Coyote Attack in Long Valley
A man was attacked by a rabid coyote.
http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/local/morris-county/2017/01/13/police-long-valley-coyote-had-rabies/96554920/
Calico696 
LVRes Thanks for the posting, Calico! Most single coyotes (unless Coywolf hybrids, which are also larger normally and may be more aggressive) are extremely unlikely to just up and attack an adult unless diseased or injured or protecting their young, so it was very likely to have had rabies to begin with so it's good it was able to be caught and tested!
Phil D. All Eastern Coyotes, which are the only type found in our State, are coyote/wolf hybrids.
They are not normally more aggressive.
Rebecka Yeah, and if you actually read the article, Phil, you would have learned the coyote WAS rabid.
LVres
Very smug, eh? I DID read the short article which identified "coyote", rather than Eastern Coyote to begin with. Since I was in a bit of a rush when I typed my post, I didn't launch into a full explanation of everything, nor proofread for anything missing, but apparently I should have. As I stated, coyotes are unlikely to attack humans to begin with, except under certain conditions. If they had NOT been able to "apprehend" it by knocking it out with a stick, the person bitten would have had to go through the rabies treatment, possibly unnecessarily, as they wouldn't have been able to tell for sure if the coyote did have rabies otherwise. It's bad enough they had to be treated, (though it isn't as bad as when I was a child), but imagine if the coyote hadn't been rabid and they had to have preventative treatment anyway because that fact couldn't have been verified without testing the animal itself. THAT was my thought at the time - plain enough now? Apparently you were so intent on "jumping" on my comment, you didn't understand (or perhaps fully read) my small post.
Rebecka
I've been following Coyote and Eastern Coyote history and the controversy surrounding them and other members of the canine family, including the Wolf for a while now. The standard coyote supposedly made it into this area in the early 1900's, though hybridization may have started earlier in the midwest. I've seen a coyote family around the back end of the Trade Zone which didn't look like the larger "Eastern Coyote", so I'm not thoroughly convinced that only the Eastern Coyote exists here, though admittedly it seems unlikely the Western Coyote line would exist here without interbreeding.
The article did just say "coyote", though as mentioned in Wikipedia "Although media reports of such attacks generally identify the animals in question as simply "coyotes", research into the genetics of the eastern coyote indicates those involved in attacks in northeast North America, including Pennsylvania, New York, New England, and eastern Canada, may have actually been coywolves, hybrids of Canis latrans and C. lupus, not fully coyotes.[134]"
Eastern Coyotes/CoyWolves are naturally somewhat more aggressive due to the addition of the wolf genes and that aggression depends partly on the percentage of coyote to wolf, as well as what dog species are in the mix as well. As I mentioned, certain things will (as in many other animals) trigger an aggressive response that they normally wouldn't have. Of course, as in the Western Coyote, people feeding them doesn't help. Here's just one study:
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/roybiolett/6/1/89.full.pdf
Here's a later article about them if anyone's interested:
http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/sports/2015/11/30/eastern-coyotes-three-species-one/76585352/
More info:
http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/9359.html
By the way, here's a website that talks about how to help avoid interactions with them, though the likelihood of getting hurt by dogbite is much greater than that of a coyote:
http://www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/livingwithcoyotes/
Phil D. if it makes any difference........it was obvious to me that you DID read the article before your first post....LVres must have miss the "so it's good it was able to be caught and tested!" part of your post.
littlelu A good reason to carry pepper spray on woods walks and hikes (since the people's republik of new jersey won't let you carry anything else to protect yourself.)
I read on my FB feed, it wasn't from this area but it was about coyotes- a dog owner with a fenced-in yard had a coyote in their yard one morning- it had jumped the fence- so it might be prudent to look around outside before letting your loved one out to do their business....
JeffersonRepub I am more concerned that it was found so close to a residential area and Long Valley opted out of notifying its residence that the rabies test came back positive. The only artical on the patch stated that there was an attack and that it was possibly rabid. You would think when the test came back positive they would warn residents about it. Especially since coyotes live in packs so there is a good possibility there could be other infected coyotes. I get text messages when people are out of power, you would think they would inform us of this.
