COHASSET, MASS. (WHDH) - A Cohasset man is urging pet owners to be on alert after he said a coyote tried to attack his dog outside their home over the weekend.
The incident happened on Saturday night. Nathaniel Palmer later spoke to 7NEWS, saying he ultimately ran outside and scared the coyote off.
“I was enraged at the coyote,” he said.
Palmer’s seven-year-old golden retriever, Tatum, is roughly 55 pounds. The coyote in this incident, Palmer said, “was at least as big as him.”
“He’s never been in a fight,” Palmer said of Tatum. “He has no aggressive streak in him, whatsoever.”
Palmer said he ran outside after he heard his dog crying. Tatum avoided any serious injuries.
Reflecting on this encounter, Palmer said he previously saw “a lot of foxes and other smaller animals” in the area.
“Now, it’s coyotes,” he said.
Palmer said he has seen a growing number of coyotes in his neighborhood.
Now moving forward, he said he hopes Tatum’s close call will serve as a lesson for others.
“He’s not a big dog, but he should be bigger than a coyote and it clearly doesn’t matter,” he said. “I was being naive about that.”
“Every dog has to be on leash at night,” he continued. “Every dog has to be accompanied.”
Coyotes tend to come out after sunset at night.
As the mating season approaches between the end of January and March, though, experts say the animals may also venture out during the day.
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