Have You Seen A Coyote In Woburn? Here's What You Need To Know

WOBURN, MA -- When Mary Scalfani was leaving work on Fairway Drive in Woburn Thursday night, a coyote came out to greet her car. A short distance later, she saw another one, and when she got home she could hear howling in her back yard.

"Please let people know if they have small pets out tonight," she said in a message to Woburn Patch. "Coyotes are out in full force tonight."

And seemingly on many recent nights and in many area towns. Online forums for residents of Tewksbury, Woburn and other area towns have started to fill up with posts about coyote sightings. Coyotes are generally afraid of humans unless they feel they need to defend their territory. But small pets that are left outside unattended can become prey for the animals, which tend to move about between dusk and dawn during the fall and winter months.

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The typical coyote patrols an area that is between two and 30 square miles in size. In a densely-populated state like Massachusetts, that means coyote-sightings are common. But, by taking certain precautions, coyotes are not necessarily something humans need to fear.

Woburn has one full-time and on part-time animal control officer. Animal Control Officer Jay Donovan can be reached at jdonovan@woburnpd.com or call by calling 781-932-4510 X4824. In the meantime, the MSPCA offers the following pointers for dealing with coyotes and other wildlife:

• Keep children, cats, and dogs indoors and supervise when outdoors at all times
• Keep pets up to date on vaccinations
• Remove food and habitat sources for small animals like rodents (brush piles, wood piles, spilled bird seed, pet food/water, Koi ponds, and other water sources)
• If a coyote is in your yard, let the coyote know that it is not welcome by making loud noises (like banging pots and pans together), spray it with hose, toss tennis balls near the animal – you want to scare her away, not hurt her.

Finally, the MSPCA notes that coyote attacks on humans are not something that you should lsoe too much sleep over. "The reality is that the chance of being attacked by a coyote is extremely low. In fact, there have been only five people bitten by a coyote in Massachusetts since the 1950s," the MSPCA said.

Patch file photo.

Dave Copeland can be reached at dave.copeland@patch.com or by calling 617-433-7851. Follow him on Twitter (@CopeWrites) and Facebook (/copewrites).