Read & React: Coyote Attacks Chicago Boy in City Park

December 12, 2013 By Dylan Polk

Farmers and hunters have long lamented the problems coyotes present when it comes to livestock and deer populations. As it turns out, even city folks are having 'yote problems.

According to WLS-TV in Chicago, a 3-year-old boy was bitten on the face by a coyote while walking with his mother near Columbus Park on the city's west side.

Check out the video from WLS-TV in Chicago.

Emeil Hawkins was walking with his mother a couple weeks ago when they passed by an alley, where they were approached by a single coyote.

"This was a single animal that approached Emeil, but there were several animals a little further down the alley," said Bryce Kyle, the mother's boyfriend.

Both Emeil and his mother mistook the coyote for a German shepherd, but when Emeil tried to feed the animal, it became aggressive and attacked Emeil before his mother could take him away.

"My girlfriend noticed that the animal hissed and kind of yelped. At this time, she ran for her son," said Kyle.

Coyotes in urban areas are nothing new, especially in Chicago, where experts say the animals exhibit behavior different from their wild cousins, and even have a longer lifespan.

Still, this story shows the potential danger coyotes can pose to humans. Earlier this year, a Washington man was attacked by coyotes after moving into his new home. Last month, a Colorado man was attacked by coyotes while walking on a rural road, fighting the predators off with a flashlight.

Thankfully, Emeil tested negative for rabies — as did several other coyotes that were captured by city officials and later euthanized. Coyote attacks on humans are relatively rare — they actually pose more of a threat to family pets — but it's a hard lesson for Emeil and his family to learn.

"Let's talk to our children. Let's let them know that these are not the types of animals we want to pet. These are not the types of animals that we want to come around," said Kyle.

Therein lies the problem. When wolves are left unchecked, they can, and do, decimate ungulate populations to the point where few animals are left. All those folks who say they only kill the sick and weak have never watched a pack of wolves eat a healthy, mature bull caribou alive as I have. They have never seen the trail of death a pack of wolves leaves behind as it kills to teach its pups how to hunt, or just for fun, eating little of the animals whose lives they have just ended.

"I've seen where wolves have killed Dall sheep rams at the top of the mountain in the deep snow of spring, watched them chase mountain goats along the tree line of a Southeast Alaska forest in August, and shred a cow elk in the Yellowstone basin," Robb said. Read the full story at Petersen's Hunting.

Wolf Hunting Debate in Minnesota

As Minnesota prepared for opening day of wolf season in November 2012, the controversy surrounding the once-endangered species erupted.

In 2012, the Minnesota Supreme Court rejected an effort by the Center for Biological Diversity and Howling for Wolves to stop the hunt from taking place. Despite their claims that Department of Natural Resources officials didn't adequately consider public opinion in the matter, Chief Justice Lorie Gildea thought otherwise. Read the full story at Petersen's Hunting.

Minnesota Wolf Hunter Gets Death Threats

With a highly disputed wolf season underway in Wisconsin in 2012, the tension between hunters and their opposition is clearly on the rise.

Dennis Nitz, a Wisconsin native and one of five people to kill a wolf in 2012 during the state's first annual season, said he received death threats within minutes of posting his photos of the wolf to Facebook. Nitz was one of over 1,000 people to receive a permit, while over 20,000 people applied for the right to hunt wolves this year. Read the full story at Petersen's Hunting.

Wisconsin Hunting Dog Killed by Wolves

For a lot of folks on both sides of the wolf debate, it's something they deal with from a safe distance. But for hunters like Ron Hill, it's a war being waged in his own backyard.

In October 2012, Hill and his hunting group were tracking a bear in Wisconsin — in an area familiar to them — with the use of their hound dogs, when one of the dogs got separated from the group and was brutally killed by a pack of wolves. The dog was a 1 1/2 year old female Treeing Walker and was killed in Douglas County. Read the full story at Petersen's Hunting.

Idaho Man Takes on Pack of Wolves

Apparently nobody told Rick Pearce that Liam Neeson already laid claim to the title as bloody knuckled wolf brawler in his movie The Grey.

It seems that Pearce, from Idaho, just doesn't care. On an archery elk hunt this past weekend near Clayton, Idaho, Pearce spent almost an hour calling in elk, only to find himself surrounded by a pack of wolves. As at least five wolves circled him, one made it within 40 yards. That's when Pearce decided to turn the tables on the pack. Read the full story at Petersen's Hunting.

Canus Lupus Dingo: The Australian Wolf

Interestingly enough, the dingo is actually classified as Canus lupus dingo — a subspecies of the gray wolf — so it makes sense that the situation in Australia has many similarities to the one in the U.S.

If anything, the alarming dingo problem is a foreshadow of things to come in the U.S. if wolf and coyote numbers aren't effectively managed. As is the case stateside, Australian animal rights activists paint the dingo in an almost exclusively rosy light, even blaming the death of children in dingo attacks on the parents' lack of situational awareness. Read the full story at Petersen's Hunting.

Teen Attacked by Wolf in Minnesota

It's often said by anti-hunters that wolves don't pose a threat to humans. The only problem with that theory, it seems, is that it stands contrary to the facts.

Noah Graham, 16, found that out personally when a wolf attacked him in Minnesota while he was camping with his girlfriend. Real the full story at Petersen's Hunting.

176 Sheep Killed by Wolves in Idaho

Think reintroduced wolves aren't causing a big problem for ranchers and farmers? Think again.

Siddoway Ranch in southeastern Idaho was shocked in August 2013 after 176 sheep were killed by two wolves, according to KTVB in Boise, Idaho. Check out the full story at Petersen's Hunting.