Date: Thu, 15 Jan 2015 08:29:28 -0500
From: gardener
Subject: About missing dogs and cats in Chatham
Fellow chatlisters,
I don’t wish to unduly alarm anyone, but I want to share my recent experiences with a pack of coyotes. My spouse and I were outside watching the meteor shower a few weeks ago, talking quietly. Suddenly, definitely more than one coyote began yipping and howling back and forth to each other, and growing nearer. We went back into our house. Then last weekend, we were in our living room watching TV, when we thought we heard prolonged sirens, but the noise wasn’t quite right. When we turned off the TV, we realized it was the coyotes again, and they were very close. From the sound, we are certain they were about 100 yards from our house, probably just on the other side of the creek that edges one side of our property. I had noticed vultures there earlier in the day, and I suspect the VERY LOUD yipping and howling of the pack occurred as they talked about the carcass they were feeding on. They yipped and howled for about 20 minutes. It was very unnerving.
I live on Manns Chapel Road, and this is the first time in the 25+ years I’ve lived there that I’ve heard a pack of coyotes this close, and repeatedly. I have a friend who lives on Booth Hill Road who lost a cat to coyotes about two months ago. I believe the coyotes are settling into the northeastern part of Chatham county in numbers not previously observed.
There have been conversations on this forum and on the bulletin board about the deviousness of coyotes. They are apparently known to lure dogs away from home before killing them. And it’s my understanding that any outdoor cat is considered fair game to the pack. Unless the coyote population declines again, I personally believe it is too dangerous to leave any pet outside unattended, most especially at night, but really any time. I know I never will again.
Perhaps all of Chatham’s coyotes have moved in next door to me, but I rather doubt that. Even fences are not always adequate defenses against coyotes, I’ve read. If you love your pets, please revisit how you manage their outdoor time.
If there is an up side to the influx of coyotes, it is their impact on my local deer population. I am seeing fewer of them all the time, even fewer tracks. And much less nibbling of my plants. Still, those nightly yips and howls are very creepy, and make me glad that I currently own no pets.
Is anyone else in northeast Chatham hearing the coyotes at night?