BROOKLAND – Paul Kemp got the fright of his life as he stood face to face with a lunging coyote intent on attacking his dog this week.
Kemp was working in his shop on his Brookland property when his two-year-old dog, Lady, started acting oddly.
It’s been a familiar sight over the past few weeks – Lady growling out windows with her hair raised.
“Even in the middle of the night, she’d get up on the coffee table and stare out the window, growling, her hair raised,” Kemp said.
Originally, he thought a raccoon or a groundhog might be on the property, igniting the border collie/lab dog’s tracking desires, but when it continued, he started to get worried. And on Wednesday afternoon, Kemp was determined to find out what was wrong.
Wearing only his slippers, Kemp followed Lady out into the front yard and watched as she suddenly lunged ahead. A lone coyote, which Kemp says was nearly double the size of Lady, was just six metres in front of him.
Kemp watched, shocked, as the coyote made a lunge for Lady, who responded to Kemp’s frantic call and returned to his side. Kemp believes that’s the only thing that saved Lady’s life.
“I wasn’t sure what she was going to do, but her life was threatened and I knew if she was with me, it would change the odds in the coyote’s mind to two against one,” said the 60-year-old man, adding that he’s not sure what he would’ve done if Lady hadn’t come to him immediately.
“I didn’t even have boots to kick it with. I would’ve had to attack it with a rock or whatever I found nearby.”
The coyote wasn’t deterred for long, however.
“It made a lunge towards both of us,” Kemp said.
Kemp started screaming and making himself look like a bigger predator than the coyote, desperate to protect his beloved dog and his own life.
“I think he was trying to get at my dog, the smaller prey, but he came right at me,” Kemp added.
Kemp’s actions scared off the animal, but he’s still concerned that it’s stalking his animals. His cats have refused to go outside over the past week and he’s convinced that Lady was reacting to the coyote as it stalked around the property.
He believes massive clearcutting in the area surrounding his home have left the coyotes without any natural prey for food and believes this coyote has been rejected from its pack.
“Coyotes travel in packs, and when you’re seeing a single animal, it makes me think the pack has driven it off for preying on the pups or smaller coyotes. They’re pack animals and they usually hunt in pairs,” he said, adding that he had never before come face to face with a coyote since he moved to the property in 1986.
He reported the incident to the Department of Natural Resources, but he thinks the province should be doing more when incidents of aggressive coyotes have been reported.
“There should be a team ready to go out and hunt these coyotes, whenever there’s an aggressive one reported,” he said, adding that he believes the government should increase the funds given to coyote bounty hunters to make them more likely to hunt coyotes.
The incident has left Kemp fearful about letting his pets outside and makes him worry about the safety of his two-year-old granddaughter, who comes to visit frequently.
“These animals are going to kill a child or a lone adult out in the woods.”
I respecfully disagree with your misguided opinions. Coyotes are being seen more often because the deer population has increased. When Deer levels rise you can expect the following year to have coyote population increases. It is the web and flow of nature. If you live in the country you should understand that you though you may hold the deed to the land, you share it with wildlife. It is just as much their land as yours. Coyotes and most recently a bear has been spotted in New Glasgow and other towns- Well the coyotes go where the deer go. End of story. The recent Bear siting can be explained as they are coming out of hibernation and there is not yet enough food grown in the wild for them to eat. As the weather is warmer the smell of the green bins draws them into town in an effort to get something to eat. The coyote incident was unfortunate in Cape Breton and heart goes out to the family that lost a daughter and I am glad Mr Kemp and his dog came out ok but if you live in the woods or frequent wooded areas- you are on the food chain like anything else. Culling animals for them doing what comes naturally is not the answer. Humans need to be educated. Trapping, Bounties etc is not a solution- When the deer population goes down so will the coyote, Man does not need to interfere as the populations cycles increase and decline naturally. It is when Man interferes with mother nature when problems arise. Let mother nature handle it.