Coyote encounter leaves resident shaken

OPINION —  After a recent encounter with a large, aggressive coyote near Royal Oak Road and Thunderbird Boulevard in Sun City, I wanted to let people know never to take their fur babies’ safety for granted.

I couldn’t sleep and my two greyhounds seemed restless, so I took them for a walk around 3:30 a.m. As we headed home, my dogs tensed up and started growling. When we passed an overhead light, a very large coyote began walking in a slow, stalking stance toward us.

My girls barked, snapped, snarled and lunged at the coyote, who kept coming. I slowly backed up until we were in the middle of the road, and the coyote was under the light on the sidewalk. The light, fierce dogs and me hollering, “git, git,” had no effect on the coyote.

My dogs were so stressed they were straining and choking against their collars in mid-air, then they began fighting with each other.  

To the rescue came our hero and neighbor, Tom, who heard the ruckus inside his house and came out to help us. He chased the coyote away, twice, and walked us all the way home.

This should have been the end of the story, but no, the coyote or coyotes were outside our home for the next hour as my dogs barked and charged at our Arizona room sliding door, and my bedroom and living room windows.

Hard to believe we live in a suburban environment. Later, another neighbor told me she heard the disturbance all the way down to her house and thought it was the TV.

I’ve ordered an electronic water pistol to use while we are outside walking, in addition to carrying pepper spray. If anyone knows of some other legal device to keep us safe, I’d appreciate the feedback.

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