Wild coyotes are dangerous to fiddle near. Usually, there is a strict protocol and bordered areas between man and wild in areas where a massive number of coyotes frolic. But the rabid demeanor of coyotes without reason is not normal, and they certainly do not attack out of the blue. Sometimes, impulsive coyote attacks are a result of rebid diseases spread in the wildlife that drive coyotes to behave in that manner.
People report a shocking incident via the Massachusetts authorities where a woman residing in the area describes a scary encounter with a coyote who was constantly attacking her in her driveway. The woman, Robin Totman, describes the incident where she says that a coyote suddenly attacked her as she was leaving her car after pulling up in her driveway, situated in her rural neighborhood of Stoughton, Massachusetts.
Totman told CBS News Boston in a statement acquired by People, “It was scary. There was something wrong with the animal. I am not an expert, but you could tell maybe it was rabid,” adding, “I had the window down and the coyote came running at the car and jumped towards the window,” continuing, “It kept jumping at my car. I put my window up and started blowing my horn to try and scare it away.”
She described her desperate yet failed attempts at scaring off the creature to the news outlet, saying, “I tried to beep my horn to try, you know, to get it to go away or whatever, and really, it wouldn’t go anywhere. It just had me trapped,” adding, “It just kept running back and forth,” she said. “It ran to the door; it ran to the car; it scratched back up again.” Totman proceeded to describe that she remained waiting in the car for 15 minutes unsure of how to get away without getting attacked by the coyote, saying that she could not leave her car without getting attacked because the coyote was in proximity to the car.
As reported by the authorities who logged Totman’s experience via People, she proceeded to inform her husband about her plight. Fifteen long minutes later, she finally freed herself when another animal in the nearby woods distracted the coyote from Totman, and she was able to safely run into her home. She recalls the incident, “It was scary. I mean, I didn’t know what to do,” she added, “That was the main thing. I never encountered anything like that before.”
According to People, ‘Totman reported the incident to the Stoughton Police Department and shared the story in a neighborhood Facebook group to warn other residents of the coyote’s presence.’
Adding flavor and logic to this incident, Dave Wattles, a black bear and furbearer biologist for the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife, spoke to The Enterprise in a statement acquired by People, where he elucidated that there has been a recent uptick in rabid coyote incidents and attributed it to a “high density of coyotes throughout [Mass.],” and comments that the Totman encounter was a solid example of a rabid coyote encounter. He told the outlet, “That kind of real aggression where it is kind of, it’s going after, you know – whether it’s her, the car, it’s difficult to say – but with real fervor and aggression. That’s an indication that that was a rabid animal,” per reports acquired by People.
The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife deliberates protocols to combat for residents to remove food sources, protect pets, eliminate shelter, and haze coyotes — which includes waving your arms or clapping towards the coyote, making loud noises, spraying a hose or throwing small objects in the coyote’s direction.