Three separate Swellesley readers have sent us photos of coyotes in Wellesley over the past week.
Alison Cross writes that “We spotted two coyotes in our Sagamore Rd. backyard on Sunday; one just hanging out in the sun. They sauntered around for a bit and then trotted off through the neighbors back yards.”
Also over the weekend, MaryM shared this nice photo of a coyote on Yarmouth Rd.
Last week, Jonathan Harrington shared this photo of a big coyotes on Westgate Rd.
Hey @swellesley has this fella been seen around town much? Hey @WPDPhoto any reason to be concerned about pets? pic.twitter.com/TXqeH2cKO4
— Jonathan Harrington (@JBHarrington92) February 10, 2016
I’ve plotted out those three roads on a map to give a feel for where these critters are showing up in town.
We spotted one running down the middle of Livingston Road near Ridge Hill Farm Road Sunday night! He stopped, looked back with pricked ears & retraced his steps. What was he looking at?
OH MY I live off off of Livingston Rd and saw a huge one in my backyard! He was so big, I was shocked. My gut told me it had to be a wolf but according to online, its probably a coyote
The coyotes are in Weston as well. There is a new breed that has a wolf mix, and they are much larger than the average coyote. My neighbor has night vision cameras, and has photographed several of them. they can weigh up to 75 pounds.
My rescue dog, an aggressive pit bull mix that weighs 65 pounds, was attacked by one or more of the coyotes, and suffered severe wounds on her backside. She had to be quarantined for 6 weeks. Do not let your dog out unsupervised at dusk, dawn or evening.
My friends small dog was snatched and killed from his front yard in Newton. Please don’t take this warning lightly
The coyotes here are not a new breed. The eastern coyote has been in New England since the 1940’s. It does indeed have some wolf DNA, presumably acquired in Canada as western Coyotes made their slow migration east. The eastern coyote, at an average of 30-40 pounds, is larger than the original western coyote, and has some behaviors that are a bit more wolf like than the westerns. I don’t think there are any 75 pound coyotes around. A good place to learn about coyotes is at the Project Coyote website http://www.projectcoyote.org/ There are ways to discourage coyotes from hanging around human habitations. Here is a link to a document describing “Coyote Hazing” http://www.projectcoyote.org/CoyoteHazingBrochureFieldGuide.pdf
If you get a chance to hear a talk by John Marguranis, the Belmont Animal Control Officer and Project Coyote representative, do so. He is an excellent speaker and has a wealth of information on coyotes