Jesse123 The Columbia Trail goes from one end of Washington Twp/Long Valley to the other and has mile markers as well as roads crossing it. I don't know why officials have not given the exact location so people could keep clear of the area in case there are more infected animals.
MTSO The township does not want people to panic. They would rather have us uninformed, which is stupid. If the townspeople knew about it they could inform the township if they see a questionable animal, without knowledge if the situation most people will just ignore sickly animals which will allow the virus to potentially spread. They are stating they believe it is an "icolated incident" which is possible, but it is also very possible that it isn't.
"Eastern Coyotes/CoyWolves are naturally somewhat more aggressive due to the addition of the wolf genes and that aggression depends partly on the percentage of coyote to wolf, as well as what dog species are in the mix as well."
-Phil D.
May I ask what research you are basing your claim on?
Definitely agree with JR on the pepper spray, since they do state in many cases that besides not feeding the coyotes, you should condition them similar to bears, as in making sure they avoid contact and over-familiarity with humans. It's also recommended that you don't walk your dog(s) off-leash, which I would never do to begin with.
Funny thing is, the "Algonquin Wolf" which exists mainly in the Ontario Province of Canada was thought to be a separate species that was threatened with extinction, however DNA studies have found that it to is more a coywolf hybrid than a separate species of wolf. That then begs the question with Taxonomists, Biologists, Conservationists, etc. as to whether or not to deem them another species and whether they then also deserve "protections". You have to figure that domestic dogs came mainly from wolves, and that all groups have different admixtures of DNA to begin with, so where does species designation stop and start. I'll leave that for the folks with the degrees and jobs in those fields to figure and hash it out, lol!
Rebecka
Some of that is stated in the articles and associated articles that I posted, including mention of the admixture of wolf DNA being advantageous for larger game, such as deer, though it seems they wonder if they purposefully bred with the larger species with that intent or not. I can't speak to their (coyotes') "intent" of course, but they do prey on fawns and deer who have been injured or diseased. Most articles I've read do mention the increased aggressiveness of the hybrids, though few break it down specifically. It could be partly that their larger size needs not only more food than the "pure" coyote, but also that their larger size gives them more of a "leg up" on being a higher-level predator/scavenger/hunter.
Other articles mention that they (hybrids) may be more inclined to interact within the "human realm of existance" shall we say, than a normal coyote because of the 10% or so of domestic dog admixture in the hybrid DNA. All I can say is that there are still many more questions than answers from what I can see as far as reading and studies go. By the way, when I say "somewhat more aggressive" or "a bit more aggressive", I don't mean that they've turned into human hunters or crazed killing machines or anything of a sort. I just mean that in orders of magnitude in aggression, they are less likely to shy away from contact with humans or just run when come upon, especially if you have what looks like "fair game" to them in the field, such as pets (mainly small dogs) with you, or you surprise them.
By the way
The person who was bitten should also be tested for a host of diseases. Due to their scavenging ways and the fact that much of their prey may have been diseased to begin with and thus easily gotten, coyotes apparently are carriers of a plethora of tick-borne (of course that just goes with being in the woods to begin with as well) and other illnesses.
I always carry pepper spray on Columbia Trail but it's not for wildlife, it's for people's unleashed dogs!!
Really???
GC True, inconsiderate owners and unleashed dogs are a much more common hazard on trails around here!
GC
I guess you'd better keep the pepper spray for the unleashed owners, since according to this website "Spray repellents (pepper spray, etc) that you can carry with you have been reported with only moderate to no success.":
http://urbancoyoteresearch.com/avoiding-conflicts-coyotes
I found this while checking to see just how good pepper spray may be, since it seemed as though it would be a good idea. Now I think that carrying an air horn may be a better idea, if making yourself look larger by waving your arms around while yelling doesn't work to scare off a coyote should you happen to encounter one that exhibits no fear of humans. Carrying a "rattle can" may work too. A rattle can is a metal can or container with pennies and/or pebbles sealed in it (such as a soda can).
It's better than nothing, since you aren't allowed to carry or use a knife for self-defense in this communist state.
You can carry a pocket knife, but not use it for self-defense.
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