A Saskatoon woman says runners should stay alert on the trails, after she encounted a coyote along a river pathway on Sunday.

Donna McKnight was running along the east side of the river, not far from Preston Crossing, close to Circle Drive Bridge.

At one point, she said could feel something strange, and when she turned around there was a coyote hunched in the grass, staring at her.

"I was actually kind of proud of myself because I did the things you're supposed to do: I didn't run away; I made myself really big; I had a red jacket on; I started hollering at him," McKnight said.

But the coyote didn't budge.

"I was surprised because he didn't turn around and run away. He kept coming towards me. So I mean it took quite a while of me hollering at him to get him to start to back off."

'It was not scared'

She phoned her husband, in case he needed to know her location, and kept shouting at the animal. It was making eye contact with her, but not growling.

The coyote eventually bowed its head and backed off into a grove of trees. McKnight said she warned other runners she met up with on the trail and let the police know.

To me it was a little scary because I would expect that once you start hollering, and you were there that it would turn around and run away. - Donna McKnight

"It was concerning, because anybody else coming down that trail, would go right through that cove of trees," she said.

"If he's in there and he's that aggressive, I thought it was important the police know what was going on."

McKnight said the animal might have been fixated on a rabbit or some other prey. But she still expected it to be more timid.

"To me it was a little scary because I would expect that once you start hollering, and you were there that it would turn around and run away," McKnight said. "It was not scared."

Despite the encounter, she will keep running along the river. But she'll stay alert. McKnight said she refrains from using earbuds and always carries a cellphone with her.

An official with Canada North Environmental Services in Saskatoon said coyote attacks are rare, but people should be aware because they can carry rabies.

The official added that people should be loud, make their presence known and refrain from running away as that might make the coyote thing they are prey.

