New urban happening: chancing upon coyotes

The young, tawny coyote was frequenting the University of Massachusetts campus most nights around 9:30, getting bolder with every appearance, according to a campus police officer.

UMass patrolman William Chen said he believes the coyote, which he says is as large as a German shepherd, was attracted by food left out for stray cats. He and other patrolmen also spotted an older-looking coyote with the young one last summer, he said. The older one shunned humans, but this one is much less timid. Chen said he has gotten within 5 feet of the animal, who regularly walked at night on Bianculli Boulevard, the main campus drag commonly known as University Drive, undaunted by the occasional pedestrian or car.

''He's very low key," said Chen. ''He does his own thing, but he's not afraid of people."

The UMass coyote has not been spotted by Chen since March, but the number of reports, most unsubstantiated, of coyote sightings in the city has been on the rise.

Stories similar to Chen's have been cropping up with increasing frequency throughout eastern Massachusetts -- including Boston -- since the beginning of the year, according to Marion Larson, information and education biologist at MassWildlife, the state fish and wildlife agency. One caller to MassWildlife recounted seeing a coyote walking along Huntington Avenue; another reported one on Beacon Street. Jim Cahill, director of the city's Animal Control office, estimates his office has received about 10 calls on coyote sightings in the city in the past year, most from Jamaica Plain, Mattapan, and Roslindale.

Some joggers who take their dogs on runs near Forest Hill Cemetery in Jamaica Plain said they've had problems with coyotes nipping at their pets -- Cahill said the coyotes apparently have a den in the cemetery -- but most callers just ask how they should react to the animal and are reporting no problems, said Cahill.

''It's not a public safety concern at this point," he said. ''We haven't seen any reason to push any panic buttons at this point in time."

Although most people assume coyotes would shun cities, Larson said the wild canine is actually suited to urban life. It can eat almost any food -- garbage, rats, mice, fruit, even small pets.

People sometimes mistake foxes for coyotes, Larson said, but she is not skeptical of the recent reports, although MassWildlife has not verified them.

She said the state has only one documented case of a coyote attacking a human in the state: a 3-year-old boy attacked in 1998 while he was playing in his Sandwich backyard. The boy was rescued by his mother and did not suffer serious injuries.

A more pressing concern is the danger coyotes pose to cats and small dogs. Larson suggested residents take steps to prevent coyotes from coming into backyards, including picking up trash, keeping pet food indoors, and trimming hedges, which the animals use for cover when they hunt.

The friendly coyote at UMass was coming ''way too close," she said, and should be scared off by clanging pots and pans together, yelling, or waving a stick at it.

''That's coyote language for: This is my territory and you are not welcome here. If you allow them that close, you've got a potential problem on your hands, and that's just not good."

Larson said coyotes found their way from the Midwest into Massachusetts 50 years ago. Researchers believe the eastern coyote mingled with the domesticated dog and the timber wolf, making it much larger than its western relative, she said. She wasn't certain when coyotes first arrived in Boston, but remembers hearing of a Hyde Park sighting about five years ago.

Cahill speculated that the surge in sightings may be the result of new development in southern areas of Boston, that could be flushing the coyotes out of woodland areas and into densely populated areas.

''I think the city has taken some areas away where they normally [inhabit]," he said.