Nassau Resident Sees Coyote Chase Dog In Yard, Snaps A Picture

MANHASSET, NY — North Shore Nassau County residents might want to be careful with small dogs, one resident warns, after she spotted "a very large coyote" chasing her dog in her yard this week.

Stella Biniaris, in Manhasset, reported that after she let her dog Theo out at 5:30 a.m., he ran back inside the house "howling," and she saw a coyote outside. She managed to snap a photograph of the still relatively rare-on-Long Island wild animal.

Coyotes have only been spotted in Nassau and Suffolk counties in the last couple of years, and confirmed photographs are uncommon, except for trail camera photos, Frank Vicenti told Patch.

Vicenti runs the Wild Dog Foundation and says the coyotes have been in the area since they began to migrate from New York City seven years. They travel along green corridors like train tracks and parkways, he said.

Vicenti told Patch that a female coyote was killed on a nearby road in April and this one is likely her partner.

Male coyotes would take care of puppies if the mother died, Vicenti said.

"There are no dirtbags in the coyote population."

The Wild Dog Foundation studies and monitors the coyote populations and can humanely deter any coyotes who become overly comfortable near humans.

Vicenti says the coyote caught on camera this week was more likely being territorial than predatory toward the dog, but that people should be vigilant about letting dogs outside alone.

"Even if you just go outside, your presence will deter the coyotes."