CAMBRIDGE — Lisa Vaudin let her Jack Russell terrier off-leash near the basketball nets at Churchill Park, where they have walked almost every day for 11 years.

Vaudin turned around and her dog Pouncer was gone.

Her deaf, 15-year-old pet was off in the distance on the edge of the woods, beside what Vaudin thought was another dog.

But the other dog was a coyote, the first one she had ever seen at the park.

"Then I heard her yelping," Vaudin said on Tuesday, recounting the attack Sunday afternoon.

"I started running toward her, screaming. It wasn't at all afraid of me at all, just kept right on my dog. I had to hit it with Pouncer's leash to get the coyote off of her, before she would go into the woods."

Pouncer needed 18 stitches for puncture wounds and gashes to both sides off her neck and hindquarters. A vet treated the dog Sunday night.

"She's on the mend," said Vaudin, a service adviser for a car dealership in Galt who lives a few blocks from Churchill Park.

"She fought this coyote like a trooper. If this was any other kind of breed that was docile, it wouldn't have stood a chance."

Vaudin says she saw two coyote pups come out of the woods of Churchill Park on Sunday after she had put Pouncer back her on her leash.

The coyote, believed by Vaudin to be the mother, then chased Vaudin and Pouncer back to a walking bridge over Moffat Creek. The coyote stopped at the bridge.

"I just know there's a den in there," she said of the woods in the park.

"I think the coyote was waiting, just saw an opportunity. Because Pouncer wasn't in the woods. She was just on the ridge. It came right out to get her."

On Monday, the City of Cambridge sent out a warning on social media, saying it had received calls about coyotes in parts of Churchill Park.

"Please use caution when in these areas," said a message directing residents to the city website for general tips on dealing with wildlife.

By Tuesday, the city had contacted the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry for guidance. A qualified professional was to come in as soon as possible and humanely remove the coyotes from Churchill Park.

"Relocation is the idea," said Dennis Purcell, the city's director of building and enforcement. "Hopefully, very, very soon, it should be a matter that's behind us."

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

In Kitchener, city staff monitor coyote activity in parks. Last week, the city got a report of a coyote seen in the area of Lakeside Park, near Queen's Boulevard and Stirling Avenue.

"But nothing since then," Joshua Shea, the City of Kitchener's natural areas co-ordinator, said on Tuesday.

Shea says that when coyotes follow people until the people leave their territory that behaviour is usually associated with a nearby den.

"It's very, very important to keep your dogs on leashes," Shea said. "They have less tolerance of dogs at that point or at that time of year."

And off-leash dogs can be attacked if there is a nearby den, just as Vaudin described happened in Churchill Park.

"That's exactly what will happen, especially when they have a den," Shea said. "Especially in the spring months or in the fall and winter months when they're moving around a little bit more."

The City of Kitchener has a fact sheet about coyotes on its website. The City of Waterloo got a report on Sunday that two coyotes had been spotted in the area of McDougall Road and Shakespeare Drive, near Clair Lake Park.

Vaudin said the coyote that attacked her dog in Churchill Park was simply trying to protect and feed the pups.

"I don't want anything bad to happen to these coyotes," she said. "They have every right to be there. I had Pouncer off leash. Had I not done that, this wouldn't have happened. I just think people need to be aware."

jhicks@therecord.com