Coyote sightings are down
Since a few news stories in 2018, reports of coyote sightings are in decline around town except in D.D.O., where it seems they like the Hydro transmission corridor.
Some general advice here about cohabiting with them, although the article is coy: “The city has set up cameras in several places around the island where coyotes have been sighted to ensure that their behaviour is normal.” This probably means making sure they’re not exhibiting signs of rabies, which can cause afflicted animals to behave strangely, although the article refrains from using that word.
jeather 15:21 on 2026-01-01 Permalink
I believe we do oral vaccines for raccoons and I assume if there’s an issue, we could do them for coyotes too. That said: there are 1-2 deaths in the US and Canada together, per year, and it’s mostly people who interact, voluntarily, with wild animals. If you are bitten by a wild coyote you can get a post-exposure vaccine, and it works, and it’s apparently not that painful thing it used to be.
I’d be much more worried about my dog and outdoor cats (if I had either) getting into it with a rabid wild coyote than me being bitten by one.
CE 18:22 on 2026-01-01 Permalink
I wonder why the journalist (or editor) would be afraid to mention rabies in the article. I’m glad to hear that the post-exposure vaccine is not the one of the past. Growing up in a rural area, I was always aware that wild animals or pets could get and transmit rabies and the thing I always feared the most was the giant needles I had heard were stuck directly into your belly!
Kate 10:46 on 2026-01-02 Permalink
I’m curious about things that editors/journalists won’t name, mostly Covid these days, but this one’s an odd one. Maybe they don’t want to sow panic?
Joey 11:32 on 2026-01-02 Permalink
Thinking back to childhood, I think we greatly overestimated the likelihood of catching rabies and greatly underestimated the chance of getting Lyme disease.
Kate 11:58 on 2026-01-02 Permalink
Lyme has been creeping northward with global warming, though. Certainly never heard of it when I was a kid, although since we never left the city I would not have been warned about hazards of the woods and fields.
MarcG 12:09 on 2026-01-02 Permalink
Relevant xkcd comic
MarcG 12:21 on 2026-01-02 Permalink
I’m adding Rabies and The Bermuda Triangle down there with Quicksand…
jeather 12:31 on 2026-01-02 Permalink
Rabies is a real thing you really need to be worried about in a lot of locations. Canada is not one of those locations (mostly in Asia, particularly India, and Africa).
Fun fact! Someone in the US died, his organs were transplanted, and then one of the recipients died of rabies in December because the donor had, unknown to doctors, also died of rabies due to a skunk bite (I gather he had other medical issues that hid the rabies, and they don’t test donor organs for rabies). The other recipients had the organs removed and are being treated for rabies; I haven’t heard that any of them are symptomatic.
CE 12:38 on 2026-01-02 Permalink
I was surprised to learn that plague is still circulating in animals in many places around the world, including the United States. A few people there catch it every year but it’s now easily treated with antibiotics.