Damn Wildlife...

[Neverthesame]

I work in shipping for a stupid company, which I only mention because this is why I was out walking at 1am.

I was born and raised a city slicker, my normal idea of wildlife is found in zoos. The kind that gets within 100 feet of you, it's found in petshops.

The particular Canadian city I live in is famed for having a fair amount of green interspersed through it. A few large parks, wide boulevards, trees, that sort of thing.
Which is nice. Most of the time.

I know there are a few types of wildlife which actually live in the city, one wouldn't usually expect. Deer, warrens of Jack rabbit, large predatory raptor (hawks, falcon) and of course coyotes.

Now I know that coyotes live here, I have seen a few over the years. This was the first time I have ever been approached by one.

Jesus! Those things are huge!
I don't know why but I had it in my head that they are fox sized. This sucker was almost up to my waist. German Shepherd sized.

I was walking across a street, heard the tick, tick, tick, of nails behind me. Turned around expecting to see a jack-rabbit. (Have lots of those on my street) nope. Great big dog looking thing walking right up to me.

I turned and stopped, made myself look big and said "Woah!" (More out of surprise than anger)
It kept coming, until I could almost reach out to touch it. Then it reluctantly veered off and disappeared into someone's yard. It really didn't seem like it was afraid of me. Nor did it look sick, or malnourished. Silent too. If it wasn't a quiet night, I wouldn't have heard the clicking of it's nails on the road.
Spooky shit.

I'll be calling animal control in the morning.

Anyone else have this happen?

 

[Silver.]

I live in the country, we have a bit of everything here. I used to have a wolf that crawled out of the woods to die. It sidled up to my black lab and lived for 2 more years, happy to just have a companion. I lived in the woods (roughing it), with those two for 5 months. Every night you would hear the coyotes running. The night they dropped a moose? Yeah, that ended my living in the woods, because at that point I am just scooby snacks.
Even after all of these years, I am still in awe at even the simplest of wildlife that we come across. Shame they come into the cities for lack of hunting grounds and food x

 

[Gs172003]

I'm guessing somebody is feeding that coyote. They aren't that fond of people. I scared the living daylights out of one several years ago just walking past it.

This is why you don't feed wildlife folks.

 

[JEKBreatheandBelieve]

I had the same thought @Zoogal , that someone has probably been feeding this coyote because it seemed to be acting more like a pet dog than a coyote and once he realized you weren't his feeder, he left. That would have freaked me right out.

I lived with woods around me and I was once scared out of my wits when something moved in the woods near my driveway (thought it was a stray dog, which I am scared of). I looked and up leaped a huge deer and it quickly continued leaping far away from me. I'd seen deer before, but never that close. And the noises foxes and porcupines make at night is frightening, but a little sleepless night wandering inside let me see the creatures outside. I actually kind of like watching the porcupines now.

 

[Gs172003]

The deer down at mammoth cave near the parking lots will approach you because people feed them. ( you get caught you get fined)

The deer in the back country... Run as soon as they see you.

Animals of all kinds see us as a threat until we aren't a threat. ( unless they are a curious kind and have never seen one before. Won't happen in a town). Make sense?

 

[Freedomfighter]

I work in shipping for a stupid company, which I only mention because this is why I was out walkin...

Just like you I thought coyotes are more like foxes. But when I drove through the California mountains and through the desert I noticed how large those animals really are. At first glance one could mistake them as a thin wolf. Well, that one that came so close is definitely a danger. Whenever a wild animal actually approaches a human like that then there is something seriously wrong with that animal.

 

[Deleted member 541]

I used to dogsit/housesit for some people that had a lab mix. She was the sweetest dog, but didn't have too much for smarts. One time after staying there for the weekend, the owner called me and asked about Ramona's new friends?!?! I was at a loss for words not understanding what he was talking about. His dog, didn't have friends that I knew of.

Well, she did. 3 coyotes. They would wait at the end of their sidewalk for Ramona to come out and play with them. I'm serious, this doge actually played with them for hours at a time.

Yes, they are creepy looking and scary as hell. But then so was the bobcat that showed up one day to play too. And then there was the time she was playing with the full grown deer. She was a sweet dog, and attracted all sorts of "friends".