What’s Been Lurking in the Woods?
Recently, there have been a growing number of coyote sightings on campus. Particularly, many students and faculty have mentioned seeing them in the woods behind the football field, drawing attention to their presence.
“While I was on the football fieldfor my class, I looked towards the woods and noticed what I at first thought was dog. But then realized it was a coyote. It just looked at me without moving and then turned around going back into the woods,” shared sophomore Sophie Yetming.
What to Do if You See One
Coyotes are generally shy creatures and usually don’t pose a threat to humans, but it’s always best to keep your distance if you spot one. If you happen to find yourself relatively close to one and it seems to be approaching you aggressively, the best thing to do is making yourself appear larger, taller, and yell firmly until it wanders away. Experts say that 90% of the time they will just wander off calmly without doing any harm.
“ When I was walking by the woods, I heard a rustling sound to my side and looked over and saw what looked like a baby coyote. It was pretty small and ran away as soon as it saw me. I kind of wish I had taken a picture of it,” said sophomore Vittorio Buttice.
Nevertheless, unless provoked coyotes typically won’t pose any danger. It’s perfectly fine to just take a picture from a safe distance, but make sure you are giving it space to walk away.
“I was running track on the field when I saw a coyote just standing near the woods. It didn’t do much, and just wandered off after a few seconds, but it was interesting and unexpected to see that on campus,” said sophomore Sofia Lopez.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission
According to information found on the FWC site, Coyotes help maintain balanced ecosystems by controlling the populations of rodents and smaller predators, such as foxes, opossums and raccoons, which naturally occur in higher densities and can quickly overpopulate areas of habitat. Coyotes are native to North America, have been in Florida for many years, and will continue to make their homes around the state.
For information on how to effectively “haze” or deter coyotes to leave your area, the FWC site provides an educational video. Coyotes in urban areas may learn to tolerate human presence instead of fleeing. Hazing is the process of disturbing an animal’s sense of security so it leaves an area or otherwise changes its behavior.
https://myfwc.com/conservation/you-conserve/wildlife/coyotes/
