
Do Not Leave Your Dogs Outside Alone In Illinois This Month
It's a weird time of the year.
Besides tanking everyone's productivity, January is dark and cold. It's a great time of the year to snuggle with our pets on the couch and avoid all responsibilities.
If you have dogs, you may just let them out in the yard and go about your business until they want back in. But that's a real gamble this time of the year and it's not one that experts suggest taking.
Watch Your Dogs In Winter
Wildlife experts are reminding you to keep a close eye on your dogs when they're outside (especially at night) or any outdoor cats you have. That's because it's coyote mating season.
Coyotes in Illinois are protected and officials estimate there are around 30,000 of them in the state. Normally they're in wooded areas but it's not that uncommon for them to wander around in neighborhoods.
Coyotes can't differentiate a cat or a small dog from potential prey nor can they differentiate a bigger dog from another coyote and may see it as a threat. It's kinda rare for coyotes to breed with domestic dogs but they could definitely attack your dog if they see it as competition.
What To Do
- Get potential food off the property ("human-associated food sources", like bird seed and garbage, signal to the coyote that there's a potentially reliable food source around)
- Haze it (yell at it, spray it, whatever to scare it off)
- Keep your dog on a leash when it's outside. Don't just watch it from the porch. Experts say most coyote attacks on dogs happen when the dog is either supervised from a distance or unsupervised at all.
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