SAGINAW, MI -- Tawny Lamb was in the kitchen of her Saginaw home when something moving outside caught her eye.

It was about 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, and Lamb, 27, thought she was looking at a fox in her backyard, which adjoins with Arthur Hill High School property. She snapped a few photos of the canine and sent them to family and friends.

"They all told me, 'Don't go outside, it's a coyote!'" Lamb said. "That was the first time I had ever seen one in real life. It was pretty big. Bigger than a full grown dog and really tall. It's legs were really long."

She does not have kids or pets and said the animal seemed to be scared of people, so she did not report the sighting to anyone.

Related: Videos show coyote sightings across Michigan; send us your photos and videos

Some of her neighbors tried to scare it off, but the coyote sat under the pine trees in her yard for about an hour. Later, a neighbor on an ATV chased the coyote out of the area.

"I'm not really concerned for my safety," she said. "I don't have any pets or little kids. so I figured he's not harming anyone. And this way, he's not getting the neighborhood animals going or possibly hurting them."

It's the first coyote Lamb has spotted in the neighborhood. After posting photos on Facebook, a lady messaged Lamb and said that she had what seemed to be the same coyote in her yard earlier that morning around 8 a.m. at her house on State east of Midland Road, nearly three miles away.

Saginaw County Animal Control Director LeAnn Ridley said the agency has not received many calls about coyotes in Saginaw. Any callers reporting a coyote sighting are referred to the Department of Natural Resources, because animal control deals with domestic animals, not wild animals, she said.

Coyotes have been in the news recently including two attacks in late January on horses at an Oakland County farm. One of the horses attacked was killed and another survived.

DNR Wildlife Technician Jon Curtis told The Flint Journal that attacks taking down a full-grown horse are uncommon.

Attacks on humans also are rare, he said.

"Coyotes are really misunderstood," he told The Flint Journal. "They are usually a really timid animal or docile animal."

In the event someone does have a coyote cross their path, Curtis said the animal will likely run if a person makes a lot of noise and waves his or her arms.

"Usually when they see humans, they'll book it," he said.

While he understood some people may get a bit panicky about the recent attack, he added, "They really have nothing to fear about being attacked."

-- Brad Devereaux is a public safety reporter for MLive/The Saginaw News. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+