Scat-Watch 09

*** sorry *** Photo removed. It was creeping people out.

That means, we’d better start scanning for wild dogs on the property before letting the dogs out for a while. I saw a wildlife expert on local TV recently talking about how coyotes are more territorial, more aggressive during mating season.

I could swear I wrote about this way back, but I can’t find it using my blog search function, so I’ll share it quickly here.

Lilly tangled with a coyote in spring 2005 right here on our land. We did not see it happen, but we knew something was up because both dogs were going nuts, barking and running around. I went outside to check on them and based on their behavior, I assumed they’d chased a rabbit or something.

Then,
a neighbor, who lives on the mountain and looks down on our spot,
called about an hour later to say he saw a coyote come out of the creek
bed with Lilly squarely on his back — like a jockey.

Ginko took up the chase
too, apparently, which is why the coyote didn’t turn to fight after
Lilly fell off his back. It just jumped our fence and kept running.

We were SO lucky:

a) That he didn’t turn into them and fight

and

b) They didn’t follow him over the fence … because that’s a well-known
hunting strategy around here. One coyote goes in to lure a dog out into
the open, then the others (who are hiding nearby) come in for a group
kill.