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Showdown at the Mall: Coyote Vs. Poodle

By Joanna Miller in Miscellaneous on Apr 4, 2006 8:24PM

So those urban coyotes who’ve invaded Chicago? They weren’t so bad when they were just sniffing around the suburbs and hanging out at Lincoln Park Zoo. Even when they started eating geese, no one seemed to mind too much. It’s the circle of life, and goose poop is gross. But then they started attacking dogs. And now, indirectly, people. Oh it is on, coyotes. It is on.

coyote0001.JPGIn what’s being called the “most brazen in a series of recent coyote attacks,” a coyote approached Crissy Lacks and her miniature poodle, Annie, in the parking lot of a Lincolnwood mall. Coyotes are responsible for the recent deaths of a terrier in Northfield, a beagle in Glencoe and a Yorkshire terrier in Arlington Heights, but Lacks, a 60-year-old retired English teacher, was not about to let Annie go without a fight.

Lacks tried to pry the dog from the coyote’s grip and then threw a bag of clothes at it. That did the trick and the coyote backed off. Lincolnwood police tried unsuccessfully to capture the coyote, and a local coyote trapper says these incidents are becoming increasingly common.

We’re used to encountering the occasional rambling drunk person and canine bully when walking our dog, but coyotes? Sure a 60-year-old English teacher fought one off with a shopping bag, but what about next time? What’s it going to take? An orthopaedic shoe? An oversized handbag?

coyote warning via Greg7