Coyote Attacks on Runners Getting More Sophisticated, Warns National Park Service

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Coyotes in America’s national parks are becoming more aggressive and using more sophisticated methods to attack hikers and runners, according to a news release from the National Parks Service.

“Coyotes and other wild animals have always been a part of our wonderful national parks, as they should be,” the release said. “Recently, however, reported attacks by these creatures have increased.”

“More worrisome,” it continued, “is that the nature of the attacks has evolved.”

Historically, the Parks Service said, coyote attacks on runners have followed a straightforward and predictable pattern: The animal bursts into view, pursues its victim, and bites. Now, coyotes are displaying more patience and ingenuity, going so far as to devise apparent traps designed to hurt or kill hapless trail users.

Just in the past few weeks, the news release said, park rangers have recorded several such cases:

  • In Nevada’s Spring Mountains National Recreation Area, a runner found a pile of energy bars in the middle of a trail, near a hand-lettered sign reading “FREE FUEL.” Moments later, an anvil fell from a height, barely missing them.

  • A husband and wife running in New Mexico’s Chaco Culture National Historical Park narrowly avoided a cannonball that had been rolled down a series of wooden gutters, directly across their path. The cannonball instead struck a nearby coyote, crushing him.

  • In Grand Canyon National Park, rangers and visitors have found at least four fake “tunnels” painted, trompe l'oeil style, on the sides of sheer rock walls. In each case, empty paint cans and coyote tracks were found nearby. NPS officials speculate that the phony tunnels are meant to fool runners, who will knock themselves unconscious trying to use them, making them easy prey.

The news release noted that, so far, the only ones hurt by such traps have been the coyotes themselves, as they test or troubleshoot their work. In one instance, they said, a boulder intended to crush a runner fell instead on the coyote who had rigged it to drop onto a large painted “X,” crumpling the animal’s body like an accordion.

Still, it said, the potential for injury or death is very real.

“We urge runners, hikers, and all users of National Parks to remain vigilant,” the news release concluded. “These coyotes are getting more wily by the day.”