre in Dubai decided to cross a male dromedary camel with a female lama via artificial insemination, and out popped the first Cama. The intention was to breed them to produce fur that could be clipped and sold, and to serve as a pack animal. To date, only five have ever been produced.

Dzo

The dzo (male) and dzomo (female) are hybrids between domestic cows and wild yaks. They exist mostly in Tibet and Mongolia, where they are prized for their high yield of meat and milk. They are larger and stronger than both cows and yaks, and are used as beasts of burden.

The lines can blur – it is believed that most yaks and cows in the region now carry at least some of the other’s genetic imprint.

Leopon

If a male leopard is intrepid enough to mate with a female lion, a Leopon is the result. It’s almost impossible for this combination to occur in the wild, and every known Leopon has been the product of breeding in captivity. Leopons appear to have the head and mane of a lion, and the body of a leopard.

Geep

Goats and sheep appear to be very similar, but they are more different than you might suspect. Natural hybrids between the two animals are typically stillborn, and if they aren’t, occur extremely rarely. An animal called a “sheep-goat chimera” has also been produced by artificially combining goat and sheep embryos.

Jaglion

A Jaglion is the offspring of a male jaguar and a female lion, and are very rare. The two pictured above were the result of a close friendship between a jaguar named Diablo and a lioness named Lola, who were bosom buddies at Ontario’s Bear Creek Wildlife Sanctuary. They’re named Jahzara (left) and Tsunami (right).

Mulard

The Mulard is a cross between a mallard and a muscovy duck. The muscovy duck is native to South and Central America, and is easily recognized by its bright red Darth Maul face. Mulards are bred for food, and are unable to produce offspring of their own

Żubroń

The żubroń is a cross between a domestic cow and a European bison (also called a “wisent”). They are, in many ways, superior to the domestic cow, as they are stronger and more resistant to disease. They were thought to be a possible replacement for cattle, but now only exist in one small herd in the Bialowieski National Park in Poland.

Blacktip Shark Hybrid

Until recently, there were no known hybrid shark species. But the Australian black-tip shark is mating with the common black-tip, and are regularly spotted on the Eastern Australian coast. Opinion is divided about exactly why they have begun to hybridize.

  

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A Woman Says She Saw a Coyote Headed for Her Dog, So She Sprinted Outside…and Hit the Coyote Square in the Face

Nettie Blanco is sporting some fresh battle wounds this week after a chance encounter with a coyote that attempted to make a meal of her small 9-year-old shih tzu, Sammy, reports CBS News. 

Nettie claims that she had just let Sammy out into the yard when she looked up from the window and realized the coyote was headed for her dog. She sprinted outside and did the first thing that occurred to her, which was to hit the coyote square in the face. 

The coyote got spooked and Nettie raced Sammy to the vet, where the dog was treated for bite wounds.

“That coyote had him in his mouth and looked up, because Sam was laying … and he looked up at me and I just hit him with all my force right in the face,” she told CBS. “And then he looked at me … and then just jumped over the fence and took off.”

Any pet owner would like to think they’d do anything to protect his or her animal in a time of crisis. But Nettie has elevated herself to a league for which only one other person immediately comes to mind: Carl Moore, the man who punched a bear in the face. Moore also had defended his small four legged companion when a bear wandered into his backyard and was headed for his small chihuahua. But based on his recollection of the events, that bear won’t be back anytime soon. It’s probably safe to assume the same applies to Nettie.

“If I could save one dog, that would be my gift to everything,” she says.

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Sako, a 4-Year-Old King Shepherd from Kanaka Bar, British Columbia, Fought off Coyotes to Save a Boy After a Car Accident

Sako, a 4-year-old king shepherd who fought off coyotes to save a boy after a car accident is getting the recognition he deserves.

Sako, was inducted into the Purina Animal Hall of Fame on Monday for his efforts to protect Joseph Phillips-Garcia. The Toronto event, sponsored by Nestle Purina Petcare subsidiary Purina Canada, honored Canadian domestic animals whose actions have saved human lives.

  

In June 2014, Phillips-Garcia, then 16, went out with his aunt, cousin, friend and Sako for a day of fishing and wild potato picking, according to a Purina news release. On the way home, their car went off the road and down a steep hill more than 100 yards into the forest.

Phillips-Garcia and Sako, the only two survivors of the crash, were thrown from the vehicle. The teen blacked out and could barely move when he awoke.

“I tried moving in any possible way I could. I felt my head and I looked down at my hand, and it was just filled with blood,” Phillips-Garcia recalled in a video released by Purina. The teen said a bone was jutting out of his leg. Doctors would later determine he had a broken collar bone and a broken femur.

