What to know if you see or encounter a coyote:

– Be as big and loud as possible. Do not run or turn your back.
– Wave your arms, clap your hands, and shout in an authoritative voice.
– Make noise by banging pots and pans or using an air horn or whistle. These sounds can also alert the neighbors.
– Throw small stones, sticks, tennis balls or anything else you can lay your hands on. Remember the intent is to scare and not to injure.
– Spray with a hose, if available, or a squirt gun filled with water and vinegar.
– Shake or throw a “coyote shaker”—a soda can filled with pennies or pebbles and sealed with duct tape.

How to protect your pets:

CATS-

When you allow any cat to roam freely outdoors, even for short periods of time, you expose them to perils such as cars, dogs, diseases, coyotes, poisons and cruel people. If you want your cat to be safe, keep her indoors.

If your cat does go outside, call him indoors well before dusk and don’t let him out again until morning. Coyotes are mostly, although not entirely, nocturnal. Female coyotes are especially defensive during the breeding season, which runs from mid-spring to early summer, depending on the region and food supply. If coyotes are prevalent in your area, it would be wise to keep all pets inside during this time, only allowing them out under supervision.

DOGS-

Dogs (especially small dogs) should not be left outside unattended, should never be chained and should always be kept on a leash in public areas. It is important to never let your dog interact or play with a coyote. Pet food and water should be kept indoors to avoid attracting coyotes to your yard.

Fencing can be used to keep coyotes out of residential yards, but it must be at least six feet tall and should extend underground at least six inches or be parallel to the ground at least 12 inches and secured with landscaping staples.

Coyote attacks on people are extremely rare. More people are killed by errant golf balls and flying champagne corks each year than are bitten by coyotes. There have only been two recorded incidences in the United States and Canada of humans being killed by coyotes. One involved a child in Southern California in the 1980s and the other a 19-year old woman in Nova Scotia in 2009.