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Coyotes are champions of change and have evolved in clever ways to take advantage of a human-dominated landscape Near the dawn of time, the story goes, Coyote saved the creatures of Earth. According to the mythology of Idaho's Nez Perce people, the monster Kamiah had stalked into the region and was gobbling up the animals one by one. The crafty Coyote evaded Kamiah but didn't want to lose his friends, so he let himself be swallowed. From inside the beast, Coyote severed Kamiah's heart and freed his fellow animals. Then he chopped up Kamiah and threw the pieces to the...

SAN FRANCISCO — Dogs outnumber children here, making already assertive dog owners an even more formidable political force. But the emergence in recent years of coyotes in the city’s parks, and sometimes in its expensive backyards and picturesque streets, has raised doubts about whether that founding legacy can survive. Will the two animal worlds — the domesticated and the wild — be able to coexist? Might they even, as many in this liberal city hope, ultimately complement each other? Taking no chances, city officials recently cordoned off trails and barricaded a restroom in an area of Golden Gate Park where...

NHL announces dates, starts times, national TV coverage for Conference FinalsThe National Hockey League announced today the dates, start times and broadcast information for the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs Conference Finals, which begin Sunday, May 13, when the Phoenix Coyotes host the Los Angeles Kings at 8 p.m. ET. The Eastern Conference Final will match the New York Rangers against the New Jersey Devils. Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Final will be Monday, May 14, at 8 p.m. ET. National rightsholders NBC and NBC Sports Network in the United States and CBC, TSN and RDS in Canada will provide...

Coyotes lurking in the woods in Massachusetts have been known to attack dogs, chickens, cats, and even, in rare instances, people. But a buffalo ?... A pack of coyotes entered a pen where his 14 buffalos grazed. When they were done, one was missing...“All that was left was skin and bone,” said Kimball, who was keeping watch over the pen today as the herd huddled together and grazed on grass. ... After the coyote attack, he vowed to be vigilant in protecting the animals – armed, if necessary. “I’m going to come out here with my gun, and if I...

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following story contains graphic, disturbing content and language that may not be suitable for some readers. For some victims of the drug war in Mexico, the road to hell starts with a train ride. First, coyotes approach, offering transportation to the border. No money changes hands – yet. The travelers are herded like cattle into boxcars. There is little or no food; the heat is excruciating. The monotonous thunder of the train on the rails lulls them. Then, the train rolls to a stop. The horror is about to begin. THE REPORT The Comisión Nacional de los...

Susana Palma had taken her dogs -- a 70-pound poodle and a 10-pound Chihuahua -- to City Park on Friday for their daily late-afternoon stroll. She parked on Filmore Avenue, near the driving range, and opened the car door to let the dogs roam, without leashes. "Everybody walks without a leash because nothing happens there," Palma said. "It's open to the public. There are lot of people walking around." They set out. Miles, the poodle, walked ahead of Palma, and Killer, the Chihuahua, was about three steps behind. They hadn't walked more than 40 feet when Palma said she sensed...

My daughter encountered a coyote while walking her four month old Golden Retriever puppy yesterday. She was walking on a trail near her home by Grapevine Lake. She was unable to scare the coyote by yelling and had to call for assistance from another hiker. She is small and her puppy is small. What's a good defense against a coyote?

Actually I’m paraphrasing. Here’s the original sentence: Scruggs said that because the word "protest" was used, she reported the situation to the Police Department. “Scruggs” is Mayor Elaine Scruggs of Glendale, AZ.  The word “protest” was in an email from a local Tea Party activist, Annette McHugh. The Tea Party opposes plans for a taxpayer-subsidized $197 million stadium deal.  But that mundane issue quickly turned into something else: [McHugh] emotionally told members that the mayor confronted them with an e-mail McHugh had sent to party members. The e-mail said the group might protest at Scruggs' community town hall Tuesday, although...

Crucial border security programs are on the chopping block under a government spending bill proposed by Republicans, who have long called for strengthening security along the notoriously violent and porous southern border. The hypocritical move essentially puts Republicans on the same page as Democrats on a contentious issue that has long been the source of partisan battles. President Obama’s proposed 2011 budget, ... reduces the number of Border Patrol agents along the Mexican border by 180 and cuts $226 million in funding for an electronic “virtual fence.” The Republican government spending bill introduced just days ago slashes $600 million from...

As whitetail predators, coyotes may be more destructive than ever. If you think coyotes aren’t killing a lot of deer, you’re not alone. You’re also probably wrong. Significant coyote predation has been documented in various parts of the whitetail’s range. But throughout much of the South, Midwest, and suburban Northeast, the coyote is a fairly new predator and is barely on the radar of many whitetail hunters and experts. In over three decades of deer hunting and observation, I had personally come to view them as bumbling opportunists—more Wile E. Coyote than the Big Bad Wolf—when it comes to killing...

