Wily Coyote

 For the last couple days, there has been a plethora of prints trailing through my backyard near the tree line.  My suspicions were that it was either a fox or coyote.  It was hard to tell from the prints because they weren’t very clear in the fluffy snow.  

So one night, out of mild curiosity to see if I could catch the culprit, I looked out one of windows behind the house into the forest.  I wasn’t expecting to see anything so when a flash of eyes reflecting outdoors lights and a coyote shaped shadow slinked off into the forest greeted my sights, I was startled.  From that point I became even surer it was a coyote because the coat look more molted instead of a solid colour like on a fox.

It took a couple tries, but finally my trail camera, when it wasn’t covered in snow, got some pictures of the trespasser.  Indeed, it was a coyote!  Really though, it's not such a surprise seeing as the coyote population in my area has exploded.  You can’t go anywhere without seeing one or hearing about one. They’ve even taken to wondering our downtown area.

A warning to those of you with small dogs or cats: if you live near a forest, or anywhere with coyote sightings, keep your pet inside or at least escort it outside.  I'm sick of hearing that coyotes kill people’s pets and it's all the coyotes fault.  This is my opinion: the coyote is a predator, was here first, and hunting is in its nature and any small animals left unguarded are unfortunately fair game in the scheme of nature.  That’s how nature works.  SO KEEP YOUR SMALL PETS INSIDE IF YOU KNOW COYOTES ARE NEAR YOU!