As more building and development goes on in Westchester, animals lose their homes. This is most evident in the recent increase in Coyote sightings in Ossining and across Westchester. The increasing deer population doesn’t help either. As more and more condos and other buildings begin to be built, more coyotes are displaced. They are also attracted to the deer as a food source. Since there isn’t a lot of room for the coyotes to live, they have learned to become more and more comfortable with humans. This causes coyotes to live very close to humans, basically in their backyards. These coyotes have also been known to take pets and run off with them, so make sure you supervise your dog if you let it roam free in your backyard. Even with a fence, coyotes have been known to still run off with precious fido. Coyotes rarely initiate initiate contact with humans though. A coyote will only go up to you if it has a disease such as rabies or has been fed by humans. At a seminar in Tarrytown, coyote expert Frank Vincenti said that therés no reason to fear coyotes. According to Vincenti, running away from coyotes is the opposite of what you should do. Coyotes will learn to respect us if we show dominant behavior, similar to dogs. Yelling at coyotes and running at them (which I don’t recommend) will care coyotes away, since they are afraid of humans naturally. People really only need to protect their pets from coyotes, since only two humans have ever been killed by coyotes in the world. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t be afraid of coyotes. Like any other animal, you shouldn’t approach coyotes. Only assert your dominance if they come a little too close to you. Hunting coyotes isn’t the answer, as many people think. Overhunting them disturbs the equilibrium of the food chains in Westchester, and will rapidly increase the deer populations. The coyote population will even itself out based on their prey populations. Coyotes also get rid of unwanted critters like rats, groundhogs, rabbits, and geese. You may not think these critters are harmful, but any animal that has a population that grows out of proportion with the other animals in its ecosystem will cause damage to its environment. If you see a coyote in Ossining, contact the Ossining police at (914) 941-4099. If you see coyotes in other parts of westchester, contact that town’s police.