VIDEO: Family of 5 coyotes, including 3 pups, spotted playing on SF baseball field
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Coyote warning signs are now up in several parks across San Francisco as there have been a number of coyote/dog incidents.
This comes less than three weeks after a 5-year-old girl was bitten in the butt by a coyote in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. Fortunately, her injuries were minor.
ABC7 News reporter J.R. Stone was in a park in San Francisco's Bernal Heights Monday and got quite the surprise.
The above video you're looking at shows the first coyote pup we came across on Monday night as we put together - yes, a coyote warning story at Saint Mary's Recreation Center Field in San Francisco. Who would have thought? Anyway, recently the summer kids camp here was moved elsewhere and the field closed due to the high number of coyote sightings.
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"It's really important to follow leash laws and try to pay attention to where you're taking your dogs, pay attention to signage," says Christine Wilkinson who is a wildlife ecologist at UC Berkeley and the California Academy of Sciences.
But where there is one pup, there are often two pups or more; there is sometimes a mom coyote, and a dad coyote. Yes, it seems that it was a family event and five coyotes began playing on the ball field for our camera here in Bernal Heights.
From what we've heard it's a similar scene in the Presidio's Mountain Lake Park dog area. One that is now closed to dogs due to at least three dog/coyote incidents in recent weeks. No dogs or humans were injured at this location but the concern over these animals is there. It seems that most we talked with here have had positive experiences.
"The coyote and him were approaching each other in a friendly manor and we both yelled and Stu ran and got Obi to come away from the coyote," said a woman named Terri referring to her dog Obi.
"They were really playing. They were going down the way dogs do with each other and nosing back and forth," said Stu.
VIDEO: Coyote spotted visiting Pink Triangle at San Francisco's Twin Peaks
The beautiful sight of a coyote is not always welcome though. Less than three weeks ago, a 5-year-old girl was attacked by a coyote in San Francisco's Botanical Garden at Golden Gate Park. Officials later killed three coyotes and linked one of them through DNA to the bite.
"The kids were relatively close to the tree lines and also relatively close to the den which are two things that should not happen near coyotes, and from all accounts it seems as though this coyote was very stimulated from all the screaming and yelling and playfulness of kids as young kids are," said Wilkinson.
We kept our distance from the coyote family at the Saint Mary's field though - if this was playtime before dinner, we wanted no part of that, nor did those in the neighborhood who say they've seen even more coyotes than this in recent days here. As for the coyote warning - the video here speaks for itself. Be careful out there.
In recent years, Wilkinson put together a study on coyotes and their pups. She found that coyotes often give birth to pups in late February or March, they then raise those pups before they disperse from their den in August and September.
Wilkinson and others say that if you see a coyote in San Francisco you should report it online, even when seemingly nothing happens. It helps management and life planning for the future in tracking the number of coyotes in the city. You can report a coyote sighting here.
