Coyotes Spotted on PEA's Trails
Phillips Exeter Academy’s Red Trail made headlines on Jan. 20 after a confrontation between a local man and a rabid coyote. Fearful for his son’s safety, the man strangled the coyote after a brief tussle. Just before the incident, Campus Safety alerted the Exeter community of the hazard in Exeter’s woods. This coyote, the first sighted in 19 years, raised concerns with some Exonians who use the trails.
Just an hour before the incident, a woman suffered a coyote attack walking her dogs near her home on Drinkwater Road. By noon, Monday, Director of Campus Safety and Risk Management Paul Gravel sent out a warning to all students and staff, warning them to exercise caution when walking on the trails or near the Phelps Stadium.
Gravel was first told by an overnight Campus Safety officer of the risk. “The officer had observed a coyote lying in the rear parking lot of Facilities Management in the early morning,” he said. “Later that morning, we received a call from Exeter Police about a coyote seen on Drinkwater Road,” which spurred Gravel to send a campus-wide notification. Shortly thereafter, Campus Safety was notified of the confrontation.
Gravel reflected on the scarcity of coyote sightings. “Coyotes are by nature afraid of humans. This particular coyote was rabid and, therefore, was not afraid and was in fact aggressive, which is very unusual,” Gravel said.
Campus Safety alerted both students and faculty to the danger posed. “We sent the informational email and posed caution signs on our trail system. Members of Grounds have been asked to be vigilant,” Gravel said. “If it is a report of an aggressive coyote, we call [New Hampshire Department of] Fish and Game. Otherwise, we would monitor the area, as we are aware that there is plenty of wildlife living on our property, and, as long as they are not aggressive, we just need to be cautious.”
Students, particularly those who use the trails, shared some concerns about the coyotes. “Generally, I’m a little afraid of running alone, but if we’re in a pack of three or more, I feel a little bit more comfortable because we can probably scare them off,” lower and distance runner Alex Kermath said.
Senior and Varsity Cross Country co-captain Maddie Machado agreed. “The cross country team is very cautious about running alone, whether it’s in the woods or on the roads,” Machado said. “I’m not super worried about anyone having a problem with coyotes because we always run in groups of multiple girls and stay on the marked paths. Sometimes, we run into deer or small animals, but, over my four years of running in our woods, I’ve never seen a coyote.”
Some distance runners saw no danger. “I’m not afraid of the coyotes,” prep Mateo Connelly said. “They don’t stand a chance against us. Unless they’re rabid, I’m not worried about them.”
Connelly was not the only student with this opinion. “I would look at [the coyote], and if it started running away from us, I would run towards it. And so would everyone else on the team,” upper and distance runner Phil Horrigan said. “I think, generally, the protocol is to run away. However, f**k protocol.”
Caution has led to some changes to the running routes, according to lower and winter distance track runner Sophie Cohen. “We’ve been avoiding running on the trails a little bit more, but it’s snowy most of the time, so we haven't really been running on them much anyways,” she said. “Instead, we’ve been running on the roads not too far off campus, just around the little neighborhoods around there.”
Several runners have other hazards on their mind. “I’m much more scared of getting hit by cars on my runs than I am of coyotes.” Horrigan said. “Although it is a problem that they’re having coyote sightings, I don’t think it’s that severe because there have only been one or two coyotes sightings, and at least one of those coyotes is dead now because that father strangled them to death.”
Though the risks are relatively low, the team is not taking many chances. “We're trying to be really safe,” senior Will Coogan said. “The coaches don't want anybody to get hurt and we don't want our teammates to get hurt either.”