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Comment by as-j | Hacker News Reader

As an early morning runner in SF, I see coyotes in SF every week or two, including at Twin peaks as mentioned in the article. One morning in Golden Gate Park I warned a few people walkings dogs since there were about 4 coyotes around the corner.

From my first hand experience, I'd assume any wooded area with cover in SF has a coyote living there.

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Not only that, many SF parks have signs warning about this, even years before the pandemic.

That they would wander out of the wooded areas is no shock. A couple years ago I saw one strolling along the sidewalk in the Presidio not far from Main Post, acting more or less the same way a tourist would.

I lived in the Presidio not too long ago and I would see and hear them all the time. That was a fun place to live.

I took the opportunity to visit Glen Canyon Park last time I was in San Francisco, after a local recommended to me, and it was a wonderful interlude in my visit; they had signs up noting that there would be coyotes about at twilight; alas I was there mid-day and didn't get to see them.

I did, however, get to see hummingbirds for the first (and so far only) time in my life.

That’s a great place for hikes. It’s got a seasonal creek and small wetlands. They’ve got signs posted about the local wildlife you can expect see. It’s a shame dogs aren’t limited to a given area as they drive away some wildlife.

I envied the kids whose pre-school was in it. What a great way to spend your early childhood days!

And I appreciated the signage for giving me some of the history and and pointers on what to keep an eye out for.

I walk through there every morning and regularly run into them! They're most active around 6:45am-ish.

Coyote sightings were a regular occurrence on my NextDoor feed long before the quarantine.

Nextdoor is essentially a nationwide service for people to share coyote sightings in their neighborhood. No matter where they are, people won't shut up about them.

Here it's: "did anyone hear those gunshots last night?!?" (in reference to fireworks).

My neighbors on Nextdoor constantly complain about coyotes eating their cats. Yet they seem to resent my suggestions to keep cats inside.

I'd see Coyotes relatively often when I'd go on insomnia walks through Outer Richmond and Golden Gate.

They were pretty small though. I wouldn't want my Yorkie near them, but they were more like an oversized Fox.

There have been sightings in Corona Heights too (pretty far from GGP)

How appropriate.

Coyotes are pretty adapted to city living. I know in my city (Vancouver) they are not uncommon to see, even in some pretty densely populated areas of town. I once had one walk right in front of me in a residential area one night, it wandered by so casually that I was sure it was a dog until I was about 5 feet from it.

Reading the comments just above I was just thinking of commenting the same thing for Vancouver, which is why I don't see the big issue with a sighting. In Vancouver when I lived there, they were almost a daily thing even in very urban areas far from a larger forest, and frequently ate pets too. Skunks too. Skunks everywhere and quite brazen for all their fat, waddly slowness.

What advice do you have for dealing with coyotes when jogging? I've learned the hard way that running away tends to trigger their fight-or-flight reflex, which isn't good.

Coyotes are basically dogs with cat software. They’re pretty skiddish. Usually stomping or clapping will make them go away.

They've never bothered me, I treat them like any other wild animal, give them a wide berth, let them be, don't trap them, and don't turn my back on them. Normally they're going somewhere, and just let them go there.

I worry about people with dogs since dogs can easily chase a coyote, corner it then get bitten or eaten if it's small enough.

Do like Texas's former governor, Rick Perry—shoot it dead.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100501095227/http://www.chron....

I've heard that some sorts of animals (racoons?) have moved onto the top of the Facebook buildings.

Same. I even regularly see a few at Coit Tower.

I've seen them in the last year or two while driving through SF at night.

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