SWAMPSCOTT — In the wake of an incident Saturday night where a resident and their dog became surrounded by a group of coyotes, police on Sunday shared tips for coyote interactions, which have grown increasingly common in town.
Swampscott police were called to Rockledge Road around 9:30 p.m. Saturday after a resident reported that he had become surrounded by coyotes while out walking their dog. The resident, who police did not identify, said the group of coyotes were “not backing down,” police wrote in a statement posted to Facebook.
When police arrived, they observed at least nine coyotes, and the animals appeared to be scared off by the arrival of the police cruisers and the strobe lights. Police then escorted the caller and his dog back to their residence without incident.
“That guy was a few minutes from having a bad situation turn worse,” said Sgt. Jay Locke, a spokesman for Swampscott police, noting that the resident who called police had made efforts to ward off the coyotes but had not been successful doing so. “He was horrified that the coyotes weren’t backing down in any way.”
Locke said coyotes are not a new phenomenon around Swampscott, but has noticed an increase in sightings.
“Every couple of years they sort of have a little upswing in their population but this is the most I’ve seen,” Locke said. “The ones that we’ve seen are fairly healthy, so they’re hunting and eating pretty well.”
Police were unsure of where the particular group of coyotes the resident encountered Saturday were living, but Locke said he saw a pack of about five near the White Court Swampscott development on Littles Point Road around 3:30 a.m. Sunday.
“What’s making the population grow is the food source,” he said. “They’re all over town, not in one particular hot spot.”
The chief tactic police recommendation was hazing, where one “makes use of deterrents to move an animal out of an area or discourage an undesirable behavior or activity” in an attempt to maintain a coyote’s fear of humans.
“Using a variety of different hazing tools is critical so that coyotes don’t get used to redundant or single stimulus devices, sounds, and actions,” the statement said, suggesting noisemakers, projectiles like sticks and rubber balls, and pepper spray as potential forms of hazing.
Residents are encouraged to be “loud and large” in their hazing attempts, and police suggested standing tall, waving your arms, yelling at the coyote, and even approaching them if necessary.
“If a coyote has not been hazed before, they may not immediately run away when you yell at them. If this happens, you may need to walk towards the coyote and increase the intensity of your hazing,” the statement said. “The coyote may run away, but then stop after a distance and look at you. It is important to continue to go after the coyote until they completely leave the area.”
Police also suggested carrying homemade noisemakers, squirt guns, or pepper spray while walking a dog as means to repel a coyote.
Keeping pets and pet food inside remains the best way to ensure coyotes don’t wind up in one’s yard, police said, suggesting that residents try hazing if they do see a coyote in their yard.
Residents were warned to “never run away from a coyote,” and police noted that it may take one or two tries to “haze a coyote away for good.”
