Coyotes Break Door Glass Trying To Chase Dogs Into Riverside Home
Coyote Attack
RIVERSIDE, Ill. (CBS) --For anyone who thinks coyotes are shy, retiring creatures of the woods, think again.
In a particularly brazen attack in Riverside, four coyotes chased a beagle, a retriever and a German Shepherd puppy in a backyard off South Herbert Road. Once the pets made it into the house, it didn't end there. The marauding animals broke glass panels on a door in an attempt to get inside.
"They were snarling. You could see all their teeth. The hair was, I mean, just standing up on their back as they were clawing at the door," Roger Nelson tells CBS 2's Pamela Jones.
Nelson says he had let his dogs out to relieve themselves inside the fenced part of his back yard around 1:30 a.m. Friday. He saw the coyotes stalking and easily launch themselves over the 3 ½-foot fence.
He rushed two of his dogs up the back steps and inside the house. But one of the dog's shorter legs wouldn't carry him fast enough; he almost got taken.
Even after all of the pets got inside, the coyotes were insistent. The animals broke three glass louver panels on the back door as they tried to follow.
Nelson got the coyotes to retreat by firing a high-powered BB gun at them. Then he called police.
"This is quite different. We've never quite experienced anything like this," Riverside Police Sgt. William Gutschick says.
Police Chief Thomas Weitzel recommends high fences, closed garbage cans and keeping an eye on pets outside.