Sako, who had lived with Phillips-Garcia’s family since he was a puppy, did not leave the boy’s side, cuddling close to keep him warm through the night.

Constable Kris Clark of the Lake Country Royal Canadian Mounted Police notes in the video that maintaining body temperature is crucial for the survival of an injured person who may be in shock.

The dog’s assistance did not end there. Phillips-Garcia says Sako helped him drag himself to a creek to get water and even fought off coyotes.

“We were just falling asleep, and that’s when you hear the first couple of howls,” the teen said. “He got up as soon as he realized their scent was coming closer and closer, and then he just went in. You could hear them just fighting and the bushes rumbling around.”

The dog stayed with Phillips-Garcia until a search team found the pair 40 hours later.

“He saved my son’s life,” the boy’s mother, Fawn Adolph, says in the video. Clark agrees that Sako played a “huge role” in the teen's survival.

Sako received a medal for his valiant actions at Monday's ceremony, according to The Washington Post. He was joined by three other dogs -- Nettle, Bella and Badger -- also being honored for their lifesaving deeds. Over the past 47 years, 140 dogs, 27 cats and one horse have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, according to Canada News Wire.

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Coyotes Remained on the Run Thursday in Both the Suburbs and City, Residents Remained on Edge as They Were Warned of Possible Danger

New York, New York – Coyotes remained on the run Thursday in both the suburbs and city, residents remained on edge as they were warned of possible danger.

As CBS2’s Matt Kozar reported, at least one coyote has been spotted more than once now by CBS2 cameras running around Riverside Drive.

CBS2 cameras captured the coyote at 4:45 a.m. at Riverside Drive and 96th Street, and then again around 5:38 a.m., CBS2’s Janelle Burrell reported. The second time, the coyote sprinted in front of Mobile 2 and scampered across the street toward Grant’s Tomb in Morningside Heights.

The animal kept going right into oncoming traffic.

Burrell spoke with two people who had encounters of their own with the coyote Thursday morning.

“I was walking my dog this morning, and about 10 feet away a coyote came out from the park right in front of us, and it ran past us very close and it just kept going further down Riverside Park,” one woman said.

“I was driving, going downtown on Riverside Drive, and he crossed right in front of me and I almost hit him. I had to stop,” another man said.

“I was walking and I was like, ‘Oh, there’s a dog,’ and (then) I’m like, ‘That’s not a dog,'” one witness told WCBS 880’s Paul Murnane.

On Wednesday evening, CBS2 captured exclusive video of a coyote as it pranced across Riverside Drive near West 79th Street around 11 p.m. It was not certain whether that coyote was the same one seen about 6 1/2 hours later.

Late Thursday afternoon, some young children were at soccer practice at the very same spot where a coyote had earlier led the NYPD on a chase.

Jody Miller was walking through the park with her pit bull, Cassius, in case of danger.

“Sometimes in the morning, people let their dogs off the leash, and this morning, I thought it would be stupid to leave the dog off the leash,” Miller said.

Police first spotted the coyote on Wednesday morning and were on the animal’s trail, but it managed to evade officers. The NYPD had officers spread out across the area with tranquilizer guns in hand after a sighting just after dawn.

It spurred a 40-block chase around Riverside Park from the mid-80s to Grant’s Tomb to West 122nd Street.

Morningside Heights resident Jim Burke walked his dogs right by where the last coyote was spotted Thursday.

“They’re more nocturnal, so they’re not going to be out during the day,” he said. “So I’m not too concerned at this point.”

The coyotes are exhibiting normal behavior and shying away from people, Burrell reported.

In Manhattan, most residents who live near where the animals have been spotted seem unfazed, actually more concerned about the coyote than themselves.

“I hope it doesn’t get hit,” Joseph said.

“I’m not worried. I think (if) there’s a dog on a leash, they’re not going to gobble them up. I think it’s OK,” said Yolanda Shashaty, of Morningside Heights.

John Nesti of Fischer Wildlife Control explained the coyotes’ movement and behavior to CBS2’s Meg Baker.

“The river acts as a natural corridor for the coyotes to move in,” he said. “(The Riverside Park coyote) is probably a year-and-a-half old coyote.”

Nesti believes the coyotes seen roaming city streets are not rabid, but looking for territory. It is the time of year when even young coyotes leave their dens.

“They can run the river and find all the food they need,” Nesti said.

The coyotes follow tracks – rivers, trains, and manmade trails. Nesti explained that is likely why they are showing up in the city.

Chris Nagy with the Gotham Coyote Project said his group has also been tracking dens in the Bronx.

For the few who are worried of being attacked, Nagy said the chances are very slim.

