BEND, OR -- It is not uncommon to see coyotes wandering through local neighborhoods these days. For the most part, they're looking for garbage or pet food. But, Randy Lewis, a wildlife biologist with the state Fish and wildlife office in Bend, says they will attack small animals. “They will kill small pets if they have an opportunity, if they feel threatened. Or if there’s more than one of them they actually at times gang up on them and kill they and they will consume them.”
Lewis says the best way to avoid that unfortunate scenario is to keep garbage covered and do not put pet food outdoors. “They are opportunists. They will go for garbage and pet food. Normally they’re just in there looking for the easiest meal they can get. And that’s their main source of food is small mammals.”
He says coyotes pose little threat to people.
