House Cat Fends Off Three Coyotes In L.A.
BY Herschel Smith
4 years, 10 months ago
Via reader Fred. News from L.A.
You learn two things from this video. First of all, Coyotes have lost their fear of other Coyotes and now work in packs. This is learned behavior, along with an admixture of Wolf DNA. Don’t go out unarmed.
Second, cats. Even when I walked my 90 pound Doberman Heidi (before she passed away), when she tried to screw with local cats I always pulled her back.
I’d say to her, “That cat will claw your eyes out girl and I’ll be walking a blind dog. Learn what you can mess with and what you can’t.”
I would have turned her loose on Yotes, other dogs, or two-legged assailants. Not cats.
Good Lord, I miss my girl. So much.
On January 17, 2020 at 8:19 am, Ned said:
Around here there’s two types of outdoor cats: The ones who learn to deal with coyotes and the ones who don’t.
When I worked in Southern California in the early 90’s I saw a coyote diagonally crossing a six lane intersection with a cat in its mouth.
There’s always the wrong cat. Little Fluffy in the video is certainly one.
On January 17, 2020 at 8:35 am, Fred said:
Yotes have a very high bite pressure for crushing bones as they have historically scavenged off of large predator kills, pre-urbanization. They have either adapted or always did hunt small prey by ambush. When they strike fluffy or a little doggie the bite pretty much does the prey in and it’s over as the prey are crushed. Your pets, especially cats establish their territory and cats are very pattern (routine) oriented. It’s not hard for a yote to hang out in a neighborhood and see when the pets get let out and be waiting right in the bushes or the fence-line or whatever. Cats see movement especially, ambushment is their weakness.
The owner is smart is to keep the cat inside. The yotes would setup on those bushes or somewhere, count on it.
We have wild cats around here, and some survive and some don’t. I think the combo of wariness and cleverness is what the survivors have. Few make it to adulthood.
On January 17, 2020 at 11:49 am, Where Eagles Dare said:
Coyote free zone signs next to the signs that say…danger this sign has sharp metal edges.
Man plans and Mother Nature laughs as she sharpens her fangs.
On January 19, 2020 at 12:22 am, Dan said:
That cat is alive because those coyotes weren’t hungry enough to make the effort. Isn’t a housecat on the planet that is capable of taking on a
determined coyote and win. Even a bobcat will avoid tangling with them if they can and they are a LOT more capable than your moggie out after dark.
On January 19, 2020 at 12:57 am, Herschel Smith said:
@Dan,
Yea, a dog or Coyote can kill a cat, but not without risk. They’re smarter than you give them. They have to evaluate “Can I do this and still have eyesight after it’s all over with?” Maybe, maybe not. And will the small meal have been worth it?
Risk and rewards. It’s a balance they play, and cats don’t always lose. Big cats never lose unless they die later.
They have claws. Their claws are faster than anything the Yotes can throw. This weighs heavily in the risk category. They know that.
This video proves what I’m saying.
And I’m not one bit afraid of Yotes unless there is a pack. A pack is a problem.
On January 19, 2020 at 1:50 pm, Pat Hines said:
There’s an older video of a dog attacking a little boy and the family cat jumping the dog and chasing it away.
https://youtu.be/JRhV8YoEUqA
On January 19, 2020 at 5:45 pm, RSR said:
Coyotes live in family groups but typically hunt solo or in pairs. Generally, they only hunt in packs to ambush full size dogs or hunt mid-sized livestock like sheep and goats or white-tailed deer.
Coywolves tend to exhibit more pack hunting behavior that straight coyotes.