Coyote sightings on the rise in Connecticut during breeding season

It’s currently coyote breeding season, followed by the upcoming birthing season in April.

MARLBOROUGH, Conn. — Dickinson Road is heavily wooded, and neighbors say they have heard coyotes more often in recent weeks since the breeding season started in January. Now they are even catching them right outside their homes.

“Luckily, we’ve seen a bunch of things,” Shawna Wainwright said. “I’ve seen a bear, I’ve seen a bobcat several times. I got good pictures of one last year. Skunks, possums, foxes. And the coyotes, we’ve seen them all the time, but I’ve never seen one before.”

From birds to reptiles and animals big and small, mother and daughter duo Shawna Wainright and Raiyn Runyan have taken photos of them all from their yard in Marlborough. But one animal they’d only hear but never see was a coyote.

“I had just woken up, and my window’s right next to my bed,” Runyan said. “I was looking out the window to see if there was anything out there, and I saw it coming over our cliff. And I was like ‘oh my God.’”

The coyote emerged from the fog and came within feet of the house. It wandered across their property before it scampered off.

Neighbors like Stephen Edwards say sightings are on the rise in the area, and coyotes are coming closer than ever before.

“They’ve been very brave,” Edwards said. “They come right into the yard, but as soon as they hear people, they tend to just run away.”

Right now, it’s coyote breeding season, followed by the upcoming birthing season in April. The Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) says there’s a low risk of a coyote attacking a person, but that chance increases in the spring during the pup-rearing season.

Stephanie Beebe takes no chances with her kids and dog.

“Keep an eye on your kids, your pets, things like that,” Beebe said. “Especially your smaller pets and smaller dogs.”

Wainwright and Runyan already lost a cat to the outdoors and think a coyote got to it. They say everyone should keep cats and dogs indoors unless they’re supervised.

“Mothers are protective of their young,” Wainwright said. “And they have to feed them. Unfortunately, sometimes our babies, our pets, become their food.”

Experts advise people to stay away from possible den sites, keep dogs supervised and on a leash, and never provide a source of food for coyotes. They say to scare away any coyotes that come too close.

“If they see the area is safe, especially the way it marked it, they’re going to be like ‘OK, it’s cool, they don’t care I’m here,’” Runyan said. and they’re going to keep coming back.”

Most coyotes will give birth in April, and litters can have up to seven pups.

Tim Littau is a Multi-Skilled Journalist at FOX61 News. He can be reached at tlittau@fox61.com

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