“The risk of being attacked by a coyote is somewhere in the realm of the risk of being attacked by a vending machine,” Nagy said.

Police say they are not sure if all of the recent sightings are of the same animal or if multiple coyotes have been roaming.

“It was kind of big,” Bronx grandmother Sylvia Ruiz described. “It was laying down there, moved its head around a little bit.”

Ruiz had an encounter with one of the animals inside her Co-Op City backyard. She snapped a picture of one relaxing underneath a bush and texted it to her daughter, a Co-Op City police officer.

“She said, ‘Oh, it’s a coyote!’ So they sent about four sergeants, and they all came in,” Ruiz said.

Experts say the best advice if you spot a coyote is to raise your arms above your head.

“Make some noise and scare the coyote off,” said Sarah Aucoin, director of urban park rangers for the city’s Parks Department.

Experts also say there is at least one advantage to having the coyotes in the city.

“They eat rats. They eat mice. They eat small mammals,” Aucoin said.

As Kozar reported, experts said further that it is a good thing coyotes are running away from humans – unlike what happened in Norwood, New Jersey. There, a rabid coyote bit a man, and another chewed through the tires on a police cruiser.

Multiple dens of coyotes have been found in Bergen County., and the trend continued Thursday morning.

Police Thursday moprning received a call about a coyote sighting on Cathy Court in Norwood, WCBS 880’s Peter Haskell reported.

Police Chief Jeff Krapels said his officers injured the animal.

“We followed a blood trail, probably about a half a mile, and we lost it,” he said. “So it’s sick and injured, and we’re just concerned that people may come across a blood puddle.”

Coyote sightings in Norwood are nothing new, but the police chief suspects the coyote population is growing.

“It’s a little bit nerve-racking with two young kids in the elementary school up here,” said Norwood resident Steve Whaley. “So we’re just keeping our eye out.”

There have also been coyote sightings in Summit.

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Norwood, New Jersey Police Say They Captured a Coyote Monday Night: Not Sure Whether it Was the Same Animal That Attacked a Resident on Sunday

Norwood, New Jersey -  Police say Monday night they may have been closing in on a coyote that bit a man in Bergen County, New Jersey over the weekend.

Norwood police said they captured a coyote Monday night, they were not sure whether it was the same animal that attacked Stephen Sinisi after 9 p.m. Sunday. Police said they believe the coyote captured Monday night was actually part of a different pack, but was described as “very aggressive.”

Norwood police said they also put traps near two coyote dens they discovered Monday night near a school.

Sinisi said he was walking his dog, Raleigh, near the woods on McClellan Street and D’Ercole Court when he saw what he thought was a stray dog approaching.

 “I was walking back and what looked like a dog approaching me,” Sinisi told CBS2’s Meg Baker.

“Then we got closer I was like, ‘No, this is not a stray dog,’” he told 1010 WINS’ Rebecca Granet.

Sinisi was attacked as he tried to get his dog back into the house.

“He saw a coyote stalking him, and he decided to return home,” police Chief Jeff Krapels said, WCBS 880’s Sean Adams reported. “As he was running home, the coyote caught up to him as he got to his front door and bit him on the leg.”

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Police in New Jersey Are Warning Parents to Keep Children and Small Pets Inside After a Series of Coyote Attacks and Sightings

Police in New Jersey are warning parents to keep their children and small pets inside after a series of coyote attacks and sightings and the discovery of two dens near a local school.

On Monday, a coyote was captured and later killed after officials in Norwood, N.J., say it attacked a police car.

"The coyote started to attack a police car," Norwood Police Chief Jeff Krapels told WABC-TV. "We called New Jersey Wildlife and they said that's not normal behavior for the coyote."

After a search of the area, police located the coyote behind a Norwood home. A wildlife officer shot and wounded the animal, police said, and it was later killed and taken to the state laboratory to be tested for rabies.

During their search, officials discovered two dens, including one that "has a tunnel towards the school."

School officials are keeping students inside as a precaution.

The discovery comes a day after a man was chased and bitten by a coyote while walking his dog in the same town.

"I was trying to get to the house fast because he wasn't going away," Stephen Sinisi told CBS New York. "As soon as I got to my door, I felt something on my back ankle."

Sinisi received four rabies shots.

On April 6, a man in nearby Saddle River was attacked by a coyote while working in his yard. That coyote, who attacked a dog the week before, tested positive for rabies and was euthanized.

Even before the latest attacks, there had been an uptick in coyote sightings in the tri-state area.

Via the New York Times:

This year alone, coyotes have turned up near a Consolidated Edison plant along the East River in the East Village; on a basketball court in Riverside Park; haunting Steven Spielberg’s sister’s yard in the Riverdale section of the Bronx; and marooned on the roof of a bar in Long Island City, Queens.