Maxims From The Seven Sages Of Ancient Greece 600 BC Practice What Is Just; Base Your Knowledge On Learning; Pursue Honor; Think As A Mortal; On Reaching The End, Be Without Sorrow I was on my way to town to meet a girl at a dance, I was excited. It was a New Year’s Eve Dance, I had on a suit and my cowboy boots. The dance was in Dawson Creek and I had to drive over a hundred miles one way, but I was so excited I didn’t care. There was a Chinook blowing warm air currents from the...

RYE BROOK, N.Y. - A teen and a toddler have come face-to-face with a coyote in two separate incidents within about an hour in a New York City suburb... In June, the town of Rye - about 3 miles from Rye Brook - had two coyote attacks within four days. A 3-year-old girl playing in her backyard was jumped from behind by a coyote, and a 6-year-old girl was mauled by two coyotes.

Coyotes in the State of NatureFrom the July 19, 2010, issue of NR.  Here’s a two-Americas story for you: Westchester County, in the suburbs of New York City, was home to Hillary Clinton when she pretended to represent New York in the U.S. Senate, and its voters gave Barack Obama 63 percent of their ballots in 2008. It’s the sort of place that causes heavy breathing among the liberal faithful de­voutly awaiting the coming of the New Democratic Majority, that blessed condition that will enrapture America when formerly Republican white suburbanites once and for all join forces with the traditional...

Houston raids reveal drug gangs' savage attacks on illegal immigrants The smuggler, nicknamed "El Pelon," Baldy, forced the 11 illegal immigrants to strip naked shortly after they arrived at the southwest Houston stash house, hoping to complicate any plans for escape. He and the other smugglers led the men up a staircase to a room on the second floor.And there, they lived in what one Honduran immigrant described as a "state of terror" for days while the smugglers attempted to extort more money from their relatives to secure their release. One man said a smuggler stepped on his chest until...

Police say a 6-year-old girl was scratched and bitten by a pair of coyotes who charged her as she played with friends in the front yard of her suburban New York City home. The girl was treated and released from the hospital. She had bites on her shoulder, thigh and possibly on one ear. Her back had been scratched. Police in the Westchester County city of Rye, about 30 miles northeast of Manhattan, said Saturday that they were searching for the coyotes. Police Commissioner William Connors says they believe the animals may be rabid, given that coyotes rarely attack humans....

Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a message for wily coyotes out there: Don't mess with my dog. Perry says he needed just one shot from his laser-sighted pistol to take down a coyote that was menacing his dog during an early morning jog in an undeveloped area near Austin.

Fred R. Conrad/The New York TimesJohn Hardzog, a cattle rancher in Oklahoma, releasing some of his greyhounds from his 1977 Ford pickup to hunt coyotes ELGIN, Okla. — One morning in an otherwise quiet corner of the Great Plains, high-pitched yips and deep growls sprang from a cluster of trees. Two greyhounds were fighting a pack of coyotes. One greyhound was bitten on a front paw and a back leg. The other was bitten in the jaw, and blood soaked its muzzle. But two of the seven coyotes died. The greyhounds, wild-eyed and wet with slobber, trotted to their...

We recently looked at the growing threat posed by the presence of violent drug gangs on pubplic land, such as national parks, and the wisdom of no longer mandating that park visitors be rendered unable to defend themselves from that danger. While the greatest threat of violence is undoubtedly posed by rogue humans, a recent tragedy reminds us that sometimes, lethal danger walks on four legs. we were constantly told that wild places like national parks are "oases of peace in a violent society," and thus having a means of self-defense in such places is unnecessary. Some of our national...

People Say Animals Are Preying On Larger Livestock. People living in major Valley neighborhoods... that coyotes have all but overtaken their neighborhoods. Don Hoopes and his 7-year-old son Jordan have a new ritual every night. They need to make sure all their animals are tucked safely inside, now that they know what can happen if they don't. Neighbor Richard Tate said, "I saw one yesterday morning trying to attack dogs in broad daylight." Tate's had a couple sheep slaughtered by coyotes already. He said they even tried to go after his ram. Tate said , "My concern is that if...

The singer died on the way to the hospital from her wounds. The coyotes had bitten her many times and the paramedics said she was in critical condition when they found her and she had lost a lot of blood.

This article is on dog packs and dogs that run with coyotes. Is the economy adding to the numbers? I think so. Instead of feeding the dogs or turning the dogs over to the humane shelter, people are just "dumping" the dogs. Not only is this not the "right" thing to do, it's a dangerous thing to do.

A 19-year-old folk singer from Toronto has died after being attacked by two coyotes in Cape Breton Highlands National Park.

A PROMISING young Canadian musician has been attacked and killed by coyotes while on a tour promoting her new album. Taylor Mitchell, 19, was considered a rising star of the folk music scene, having just earned a Canadian Folk Music Awards nomination. She was hiking alone on the Syline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park when a pair of coyotes attacked her. Tourists rushed to her aid when they heard her screams and found Mitchell bleeding heavily from mulitple wounds "all over her body", according to The Canadian Press. "She was losing a considerable amount of blood from her...

TORONTO – Two coyotes attacked a promising young musician as she was hiking alone in a national park in eastern Canada, and authorities said she died Wednesday of her injuries. The victim was identified as Taylor Mitchell, 19, a singer-songwriter from Toronto who was touring her new album on the East Coast.

Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old Toronto singer whose debut album was released in March, has died in a Nova Scotia hospital after being mauled by coyotes in a Cape Breton park. Mitchell was hiking Tuesday on the Skyline Trail in Cape Breton Highlands National Park when she was attacked by two coyotes. Another hiker, who was walking nearby, heard her cries for help and called 911. Officers arrived about 3:15 p.m., and one of the coyotes fled into the bush. The other coyote was shot and limped away. Mitchell was airlifted to a hospital in Halifax, where she died early Wednesday....

SAN DIEGO – Four people were injured in a gunbattle today involving an attempt to smuggle illegal immigrants from Mexico at the busiest border crossing in the U.S., authorities said. More than 70 people traveling in three vans involved in the incident were in federal custody, said U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Angelica DeCima. Details remained sketchy, but van drivers tried to storm past inspectors at the San Ysidro port of entry and make their way into the U.S. without stopping, DeCima said. “It was human smuggling, definitely,” said Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs...

Frank Gwozdz says coyotes have made a meal out of his livestock so often in the past several months that the farmer is thinking of leaving agriculture. “They are wiping me out,’’ Gwozdz said ...from his 110-acre farm in Dartmouth in Southeastern Massachusetts. In the past several months, Gwozdz said, coyotes have killed two cows, four calves, 14 goats, two lambs, two sheep, and numerous geese, ducks, and chickens. “They are getting bolder and bolder,’’ Gwozdz said of the coyotes... Gwozdz said he and his family have tried to deter the animals, sometimes by standing guard into the early morning...

Three Mexican men accused of holding 12 undocumented immigrants against their will have been charged with alien smuggling and conspiracy to smuggle aliens into the U.S., according to court documents. U.S. Magistrate Felix Recio on Tuesday ordered that Leonardo Juarez Torres, Abel Martinez-Rendon and Santiago Cisneros Diaz, all Mexican nationals, be held without bond until a detention hearing Friday morning. The immigrants, 10 Mexican men and two Salvadoran women, were being held in a house at 1936 Woodway Drive, said Brownsville police spokesman Sgt. Jimmy Manrrique. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is investigating several leads to identify other individuals possibly...

A group of West Side Madison residents is considering hiring a sharpshooter to kill problem urban coyotes that have become increasingly brazen in recent weeks, attacking and killing neighborhood pets and exhibiting little fear of people. Tammy Graupner, who lives in the Highlands neighborhood off Old Middleton Road and whose poodle, Puff, was killed by a coyote in February, said a number of other confrontations and sightings of coyotes have people in the area worried. Of special concern, she added, is the possibility that the escalating nature of the animals’ behavior toward pets and people could result in someone, possibly...

Two incidents on Madison’s West Side in which small dogs were killed by coyotes in the last three weeks have prompted city officials to schedule a public meeting with wildlife experts who will talk about living safely alongside the wild animal. Madison Ald. Mark Clear, 19th District, said one of the dogs was killed in early February in the Highlands neighborhood just north of Old Sauk Road while the other was killed in Parkwood Hills, south of Old Sauk Road. Both neighborhoods are adjacent to Owen Conservation Park, a 120-acre wooded park on Old Sauk that is home to five...

Coyote bites woman, attacks dog in SE Denver The woman, who lives in the 3900 block of South Oneida Street, told authorities she was walking her 75-pound Labrador retriever when they were surrounded by three coyotes. Two of the coyotes attacked the dog, and the owner intervened. As she tried to defend the dog, a coyote scratched and bit the woman, according to a new release from the Colorado Division of Wildlife. The unidentified victim was treated at Swedish Medical Center and released. The dog was taken to a veterinary hospital, said Jennifer Churchill, a DOW spokeswoman. Details on the...

Guatemalan girl describes alleged enforced prostitution She testifies in federal court how a group of immigrants duped her into coming to the U.S., forced her to sell herself and kept her captive. By Scott Glover January 9, 2009 When Sandra agreed to make the perilous trek from her native Guatemala to the United States in 2006, she said, she was lured by the prospect of a job as a housekeeper that would enable her to send money to her impoverished family back home. Her father had a hernia that prevented him from working, and money was so tight that she...

Aggressive coyotes are not a new problem for people in Erie. At about this same time last year, several attacks on small dogs were reported, and one woman was bitten as she tried to wrestle her 3-year-old Maltese out of a coyote’s jaws. But the attack Thursday afternoon on Tony Sandlin was different — he didn’t approach the coyote and he didn’t have a tiny dog on hand, though he was watching out for his 6-year-old brother, Vincent, as they practiced their snowboarding skills on the golf course hill behind their house. The animal charged Tony at the bottom of...

EDINBURG — Mario Olivares Cifuentes thought he understood the risks of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. Tales of migrants drowning in the Rio Grande or succumbing to the oppressive South Texas sun spread frequently among those hoping to make the trek. But for Olivares, a Guatemalan migrant, the real danger emerged only after passing those natural perils. For almost a day, he and 20 of his countrymen were allegedly kidnapped, tortured, raped and held for ransom in a stash house east of Edinburg before federal agents rescued them last week. Their purported tormentors — a group of Mexican nationals believed...

Phoenix Police and Department of Public Safety officers found at least a dozen undocumented immigrants and three human smugglers at a west Phoenix home. A DPS official said officers also found weapons in the home near 31st Avenue and Van Buren Street Monday afternoon. There is no word on how long the victims had been held in the home, or if there are any injuries. Stay with ABC15.com as more information becomes available.

MISSION -- Police busted a stash house Tuesday after a Honduran woman said she was sexually assaulted there. Officers raided the house -- at 2113 Sierra Court, near Mission Veterans Memorial High School on Mile 2 North and N. Mayberry Ave. -- about 11:25 a.m. Police had found the woman wandering along a nearby road in the wee hours earlier that morning. Police pulled over to see if she was OK and she told them she had been sexually assaulted at the brick house, Mission police spokesman Lt. Martin Garza said. The house likely sheltered illegal immigrants traveling north, he...

A woman who sneaked into Houston this week after hiking miles through one of the most brutally hot and deadly stretches of the U.S.-Mexico border is frantic for help, but scared to ask for it. While evading U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints in South Texas, she left behind the body of another woman who collapsed and died, perhaps from a scorpion sting or snake bite. The woman, who gave her name as Karina and insisted on anonymity, said she tried to help her friend walk when they fell far behind a larger group led by a smuggler. Now she is carefully...

A group of Brazilians has been resuced from five smugglers holding them captive in Mission. Acting on an anonymous tip, officers responded to the 800 block of Dawson Street Wednesday afternoon. Mission Police Chief Leo Longoria said 15 Brazilians immigrants had been at the home for 14 days. The immigrants told authorities that the alleged smugglers demanded more cash for their release. Longoria said Mission police arrested five men. They are all facing unlawful restraint charges.

Agencies, expert unite in an attempt to control nuisance animals in the Brooks community in Estero; attack was fourth on dogs since March. “For the past three months, I thought: ‘Coyotes in Florida. Yeah, right,’” Love said. “I had never seen a coyote, not even in any zoo in Florida and I’ve been here 27 years.” But, with the newfound respect for the wild animal, she was quick to add, “We’re on their territory.” And, she says people didn’t start noticing coyotes in the area until alligators were removed from a lake on the property. She believes the alligators snagged...

Victim turns killer? The whereabouts of Jack Berry, missing since February, may be solved. His son, Jeremiah Berry, has been charged with his fathers death. He said he shot him in the head, stabbed him 199 times, skinned him, cut him up and fed his flesh to the coyotes. Why would a son turn so viciously on his father? Jeremiah Berry has said that he was a victim first. His father Jack Berry allegedly told Jeremiah that God told him that his son (Jeremiah) should get a sex change and become his wife

"Their aggressive behavior seems to be on the upswing," said Steve Martarano, a spokesman with the state Department of Fish and Game. "They just seem to lose their fear of humans." Since the 1970s, more than 100 coyote attacks on humans in Southern California have been recorded, with half the incidents involving children age 10 and younger. "If they see a young child and they have a chance, yeah they'll take it," said Kevin Brennan, a state wildlife biologist. Game wardens don't normally hunt coyotes unless they pose a threat to people. After attacks, they trap and then shoot coyotes....

