Thursday, 4:30 PM
Coyotes and people collide in West Roxbury
By George Rizer and Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff
When an adult coyote was spotted this morning with what looked like a puppy in its jaws, residents in a woodsy West Roxbury neighborhood feared the worst.
A pack of coyotes had been roaming the area off the VFW Parkway for weeks, and it appeared that one of the wild animals had ventured into a backyard and snatched a family pet. Calls were placed to police and animal control officers, and some neighbors grabbed wood 2-by-4s to combat the coyote if it dared to return.
PHOTOS: Call of the wild in West Roxbury
An animal control officer quickly discovered that things were not as they appeared. The dead pup, which had been dropped on a lawn on a Francesca Street, wasn't a dog. It was a baby coyote that had been hit by car and carried by its mother out of the street.
Animal control officers and state environmental police are still searching the neighborhood for the animals.
"We are actually in the process of trying to get the coyotes and take them to a more rural place," said Dot Joyce, a spokeswoman for Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino.
While coyote attacks against humans are rare, there have been two children mauled in New Jersey in the last few months. On Tuesday, an 8-year-old in Middletown was bitten on the head and required 46 stitches and two shots for rabies.
In 1998 in Sandwich, a 3-year-old boy was attacked by a coyote as he played on his backyard swing set.
Material from the Associated Press is included in this report.