According to wildlife officials, "aggressive coyotes" are especially unusual, and attacks on humans are "extremely rare."

Nonetheless, the New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife website includes guidelines that "can help reduce the likelihood of conflicts with coyotes":

• Never feed a coyote. Deliberately feeding coyotes puts pets and other residents in the neighborhood at risk.

• Feeding pet cats and/or feral (wild) cats outdoors can attract coyotes. The coyotes feed on the pet food and also prey upon the cats.

• Put garbage in tightly closed containers that cannot be tipped over.

• Remove sources of water, especially in dry climates.

• Bring pets in at night.

• Put away bird feeders at night to avoid attracting rodents and other coyote prey.

• Provide secure enclosures for rabbits, poultry, and other farm animals.

• Pick up fallen fruit and cover compost piles.

• Although extremely rare, coyotes have been known to attack humans. Parents should monitor their children, even in familiar surroundings, such as backyards.

• Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house.

• Clear brush and dense weeds from around dwellings — this reduces protective cover for coyotes and makes the area less attractive to rodents and rabbits. Coyotes, as well as other predators, are attracted to areas where rodents are concentrated, like woodpiles.

• If coyotes are present, make sure they know they're not welcome. Make loud noises, blast a canned air siren, throw rocks, or spray them with a garden hose.

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Police in Prince William County Are Warning Residents that Coyotes Have Been Spotted in the County Often in Recent Years: Tips on Keeping Them Away

Police in Prince William County are warning residents that they might see some unexpected neighbors this spring.

Coyotes have been spotted in the county often in recent years, and the number of sightings is only expected to increase as the human population grows, authorities said in a release Monday.

Coyotes are mostly nocturnal, but have been seen during the day in urban and suburban areas. Authorities say that it's usually because they've been attracted to a food source or to areas under porches, decks and crawlspaces that would be ideal dens for their spring litters.

Police offer the following tips to keep coyotes away:

• Don't feed wildlife directly or indirectly, which can cause animals to lose their fear of humans.

• Keep trash inside until it's about to be picked up, or keep it in an animal-proof bid.

• Don't leave pet food outside, and keep any outdoor pet feeding areas clean.

• Remove bird feeders when if you've seen problem species around them.

• Close up all openings under and into your home and garage.

• Clear fallen fruit from around trees.

• Keep brushy areas in your yard cut down.

• Keep small pets inside and on a leash when outside. Larger dogs are viewed as a threat, especially from January to June when coyotes are breeding.

• Install coyote-proof fencing to protect unsupervised pets.

• Remember that it's illegal in Virginia to trap and relocate an animal.

If a coyote or another animal is showing signs of rabies (stumbling, foaming at the mouth or aggression), call 703-792-6500 for an animal control officer and the police.

For more information, click here: Prince William County Animal Control Bureau .

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Town Uses Fake Dogs to Scare Off Real Geese

Wyandotte, Wisconsin  - For many of us, seeing Canadian geese is our only encounter with wildlife. These birds are beautiful to watch. However, most of us don’t enjoy having to watch where we step when we are around these big birds. Golfers get mad when they have to sidestep around geese droppings too.

Don Gutz, a resident of Wyandotte, came up with a peaceful way to rid his neighborhood park and golf course of the water fowl. Placing life-like menacing looking dogs and coyotes made out of rubber and plastic around the park and golf course, Gutz told, a USA Today reporter, “These “dogs” and “coyotes” are staged at various points to discourage geese from messing up the putting greens. One of them is placed close to BASF (Waterfront) Park and shocking park goers and some golfers. Wow!”

Justin Lanagan, superintendent of Recreation for the city of Wyandotte, stated that when a person gets close to these “dogs” and “coyotes,” it’s clear that they are not real. “The only movement you see is the tail blowing in the wind or the entire decoy spinning in the wind,” Lanagan said to USA Today. “It’s very real to the geese, and obviously real to some people.”

Prior to placing the decoys in the park and throughout the golf course, Lanagan hired a professional company with a trained Border Collie to chase the geese away. While it worked incredibly well, it was quite expensive. That is why he opted to place decoys in the park and on the golf course.

Made out of a rubber cutout, similar to materials you find in a Halloween mask, the decoys also have a fluffy tail that flaps in the wind. It is mounted on a plastic stake.

The park and golf course crews move the decoys around to create the illusion of movement and to give the geese a sense that these fakes are real. They are mostly placed alongside the ponds, a favorite place of Canadian geese.

The fakes are a success. According to Lanagan, “Compared to last year, our problems with the geese have drastically been reduced.”

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