Mange Coyote Gets Really Close To Home in Lancaster, New York
We saw something in the backyard that kind of worried us recently. My wife and I were casually cleaning up from lunch when we looked out our back window and saw this.
About 25 feet away from our backyard we saw a coyote that was wandering around the backyard.
The coyote was acting really weird. It would take a few steps and then just stand there for minutes at a time. Take a few more steps and then stop for a while again. It looked like it was losing its hair and kind of mangey. Was it just mange? Did it have rabies? Is it weird to see a coyote just chilling in the wide-open yard at 11 in the morning?
We live in Lancaster, kind of by the airport. It's not the most ideal spot for a coyote to live, even though we have some woods behind us.
Lancaster has had its share of coyotes for sure, but something was going on with this one. I posted the pictures that we took below.
According to animals.com,
Mange is caused by a mite that burrows into the dog's skin. Each type of mange has its own species of mite. Both sarcoptic mange and Cheyletiella mange are highly contagious and can spread from coyotes to dogs, and even to cats and people.
The coyote that was in the backyard definitely looked like it had mange, but in addition to that, it was acting really strange. What do you think?