Wily coyote an unexpected dinner guest

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This article was published 13/07/2023 (835 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg woman is warning neighbours to be on high alert for coyotes after a wild pup snuck into her home near Assiniboine Forest on Wednesday evening when she was letting her cat inside.

It was around 6 p.m. when Cynthia Carr, an epidemiologist who lives near the largest park in the city, slid open a glass door for her feline, Ava, who likes to roam their fenced-in backyard and lounge on a lawn chair.

“I turned my back for less than a minute and all of a sudden, I noticed motion and this coyote pup ran into the house,” said Carr.

The animal sneaked under a table in the corner of her first-floor dining room while staring down the homeowner.

Given the creature’s small stature, Carr could not initially tell if it was a dog or a young coyote. “Who are you? What are you?” she asked aloud to herself — she was the only person at home — as she kept her distance from the animal. “I was trying to use a gentle voice.”

Carr tracked down the off-duty Manitoba Conservation officer number to report the incident before texting a neighbour for backup and contacting her daughter to warn her not to return home with their dogs anytime soon.

“My daughter took the dogs out — thank goodness; that would’ve been a disaster,” she said.

Within 45 minutes, an officer showed up with gloves and a net to capture the creature and set it free.

Carr’s neighbour arrived beforehand to help close doors to isolate the animal and ensure the cat was in a separate room from the predator, which the officer would later conclude had likely been pursuing the cat when it entered the residence.

Citing her expertise in infectious disease, the founder of EPI Research Inc. — who spent much of the COVID-19 pandemic crunching and analyzing data — said she was wary of getting too close to the animal despite how docile it appeared.

Carr said she was relieved to have kept her distance once the officer arrived because the pup immediately reacted aggressively once the uniformed man approached it.

”It didn’t seem scary at all and you might be fooled.”–Cynthia Carr

“That’s the important factor to remember — it didn’t seem scary at all and you might be fooled,” she said, adding the anxious creature attempted to bite and claw at the officer.

It then defecated all over the floor.

“It’s important for people to remember that disease transmission can happen through your animal, through yourself and to really be careful, to really clean up after (a situation like this),” Carr said.

The conservation officer managed to remove the animal with his net and put the creature through a window so it could return to the wild.

Despite using bleach to clean up after the animal, Carr said one of her dogs immediately sniffed its way to the corner where the coyote was and started barking upon returning home.

A spokesperson for Manitoba Conservation confirmed the incident was reported through the wildlife tip line (1-800-782-0076).

There were a total of four calls about coyote sightings in Winnipeg on July 12 alone, the spokesperson said in an email.

The province has received about 140 such reports since April 1.

Recent wildlife activity within city limits has renewed calls to beware of coyotes and take precautions, including using noise makers, when venturing outside near wooded areas.

Provincial officials have captured and euthanized five animals after two children were attacked in the North Kildonan area last month.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie