WASHINGTON — Local wildlife officials want homeowners to take measures to avoid attracting coyotes. Those measures would include not leaving pet food outside, removing bird feeders and clearing away brush piles where rodents may live and attract coyotes.
Coyotes are considered a nuisance animal in Maryland and Virginia. They’re known to prey on small pets that are roaming free, have attacked pets that are on leashes, and Virginia’s Department of Inland Fisheries notes that coyotes in other eastern states have even attacked and severely injured small toddlers who were left unattended.
Coyotes are typically nocturnal and very shy, but they do hunt for food in urban areas, as seen in a video of a coyote jumping from rooftop to rooftop in Queens, New York.
