Wily Coyotes

Tell me, what would you think if you had really strange neighbors? Neighbors who leave a radio playing on their back deck all day long while they're away? Neighbors who leave a spotlight shining under their porch all night? What if your neighbors came out periodically howling, clapping and banging sticks against the porch railing?

If your neighbors are like this, then I may be your neighbor.

For those of you who don't know, I live in Colorado and our house is right by an open space where the coyotes roam free and often howl eerily in the nighttime hours. Well as of about a month ago a family of coyotes decided it would be cool to set up house under our bottom deck. Little coyote puppies reside permanantly underneath the deck while mom & dad come and go. When we first discovered this little problem we called animal control. They kindly informed us they would do nothing but we could feel free to shoot them at our leisure. Yikes. We're not really a gun-wielding family not to mention we're pretty sure that's not actually legal.

Since we're on our own we've taken to trying different stratetgies. When we see them sneaking out we yell and chant to try to scare them off for good. We use the bright lights at night to try to intimidate them. The radio is my mom's latest idea, but I'm not entirely sure that's not just lulling them into a pleasant summertime stupor.

The situation is not ideal. Coyotes aren't usually too dangerous to humans, but in a pack like that and with babies to protect we don't want to mess with them. Plus, there really is nothing as shiver-inducing as being up late with insomnia when the howling starts from your own backyard. I'm beginning to develop a theory that they're werecoyotes given that they've been especially active the past few nights when the moon's been at its fullest. Hmm...

Anyway, I guess the moral of the story is (in multi-parts): 1.) My family is strange 2.) Coyotes do not = pleasant house pets and 3.) Next time you have strange-behaving neighbors maybe check under their porch for coyotes. Except, don't...because they might bite you.

Wishing you all lovely, coyote-free days.