LAKE ARROWHEAD, Calif. — A coyote grabbed a 2-year-old girl by the head and tried to drag her from the front yard of her mountain home in the third incident of a coyote threatening a small child in Southern California in five days, authorities said. The coyote attacked the girl around noon Tuesday when her mother, Melissa Rowley, went inside the home for a moment to put away a camera, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said in an incident report. Rowley came out of the house and saw the coyote dragging her daughter towards a street. She ran towards...

LA JOYA - Dramatic police chases with illegal immigrant-crammed trucks are common place in this small city. That pursuit, however, has often ended in dangerous chases with the desperate human smugglers widely known as coyotes. Again on Tuesday, just east of La Joya, a coyote led Peñitas police on an early morning chase that crossed four cities and ended in a crash after the driver refused to pull over for erratically changing lanes on Expressway 83. Four Honduran illegal immigrants were taken to the hospital with broken bones and other minor injuries after the vehicle they were traveling in blew...

LORETITO, Mexico — It's the end of the day here. Down one lonely street two young boys kick a ball between them, as an elderly woman slowly makes her way nearby. On most days, this little town about 300 miles northwest of Mexico City feels like the set of a Hollywood movie — its narrow streets and alleyways silent, stark, deserted. From the sidewalk outside his small liquor shop, Edmundo Cruz takes in the vast emptiness, pointing out one house after another left vacant when families headed north — to Seattle. It is said more Loretito people now live in...

MISSION - A police chase Wednesday morning that ended with a mother and her two young children in a canal underscored yet again the danger human smugglers pose to motorists. Authorities reported no serious injuries, but the crash near Farm-to-Market Road 495 and North Stewart Road illustrated the challenges coyotes pose to the officers charged with catching them. Mission police started the chase on westbound FM 495 after a man driving a truck ran a red light near Stewart, Mission police Chief Leo Longoria said. The man refused to pull over and turned north onto Bryan Road and then drove...

18 illegal immigrants in van in path of 18-wheeler RACHAL - U.S. Border Patrol agent Adam Ruiz had to act fast as the van full of illegal immigrants veered into the path of a hurtling 18-wheeler. Should he pursue the vehicle's driver, who bailed out on the shoulder of U.S. 281 and left the van's gear in drive? Or chase down the van and its occupants as they edged closer and closer into oncoming traffic? In seconds, Ruiz sprang into action. The eight-year agency veteran bolted toward the moving vehicle, leaped through the passenger side door and steered the vehicle...

McALLEN - Human smugglers are employing increasingly risky and dangerous methods to transport illegal immigrants since security tightened along the U.S.-Mexico border, law enforcement officials said. "They're getting less area they can successfully enter," said Oscar Saldaña, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman. "That's why were seeing more of these desperate acts. And unfortunately, we anticipate there's going to be more of these types of events." On Thursday a Ford F-150 carrying more than 20 illegal immigrants collided with another vehicle on Expressway 83 in Peñitas, leaving three dead and another 14 injured. They were the latest victims of what appears...

A wild chase involving illegal immigrants ends in a massive fire and over a dozen suspected aliens scattering from the scene. The blaze sparked up right off Saratoga near Greenwood. The chase actually began near Farm Road 43 and State Highway 286 around seven o'clock Wednesday night. The pick up ran a stop sign which triggered the chase. Fifteen People in all were crammed into the pick up truck. The chase eventually ended in a field near Greenwood when the truck ignited a massive brush fire. Three people were apprehended including the driver and a fourteen year old boy. The...

A jackrabbit found throughout much of the West has disappeared from the Yellowstone area, although the reason why remains a mystery, a new study concludes. Whatever the cause, the study suggests the white-tailed jackrabbit's disappearance has wrought major changes to Yellowstone's food chain. Coyotes and wolves, which could have depended on the rabbit as a significant food source, apparently turned their attention instead to larger prey including young elk, pronghorn antelope -- even domestic livestock. However, because the rabbit's decline went relatively unnoticed until now, quantifying that shift is virtually impossible, said the study's lead author, Joel Berger with the...

LA JOYA, Texas — A man driving a car full of suspected illegal immigrants lost his ear as he tried to flee from police. The 22-year-old Mexican national had turned into a brushy field from a farm-to-market road Sunday when he tried to open the door and jump from the car, said Joe Cantu, a La Joya police spokesman. The car door bounced against a tree and slammed shut on the man's head, cleanly severing his ear, police said. Police and Border Patrol agents found four of the six passengers who fled the car after it came to a stop....