Ken Palmer

Lansing State Journal

LANSING - Rob Hecksel has spent enough time in the wild to know a coyote when he sees one.

But when he spotted a large adult coyote while jogging in his west Lansing neighborhood on Monday, it took him awhile to process what he was seeing.

"I'm a bow hunter, and I've seen them in the wild, so I know what they look like," said Hecksel, 49. "But when I see coyotes while I'm out for a jog in the Genesee circle, it's kind of out of context. It just didn't fit, you know?"

Hecksel said he saw the animal about 5 p.m. near the corner of Osborn Road and South Genesee Drive. It was moving at a fast trot toward the former Fisher Body plant site, he said.

Someone else who lives in the neighborhood west of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and south of Saginaw Street saw it, as well, he said.

Odd though it might seem, it's not unusual to see coyotes in urban areas, said Chad Fedewa, a wildlife biologist at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources's Rose Lake Field office. There have been other sightings on Lansing's west side, including near the Lansing Mall in Delta Township, he said.

"They are thriving just about everywhere in Michigan,' he said. "People just don't expect to see them in those (urban) areas. At this time of year. they tend to be more visible because it's their breeding season."

Coyotes typically prey on small mammals, including mice, rats and rabbits, Fedewa said. They rarely attack humans but have been known to prey on small pets.

A small family dog was attacked by a coyote Friday morning in a residential backyard in Canton Township, west of Detroit. The Bichon Frise was taken to a veterinarian but died later that day, the Canton Public Safety Department said in a news release.

"Coyote sightings have been prevalent across metro Detroit for several years, and unfortunately, similar attacks to family dogs have recently been reported in Grosse Ile and Shelby Township," the release said.

Adult coyotes typically weigh 25 to 45 pounds and can resemble a medium-size German Shepard. They are naturally wary of humans but are often drawn to garbage, pet food or bird feeders in residential areas, the DNR says.

The agency recommends that small pets be kept indoors when coyotes are around. When outside, pets should be kept on a leash or accompanied by someone, especially after dark.

It's also a good idea to bring trash inside and remove bird feeders, the DNR said. It's a bad idea to try to feed coyotes.

If you see a coyote, you can often scare it off by yelling, clapping or making some other loud noise, the DNR says.

Hecksel estimated the weight of the coyote he saw at more than 40 pounds. If he hadn't seen it himself, he would have been skeptical, he said.

"But I guess it's not that much of a stretch when you think about all the acreage we have," he said. "There's the (former Waverly) golf course and the old General Motors property."

People were joking about the cartoon characters Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner after he posted the sighting on Facebook, he said.

"I saw it as a danger," he said. "We have a lot of dog-walkers. A 20-pounder like my little guy probably would be an easy meal for a coyote."

A DNR brochure about coyotes is available at http://www.michigan.gov/documents/dnr/coyote_smart_brochure_504760_7.pdf

Information from the Detroit Free Press is included in this report.

Contact Ken Palmer at (517) 377-1032 or kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @KBPalm_lsj.