Coyotes in Columbia

May 17, 8:24 AMColumbia Dogs ExaminerMary Love

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I just read on Columbia Talk, a local blog, that a Town Center resident spotted some coyotes in the Vantage Point neighborhood in the heart of Columbia.

The fact that coyotes are here is no surprise to me. What I do find surprising is that we don't actually see these guys more often. I remember looking out of my office window here several years ago and seeing what I thought was a lost dog--a sort of small German shepherd type--in our backyard. But he wasn't acting like a typical dog. He looked . . . (I'm sorry, Riley and Cody) . . . "smarter" somehow. He seemed to have a heightened wariness and sensitivity to everything around him, as opposed to just grazing on grass like my guys do.

I quickly Googled "coyote" on my computer, and bingo! That was the guy. When I told a neighbor about it, he said that he had also seen one at the Dickinson neighborhood park a short time earlier.  However, neither of us has seen one again.

Columbia Talk lists 7 points of information that the Maryland Department of Natural Resources provided about coyotes, which are not new to Howard County. Coyotes prey mainly on small wild animals like squirrels and rabbits, but a cat or small dog could also be fair game for a hungry predator. If you need to scare one off, the DNR recommends throwing an object or water at the coyote.

Thankfully, I haven't seen any roadrunners around here, so we won't have to worry about our Howard County coyotes ordering Acme anvils or dynamite sticks. But a little education and preparation on our part won't hurt.

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mary@columbia-dogs-examiner.com