Westchester County, New York residents urged to scare off coyotes and not make them feel welcome in neighborhoods--outside of shooting them, this is the right way to go!

Yonkers cop shoots at coyote; state urges aggressive response to the animals

By Greg Clary • gclary@lohud.com • July 3, 2010

 NEW PALTZ — State wildlife officials want communities with increasing coyote sightings to be more aggressive in scaring the animals off.

But Yonkers police were hours ahead of those Friday afternoon warnings: An officer there took two shots at a coyote about 1:20 a.m. near Chase and Park avenues.

"Whether it was struck by a bullet or not I certainly don't know," Yonkers police Lt. Philip Collins said. "We have no more information as to the whereabouts of the coyote at this point or whether it's dead or alive."

An off-duty police officer saw the coyote near his home and called police. He described it as light brown or golden in color, with matted fur, a long snout and a bushy, curved tale.

Yonkers police Sgt. Bryant Pappas fired two shots at the coyote upon arriving at the scene and said he believed one of the bullets hit the animal because he heard a "yelp sound."

Pappas didn't fire additional shots because he was near several residences, police said, and it would have been too dangerous.

Rye police reported no new incidents or coyote sightings Friday afternoon.

Lt. Robert Falk said the department would have extra patrols over the weekend in response to the two coyote attacks on little girls within four days.

Rye Mayor Doug French said residents should continue to keep up their guards as they start the holiday weekend.

"There are a lot of community events planned this weekend, and we just advise people to follow our precautions and if confronted to know how to act and to keep your children nearby," he said.

Officials from the state Department of Environmental Conservation met with Rye and Westchester County police officers, as well as county parks officials and others, at the agency's regional headquarters in New Paltz.

In a two-hour meeting, wildlife experts and conservation officers urged community representatives to have residents respond more aggressively to the animals, to make the animals uncomfortable in the presence of humans.

"The air horns are a good idea," DEC spokeswoman Wendy Rosenbach said. "They scare the animals."


Included in the strategies are getting residents to make noise with pots and pans, or other metal objects, throw rocks or sticks and possibly even use pepper spray.

Rosenbach said DEC officials reiterated the police's authorization to use deadly force or to set traps.

"We think the city of Rye and others have been doing the right thing so far," Rosenbach said. "We basically want the coyotes to not want to be around human beings."

Staff writers Will David and Hannan Adely contributed to this report.