Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Coyote....Ugly


As a girl raised in the low country, I didn't know much about coyotes when we moved here. My only experience with coyotes was on cartoon network on Saturday mornings. They were, however, one of the first things we heard about. Our first day here, our host told us about the coyote she saw in her back yard during the day. Oh....and the one that was creeping up on her while she was walking her dog....in the middle of the day. I started noticing that when people go on walks (even with their dog), they will walk with large sticks....to beat off or prevent the potential coyote attack. How freaky! In addition to that, a couple of months ago a coyote attacked my neighbor's cat just two houses down from us!

I needed to know more about these mangy creatures. What do they look like? How big are they? What is the difference between a coyote and a wolf? Where do they live? What do they eat? What do you mean they only come out at night and travel in packs...didn't you just say they've been seen walking the neighborhood in the middle of the afternoon?

So, this has been my little....weird thing since we have been here. I want to see a coyote... and two nights ago I got one step closer. The weather has been nice enough to sleep with our windows open and I woke up around 3:30am to the sound of howling. It was loud and it was close. It was scary. I have never heard real-life howling before. After a few minutes of howling, the pack went crazy with this really weird cackling sound. I insist that it was a ferocious attack on as innocent pet in our neighborhood, but Patrick thinks I'm "over-reacting"....whatever that means. :)

Why was a coyote so far from the mountain? We live in the foothills, but we are still a good 2 miles away. Isn't that a long trek into the neighborhood? How do they know where the animals are? Certainly there is an outdoor pet at a house north of us. Why did they come all the way down here? So many questions.

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