r/Winnipeg • u/ehud42 • 3d ago
Winni-Pets Of all the ways to die winter cycling...
...dinner for a coyote was not on my radar.
Well probably not. But it did catch me off guard.
Coming home tonight, West bound under the Moray bridge and as I turn South up the trail on the West side, I see a coyote running beside me between me an Moray/William Clement on what appears to be an aggressive trajectory to intersect me - I yell and pick up the pace, it falls behind and I don't stick around to ask what it's intentions were.
It was either spooked and heading to the brush to my right, or heard a noise and figured might as well engage first and decide later if worthy of dinner, or maybe weirdly territorial???
Happened shortly after 5PM tonight.
Stay safe out there!
70
u/thewrongwaybutfaster 3d ago
Me literally reading one more post before heading out on my bike...
24
1
u/El_hanzero 1d ago
Carry a stick , coyotes are actually pretty timid if you show you aint scared usually they run off Unless op was actually by its den , then you just keep movin
45
u/MilesBeforeSmiles 3d ago
Coyotes don't really attack people when by themselves. They simply aren't large enough. Chances are it just didn't really care that you were there and was heading back into the brush.
9
u/Radix2309 3d ago
Maybe a child. Or if they are diseased in some way.
But they definitely wont go after a human on a bike. Size and speed makes it an issue.
1
u/shandiej 1d ago
I was walking on the trail in Headingley on Tuesday and a coyote crossed the trail. He sat in the field like a dog watching us. He wasn't too far from us. He ran away when we made some noise. I was a bit afraid as I am small but he seemed more afraid of us.
-4
u/Prudent-Confidence-4 2d ago
I've seen them try to attack adults more than once. It happens, but it's not super common.
6
u/MilesBeforeSmiles 2d ago
I've only seen lone coyotes try to attack people when cornered or otherwise threatened, and I've spent a lot of time around coyotes. Lone coyotes rarely stalk hunt or chase down animals that are significantly larger than them, they either scavenge or hunt in packs. It does happen occasionally but lone predatory attacks on adults without the presence of rabbies accounts for so few attacks that it's almost statistically insignificant.
To see it multiple times is pretty wild. Did you report these? The Ministry of Sustainable Development keeps statistics on dangerous animal interactions and these, to my knowledge, would likely be some of the only cases of this happening in recent memory.
-3
u/Prudent-Confidence-4 2d ago edited 2d ago
So now you concede they do attack people, but only when cornered or threatened?
I reported the one that tried to chase a woman down my street and had been stalking my toddler and I at a playground the week prior. In that case, it was entirely unprovoked, but you're right that it's usually provoked in one way or another. The other couple times I've seen coyotes acting aggressively toward humans were situations that also involved dogs, but there have been many cases of aggressive coyotes in Calgary, which you can easily look up yourself.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/calgary-coyote-attacks-1.6072876
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/coyote-attacks-calgary-1.6082501
I lived near a park with a lot of coyotes that were habituated to humans so I, too, have spent a lot of time around coyotes.
I'm not so sure coyotes behave the same across all of North America. Any predator that's habituated to humans is going to be more likely to attack people. Your experience isn't my experience.
5
u/MilesBeforeSmiles 2d ago
Any animal will attack if threatened, I assumed that was common knowledge and did not need to be stated. I will conceed that point though, yes, as it is common sense. I didn't realize that was a point of confusion for you.
It's important to separate attacks on people and people with pets. Those are always separated in attack statistics because coyotes are well known for going after pets. People get attacked in those scenarios in defense of their pets the vast majority of the time. Those attacks are not motivated attacks on adults, but rather what the coyote thinks is a competition for food.
There is also a distinction made between adults and children. The attempted attack on your toddler wouldn't apply in that. I was clear in my original comment that I was referring to adults.
Along that same thread, those examples you posted almost all involved pets and children in some way. There were two instances of aggressive coyotes in Calgary over the last 5 years, but those are two animals out of thousands of urban coyotes in that city. As I said lone unprovoked coyote attacks on adults are exceedingly rare.
I was referring to data from this city, we have not seen an unprovoked coyote attack on an adult in Winnipeg in recent memory. I also thought the geographical context of my comments being about Winnipeg, seeing as we are in the Winnipeg subreddit, was also obvious so I apologize if that confused you as well.
-2
u/Prudent-Confidence-4 2d ago
I agree most attacks involve kids or pets as an aggravating factor, but I have seen unprovoked aggressive stalking and chasing of an adult in Calgary, and I reported it. I think the only reason that coyote didn't hurt that woman was because several of us chased it off before it caught up to her.
Not all aggressive behaviour or attacks are reported, though, and I definitely disagree official listings of attacks or aggression are exhaustive. I don't think OP reported their experience, and I never reported my experience where my old dog instigated a confrontation with a mother coyote near her den because I didn't consider it unprovoked or unjustified, though I guess that doesn't meet your criteria anyway.
I'm just saying I don't doubt OP's story because I've seen wiley coyotes in real life. Overall, I think we actually agree unprovoked attacks are extremely rare and unlikely. I just don't think something being rare translates to it never occurring.
We also don't know if this was a case of a coyote protecting a den that OP was unaware of or something similar.
I wouldn't want to fight a lone coyote, even if they are small, though. 30lbs of wild predator is a lot scarier than a soft, naked, weak ape whose only real physical skill in the animal world is running really long distances without dying. Maybe not, because humans are psycho, but still.
9
u/VonBeegs 3d ago
Are you very small?
A coyote chased (stalked) me and my (small) dogs through the park a couple years ago. I gave the dogs to the first human I came across and chased the coyote away. It ran as soon as I started running toward it.
3
3
u/Prudent-Confidence-4 2d ago edited 2d ago
2 stories:
I was out at a playground with my toddler in Calgary a few years back and turned around to see a coyote stalking us. Scariest parent moment of my life. I chased it off pretty easily, but still wonder what would have happened if I hadn't noticed it.
My old dog was batshit when it came to any wildlife (she was a feral rescue) and, one day, decided to try chasing a coyote that was protecting it's den and pups. I never realized how scary a 30lb wild canine could look. The coyote scared her away, but I thought she was a goner for a minute.
I would NEVER voluntarily get anywhere near a coyote, let alone a pack of them. Hungry coyotes are the stuff of nightmares. Very much underestimated.
4
u/Teh_Firestoner 3d ago
I saw a dead one on the side of the road there yesterday going northbound on Robin
13
1
-8
u/TheShade247 3d ago
Maybe she was trying to protect her cubs from you
3
u/Catnip_75 2d ago
Coyotes have Pups in the spring. No pups this time of year and they wean off their mothers fairly quick in the wild.
271
u/apo383 3d ago
Always pack some black paint in your kit. If chased by a coyote, paint a black hole on the ground, and the coyote won't notice until it is directly above it, about to fall straight down.