Coyotes Are Back: Texas Pet Owners Beware of These Night Hunters

It happened again. Just two nights ago, around 2 a.m., the eerie sound of howling jolted me awake. I live inside Abilene’s city limits, but near the outskirts, where the wild still meets the neighborhood. When I stepped outside, I saw three coyotes right there in my neighbor’s front yard, one large adult and two smaller ones. It looked like a mama out hunting with her pups. They were yelping, howling, and clearly on the prowl.

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When the Howls Hit Close to Home

It reminded me just how close the wild can get, especially when food is scarce or the nights turn cooler. And it’s not just my street, reports of coyotes roaming through West Texas neighborhoods are popping up everywhere.

Keep Your Pets Safe From Predators

Coyotes are incredibly smart and adaptable. They can jump fences, slip through small gaps, and are bold enough to hunt near homes, even in well-lit areas.
Here are a few quick safety tips:

• Keep cats and small dogs indoors, especially from dusk till dawn.
• Never leave pet food or water outside overnight.
• Secure trash cans and remove fallen fruit or birdseed that attracts prey.
• If you encounter a coyote, make loud noises, shine a flashlight, and never run; stand tall and scare them off. Because a lot of times, if you run, they will chase.

A Call to Protect What We Love

We Texans love our animals, and protecting them means staying alert and working together as neighbors. Coyotes may be part of our natural landscape, but it’s up to us to make sure our pets stay safe in our backyards, even when the wild comes howling at 2 a.m.

Watch how it can happen, and how cats sometimes fight back. In one viral clip, a cat on a Texas porch squares off against a coyote and narrowly escapes by scrambling up a support beam and forcing the predator to back off.

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