By: Sharon Aron Baron
This isn’t the first time that the residents of the Woodlands Country Club in Tamarac have spotted coyotes, however, this time, they have a new litter of pups that are curiously exploring the neighborhood.
Shawn Robins, along with his wife Tannah, who have been living in the Woodlands for over two years caught surveillance footage of coyote pups hanging out near their patio area.
“The one by the pool was about 6:30 this morning,” Robins told us on Friday. “Looks like there were two to three of them on the video. We are a bit concerned as we have two year old son, and if they will attack a small dog, who knows if they would attack a small child.
Although there has never been any confirmed attacks on any small dogs in the Woodlands, much less any attacks on humans, earlier this month in Boca Raton two coyotes were caught and euthanized after a dog was killed and a second was snatched, then released, while on a walk with the dog’s owner.
Resident Lisa Hermann wrote on the Woodlands Facebook page, “So I see the coyote had babies. This morning around 6:30 a.m. while walking our two dogs, my husband and I saw the coyote and six to seven little ones following running across Woodlands Blvd coming from the east course area of hole 10 and 18.
There have been several coyotes sightings in the past few years in the Woodlands. On November 26 2014, a resident reported that his outdoor cat was attacked and killed outside his home. In 2012, a couple reported that their outdoor cat was killed by a coyote. That same year, a 11 year-old maltese, who accidentally got out of the house was suspected of being killed by a coyote, however, it was never proven.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission says that normally, coyotes are timid, and shy away from people. Although rare, coyotes have attacked humans. Most attacks resulted in minor bites and scratches to people attempting to intervene in an attack upon a pet. They advise to never leave children unattended in areas known or suspected to be frequented by coyotes.
Lynesy White Dasher, Urban Wildlife Specialist with the Humane Society of the United States, who teaches a a seminar called “Living with Coyotes,” recommends that residents keep their cats and dogs inside as coyotes cannot differentiate between a cat or a woodchuck or rabbit, and not to draw a parallel between a coyote killing a cat thinking it will harm a small child.
