A Winnipeg woman had an unexpected visitor when she opened the door to let her cat in on Wednesday.
“I was just sitting in my family room having a coffee and I noticed my cat outside, so I opened the door to let the cat in,” Cynthia Carr told 680 CJOB’s The Start.
“The cat walked in, I turned my back, I turned around again, and a small coyote pup —who I guess was following the cat — ran into the house … and parked out in my dining room.”
Carr said she called Manitoba Conservation for help rather than approaching the young coyote, who had likely been tracking the cat in hopes of a quick meal.
“As cute as it was just sitting there in the dining room, they get vicious fast,” she said.
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“I was glad I didn’t touch it, because when the conservation officer did come with the gloves and the net and everything, boy did it react fast. You want to stay away from them, as cute as it did look from a distance.”
“We had to open a ground floor window to get it out because it was really fighting once it was approached by a human. … It went from cute to vicious real fast.”
Carr said she lives near Assiniboine Park, so she’s no stranger to seeing wildlife in the area, but the coyote’s visit was a first.
Although this coyote pup in this case remained docile until approached by a conservation officer, the animals have made headlines in recent weeks due to far more serious altercations.
Two coyotes were trapped and euthanized after attacks on children in North Kildonan in late June, and the city says the number of coyotes that have been put down has since increased to five.
FortWhyte Alive’s Barrett Miller told Global News earlier this month that those aggressive incidents were a reminder that wildlife should not be treated like pets.
“This just hammers home why we need to do things like keep human food out of the mouths of wildlife and always be aware of our surroundings anytime we’re in a natural or semi-natural area,” he told 680 CJOB’s Connecting Winnipeg on July 4.
“We can prevent (attacks), or vastly reduce the chances of them happening by just making sure that those animals do not begin to associate us with food,” he said.
Coincidentally, Manitoba Conservation officers held a public meeting about coyotes Wednesday night in another part of the city — a “Co-Existing With Coyotes” info session presented by two local MLAs.
North Kildonan Coun. Jeff Browaty said the city is currently monitoring three coyote dens near the northern outskirts of Winnipeg.
“Traps are still set out, so they are still working with a trapper to try to deal with that pack, that unfortunately has just become too familiar with people, and we don’t want to see another attack,” Browaty told 680 CJOB.
“The feeling is that there’s probably not going to be an attack, but you can’t say for sure.”
Manitoba Conservation did not respond to a request for comment.
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