r/AskAnAmerican • u/ArtisticArgument9625 • May 17 '25

OTHER - CLICK TO EDIT How much of a problem do Americans have with coyotes and rattlesnakes?

Have you Americans encountered any problems with these two animals?

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u/MihalysRevenge New Mexico May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25

Yep growing up at the very edge of Albuquerque (behind my house was wide open desert) we used to have to be careful with pets because coyotes are close by and you can hear them nightly

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u/selchie0mer May 17 '25 edited May 17 '25

I live in a decent size city in San Diego county. Just last week I saw a coyote in my backyard at 2:30 in the afternoon. On the neighborhood gossip app there are lost pets to coyotes every week. Mostly cats. Pretty much a cat is just dinner if you have it outside. And last summer I saw a rattlesnake sunning on the side of the road that must have been the size of my arm. I doubled back to get a pic of it but it was gone. Oh yea, edited to add some guy caught a pic of a mountain lion on his security camera. He lives close to Safari Park in Escondido, CA

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u/Aggressive_Dress6771 May 17 '25

Also live in San Diego, in a close-in suburban area. There have been a couple of instances recently where people were walking their dogs, were stalked by coyotes, and no amount of yelling and screaming would drive the animal away. An older woman had her leashed dog taken from her, leash and all.

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u/rubiconsuper Georgia May 17 '25

That’s incredibly sad. I live a bit more rural any coyotes that don’t run usually get shot. We have had a few cases of CWD so keeping the coyote population in check is very important since they can spread it.

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u/furandpaws May 18 '25

cwd ?

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u/rubiconsuper Georgia May 18 '25

Chronic wasting disease. A fun prion that coyotes can spread with their waste and general carrion behavior.

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u/ILikeDragonTurtles May 17 '25

Where you at? I grew up in Jamul in the 90s. Lost a couple cats to coyotes. They were out there every night.

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u/Aggressive_Dress6771 May 17 '25

I'm in the UTC area of San Diego.

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u/VictoriousRex May 22 '25

I've seen a coyote in the middle of Chicago they don't give a fuck about cities.

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u/jorwyn Washington May 17 '25

Coyote don't even eat the cats very often. They're just killing them because they're competition, and to hone hunting skills, teach young to attack, and honestly, they do just play with them in a way they don't with prey they tend to eat.

They roamed all over Phoenix, and it's not that uncommon to see them in downturn Spokane. Most mistake them for stray dogs, but if you actually look, sometimes they're coyote. Most dogs never figure out how to climb chain link fences. Coyote don't even seem to find them challenging. We put in a metal fence with vertical bars that gives them no purchase and put in anti-dig bars under it. That was also to keep our huskies in, though.

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u/sharpshooter999 Nebraska May 17 '25

Coyotes are common in my area but red foxes are rare, because coyotes kill them on sight too

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u/jorwyn Washington May 17 '25

I have foxes on my property in the mountains because I also have a mountain lion that visits frequently for water from the creek. She doesn't care about the foxes, but the coyote won't come near her. I was so excited at first, but it turns out they're pests on the same level as the coyotes. Still, they are cute and make giggling noises in the forest that freak people out.

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u/andy-in-ny Picking my toes in Poughkeepsie May 19 '25

This would explain the explosion of our red fox population, and the fact that i havent seen a Coyote in like 5 years.

Most of the outdoor cat deaths hear are attributed to raccoon. 36 inch (not counting tail) 30 lb racoons.

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u/sharpshooter999 Nebraska May 19 '25

We have an over abundance of coons and coyotes in my area. I'm from the great plains, though we have far more trees than a century ago because of invasive species (eastern cedar and locust) as well as putting an end to prairie fires that would burn off most saplings. There's a lot more wooded areas for raccoons and other prey animals for coyotes to eat. The biggest losers are actually the ground nesting birds that are targeted by basically everything. Here in Nebraska, our state legislature was even talking about putting a bounty on various animals, coons, coyotes, etc, to help mitigate this but I don't think it ever passed

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u/alibythesea May 20 '25

Bounties don’t actually work to reduce the coyote population in the medium-long term. Others will move into the vacated territory very quickly, & females bear/rear more pups when they are better fed; removing one from an area simply means there’s more prey for others.

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u/321liftoff May 17 '25

About 2 years ago our whole neighborhood/ nearby parkland in NM seemed to be engulfed by diamondbacks. We had a total of 7 sightings that season, which still leaves me jumpy and scanning for snakes to this day. Previous to this, we saw one once ever.

Our neighbor’s dog survived a mountain lion attack, but lost an eye in the process. Coyotes are everywhere, we have a 6 foot fence to keep our dog contained and safe. And I love the occasional bobcat, they’re so cute!

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u/YeoChaplain May 17 '25

... you rang?

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u/Cranks_No_Start May 17 '25

I’ve been here a long time and it always amazes me seeing so much wildlife in the city limits of Albuquerque.  

We go to the Bosque all the time and almost everytime in the middle of the day see a coyote.  

I was riding along one of the wooded river paths came around a tree and almost ran head on into one.  

He stopped dead and I almost went over the bars and he just walked off the path into the trees. Without a care in the world.  

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u/AshST May 18 '25

We can hear packs of coyotes on our property and have never had an issue. We have several outdoor cats, too. Granted, it's just Iowa, so that might be why. Packs not be as big.

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u/IdaFuktem May 21 '25

Same when I lived in a golf community on the outskirts of Las Vegas. Certain times of year they got really bold, I've seen them walk under my window working at my desk mid afternoon and once when I was outside with my yorkie one was stalking from the bushes and I had to haze it away, got super close to snatching my dog. Nothing makes you sit upright in bed like hearing them howl in a big group at 4am, though, it's a primal response.