Coyote presence is sensationalized in Chicago media and Chicago social platforms. A study found that “newspaper articles concerning human–coyote conflicts have increased over twenty-fold since the 1990s (Figure 1). Perhaps as a result, homeowners in the Chicago metropolitan area have ranked coyotes as the wildlife species perceived as the greatest threat to human health and safety (Miller, Campbell, Yeagle, & Colligan, 2001), despite that there have not been any verified coyote attacks on humans within the Chicago metropolitan area to date.”

References and source of Figure 1: UHDW14(6).book(UHDW_A_405705.fm) (urbancoyoteresearch.com)

In the Spring of 2021, a coyote (believed to be a mother or father with babies close by) was present during daylight hours “escorting” residents of the Skokie (a suburb of Chicago) Devonshire neighborhood away from its den. This escorting behavior is a tactic to keep their babies safe and, though the behaviors seem threatening (i.e., showing teeth, “bluff” charges, hunching), they are just trying to scare your dog away without having to fight it. However, this escorting behavior unsurprisingly terrified humans and there were calls to remove the coyote. What most do not know is that if a female is removed, the male will abandon the den as well, which means the pups will die. There was much public debate between those who wanted coyotes removed and those who thought the coyotes should live where they please, especially if they had pups.

In the end, animal control decided to use the situation as an educational experience, deciding not to trap the coyote and instead teaching the public how to coexist by distributing press releases and placing flyers in the area which educated the public on what to do if approached by a coyote. After a few weeks of sightings, the coyote family moved on and no attacks were ever reported.