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BY ANGELA DAIDONE
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
Despite the mauling by coyotes of two youngsters in Rye, N.Y., earlier this week, officials said the public should not be worried about the animals any more than they had been in the past, according to a report in The Record.
But residents in a nearby New Jersey community aren't buying it.
Frances Walker, a longtime Woodcliff Lake resident, was one of numerous folks who reported seeing a coyote on her property.
"It was laying there and it was feasting on another animal," said Walker, 81. "It was probably a woodchuck."
That incident, along with the attack in Rye, prompted walker and several of her neighbors to stay indoors for a few days.
"What happened in Westchester County is a really rare exception," said Larry Ragonese, a spokesman for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. "You should be more concerned about stray dogs in your neighborhood. Coyotes tend to be very secretive animals."Coyotes are native to North America, and have proved resilient in suburbia, mostly feeding on rodents, dogs, and small deer, the report stated. Attacks on humans, however, are rare, said Ragonese.
Ragonese declined to put a number on the state's population of coyotes, but he said that it was at least in the "hundreds," and coyotes have been spotted in all 21 counties throughout the state, the report stated.
"You're allowed to harass them. Just let them know they're not welcome," he said.
In Rye, a team of 25 police officers tried to hunt down the animal responsible for Tuesday's attack on a 3-year-old. Professional trappers were also hired, but the animal has not yet been captured.
Ragonese does not recommend residents take matters into their own hands.
"If people are seeing them, they shouldn't be shooting them," he said, suggesting a phone call to police would suffice. The state also tells residents to keep pets inside at night, keep potential food sources stowed away and make sure stray garbage is collected.
As far as Walker is concerned, though, she's staying indoors.
"We're scared," she said.
