Coywolves In Rhode Island
BY Herschel Smith
5 years, 7 months ago
WESTERLY, R.I. – (WPRI) — A New York man, who was visiting Rhode Island with his family, said he is still shaken after witnessing a coyote attack one of his dogs in the backyard of the home they were renting in Westerly.
John Burke and his family were renting a home on Kimball Avenue, which is near Misquamicut Beach. On Tuesday night, Burke was rinsing off in the outdoor shower when he heard his dogs growling from the yard.
That’s when he said he saw a coyote, face to face with his two Jack Russell terriers, 5-year-old Razz and 12-year-old Whitey.
Burke watched as the coyote snatched Razz up and run into the woods. He said he began running after it.
“As fast as I could,” Burke recalled. “I was screaming, ‘Razz! No! Drop her!'”
He followed the coyote through backyards and into the woods. Burke eventually caught up to it, but that’s when he realized Whitey was right behind him.
Burke said he went to pick up Whitey, and by the time he turned around, the coyote and Razz were leaving his sight.
“Coyote comes out right in the driveway, Razz decides to make a right and she goes into the brush. Coyote goes into the brush… she makes a squeal,” Burke explained. “Never to be seen again… until we found her.”
Burke said the Westerly Police Department, Misquamicut Fire Department and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) all responded to the scene, but could not find Razz or the coyote. The family put the message out to Westerly residents on social media, asking for help finding Razz.
Burke said it was a dog tracker that eventually found Razz’s remains more than 24 hours later.
He said the coyote that took Razz was anything but ordinary, even describing it as looking more like a “coydog.”
“It’s not a 20 pounder that’s going to hop over your fence and eat your chickens,” Burke explained. “This is something that I was smacking it in the face with a towel and it didn’t care. It was going to eat my dog no matter what.”
Now coping with the loss of Razz, Burke wants future vacationers and current Westerly residents to be aware of the incident, so it doesn’t happen to anyone else’s pet.
But it will indeed happen to other pets unless you’re prepared. Do you have access to a gun at all times?
And how many times do I have to say this? There are no Coyotes left. They are all Coywolves, an admixture of Wolf, Dog and Coyote DNA. They have the size and aggression of a Wolf, the lack of fear of humans of a Dog, and the adaptive capabilities of a Coyote.
On September 3, 2018 at 7:50 am, Talktome said:
Why is everyone in media accounts “shaken?” I’m pretty sure if same happened to me, that would not be the adjective – pissed, saddened by the loss of the family dog, determined that it sure won’t happen again… certainly not,shaken – but that wouldn’t play into the “be scared” narrative would it?
On September 3, 2018 at 8:27 am, Ned said:
This is no surprise. In the west, in the 70’s we used to run into coydogs all the time on the Navajo reservation fringes. Navajos didn’t care about dogs – they let them breed, starve, and run in wild packs. Only when they became a threat to their sheep did they care.
This isn’t new. From what i saw, it was inevitable.
On September 3, 2018 at 11:08 am, Fred said:
“Burke said the Westerly Police Department, Misquamicut Fire Department and the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (DEM) all responded to the scene, but could not find Razz or the coyote. The family put the message out to Westerly residents on social media, asking for help finding Razz.”
That’s pretty funny. Was there Benny Hill music playing while this was going on?
https://youtu.be/XvuQsb181Cc
And:
“…it didn’t care. It was going to eat my dog no matter what.”
I’m certain that “future vacationers and current Westerly residents” are shocked to find that they are living on Earth. Hopefully they all have their psychiatrists on speed dial. The horror!
@Herschel, I suspect that there are some coyotes in the Rockies and Desert SW. I’m not saying the ones out west are pure but I’ve seen the scroungy little 25 pounders in Wyoming. The ones around here are more than twice the size and the fear levels more than twice lower. They just look right at me and then trot off. I wonder how much is breading and how much is environmental? I agree that the Eastern Coyotes are much more adapted to hunting instead of scavenging and eating very small prey. As an example, Cougars vary in size widely from region to region. The south Florida panthers are especially small as is their primary food sources.
On September 3, 2018 at 11:13 am, Dov Sar said:
We have them up here in northern Maine, as well as pure wolves (which game wardens deny, but we have seen the). They are mostly afraid of humans because most farmers kill them on sight and they get the picture. We have 3 165 lb. Russian Ovcharkas, and they can take them but they do hunt in packs now sometimes, which would make it pretty sporting for just one of our dogs. They do move out at the sound of lead breaking the sound barrier, though. If they hear it it in time.
On September 3, 2018 at 11:27 am, Fred said:
@Dov Sar, having never heard of the Ovcharka I did a search. I suspect that yours are Caucasian Ovcharkas. Wow, what an amazing animal. The videos or them show an impressive beast indeed. Cool.
On September 3, 2018 at 3:34 pm, Bram said:
Time to get bigger dogs folks.
On September 4, 2018 at 5:26 am, Nosmo said:
“As fast as I could,” Burke recalled. “I was screaming, ‘Razz! No! Drop her!’”
So, the coy-whatever didn’t obey spoken commands from the guy renting the house ? That’s pretty rude.
On September 4, 2018 at 11:23 am, H said:
Echoing Fred, one guy I know in the Rockies is fending off coyotes small enough for .380 ACP (!, and, yeah, I’d use something bigger for a merciful kill), while here in the SW of Missouri they’re more like coydogs, bigger than that, but not coywolf big or in behavior.
I would expect their genetics to be all over the place, depending on things like what DNA is available, dog pretty much everywhere, wolf should be quite a bit more rare, especially the further south you go, then again do we know anything about coywhatever migration patterns?, how they fit in whatever ecological niches are available, etc. For example, I’d guess they have both more competition and less food available in the Rockies, here, they’re the apex predators, we don’t even have black bears to speak of, and food of all sorts is plentiful.
On September 5, 2018 at 2:21 pm, Gryphon said:
Last Week around here, some Suburban Mcmansion-dweller found one of these with a .22LR round in its Leg lying in his backyard, so he took it to a Vet, and called the Sheriff’s Office to report “Somebody had Shot a Stray Dog.”
The Deputy who told me this said the guy had become quite upset when they took it and euthanized it, he was SURE that it was a Dog….
On October 30, 2018 at 6:58 am, Marc said:
How unimaginable it is that a couple vacationing would blame a wild animal and not himself for this sad day. Razz sure was a cute dog but it is the responsibility of the pet owner to keep there animals safe. If they would have done a little research they would have found out because there have been plenty of warnings but even if he knew I am almost positive this situation would have happened anyway as it sounds like he was showering and kids and dogs in yard by themselves. Always looking for someone else to blame instead of yourself. So, when someone is going to go on a vacation just do a little research on wildlife so you don’t go swimming with alligators!