FeedsDog recovers after coyote attack
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Janice Palis said she was surprised the coyotes that attacked her golden retriever, Duke, weren’t afraid of her. Photo by Ken Garner.First, Janice Palis stopped to admire the three coyotes peeking through the brush at her and her 10-year-old golden retriever, Duke.
Then, there was no time to think at all.
The animals descended on the 95-pound dog as he stood 6 feet away from Palis.
In the frenzy, Palis grabbed the first stick she could find, waved it in the air and shouted at the coyotes.
They backed off, she said, but didn’t retreat very far.
“That’s what I think was the scariest part for me—is that they didn’t seem to have the fear of me or him,” she said.
The incident occurred May 8 in the Koppernick section of the William P. Holliday Nature Preserve. In March, a coyote attacked a poodle in the backyard of a Westland home near Hines Park.
That case was different from the attack on Duke, said William Craig, president of the citizen-run Holliday Nature Preserve Association.
“Coyotes going into your backyard is another thing. That is a matter of citizens and their local government,” he said.
There is no prohibition against bringing dogs into the Holliday Nature Preserve. Wayne County, which owns and oversees the land as part of the parks system, is currently studying its rules and regulations.
Vanessa Denha-Garmo, a county spokesperson, urged caution when entering the preserve.
“We’ve been telling people to stay in a well-lit area and in open areas of the park, and to keep your dog on a leash.”
Craig said a leash is a good idea, but not bringing dogs at all is an even better one as coyotes multiply in the area.
“It just warrants some caution under those circumstances,” he said.
Palis, who said the beauty of the preserve made it her favorite place to walk Duke for the past eight years, never thought she had a reason to fear.
“I have seen coyotes in the past, but nothing that’s come close to challenging us, scaring us,” she said. “From a distance, and typically when I’ve seen them it’s rare and it’s beautiful, and then they’re off, they’re gone.”
Not this time, though.
Palis said she and Duke had walked 200 yards into the woods from an entrance to the preserve in Canton Township. After the attack, she said, the coyotes stalked her and a limping Duke all the way back to the car.
Duke was recovering nicely this week, taking longer and longer walks through the friendlier environs of the Fox Run subdivision in Canton.
On Monday, he dozed in the living room as Palis recalled once seeing Brownie troops in the preserve.
“Would it attack a child? If someone were small, trailing to pick something up?” she asked. “I was in a nature preserve. So, I understand I’m in a special area. But still, if it’s not safe, that’s an issue.
“I would love to go back, but right now I’m not going to,” she said. “I don’t know. I mean, I want to, just because I love it there so much.”
