West Roxbury's hour of the coyote

WEST ROXBURY -- Her young demanded food, so the coyote went in search of sustenance in a nearby neighborhood with well-kept lawns, always keeping a distance from humans. The fluffy pups often tagged along.

But yesterday morning, as the creatures headed out again, danger struck. One of the pups was hit and killed by a car about 6:30 a.m. on Baker Street. The mother, a gangly, grayish animal about the size of an adult German shepherd, grasped the dead pup by the back of the neck with her teeth and carried it to the front lawn of a home on Francesca Street, witnesses said. Two other pups who were separated from the mother during the incident hid near homes on Farragut Street. One cowered behind a shrub and the other dug in under backyard steps.

"She was just trying to feed her babies," said Sheila Murphy , who lives at the house where the pup was found. "They've been coming around here for about a month and they've never threatened anyone." Her husband, Dan Murphy, said he's seen five members of that coyote family roaming the area, including an adult male that is slightly larger than the mother.

Nearby, several other residents chatted about the morning's display of nature. Some had initially believed that the animal that hung from the adult coyote's mouth was someone's pet, a small dog or cat that had been killed by the coyote. But they found out what actually happened after Murphy called Boston Animal Control.

Residents living near Capital Street have called the city's animal control department in recent weeks with coyote sightings. Several people said the animals seem to prefer hanging out at a quarry on Grove Street. "I hear them at night howling from up there," said Peter Starkey, who lives in the neighborhood. "They're up there all the time, so many of them."

Despite the sightings, residents said the coyotes were reclusive and appeared to pose no threat to humans.

Coyotes can easily adapt to urban areas, said Thomas O'Shea, assistant director of Wildlife for the commonwealth's Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, in a telephone interview yesterday. O'Shea said coyotes are among the most adaptable animals in North America because they can survive on a varied diet, including berries, insects, rodents, small animals, food from trash cans, and handouts from humans.

O'Shea estimated there are about 10,000 coyotes in Massachusetts. He said there have only been three confirmed attacks on humans since 1998, with two cases involving rabid coyotes. He said the animals are spread throughout the state. A dog was killed by a coyote in Jamaica Plain in 2005.

Residents living in Saugus have complained for years about coyotes. "Since January, we've had about 15 sightings," said Harry Young , the city's K-9 Patrol officer. "A woman told me several weeks ago that she had to jump into a DPW truck because a coyote was stalking her two dogs as she was walking them. I would say there are about a dozen dens in Saugus. There are some heavily wooded areas around here, and the overdevelopment is pushing them out of their habitat," he said.

The coyote family that roamed the West Roxbury neighborhood lived under a roof of discarded concrete slates, apparently tossed over an embankment at the end of Capital Street, authorities said. The VFW Parkway borders the heavily wooded area, and across the roadway is a sprawling cemetery, where visitors have occasionally reported coyote sightings. Yesterday morning, the den was sprinkled with ammonia, a measure taken by animal control officers to discourage the family from returning.

Meanwhile, on Farragut Street, a Boston Animal Control officer later grabbed the pup that had been hiding behind the shrubs, and he put it into a steel cage. No decision had been made yesterday on when or where the pup would be released. The other pup that hid under the stairs proved to be more elusive, and authorities decided to leave it alone to allow the mother a chance to reunite with it later.

Sergeant Roger Thurlow of the Environmental Police said authorities will return today, and "hopefully it will be gone."