Coyotes in DC: Does This Change Parenting More than Anything Ever Has?

TBD reports that coyotes have made significant and permanent inroads in the Washington, DC area. In past years people reported hearing coyotes; now people report seeing them. Shannon Pederson of the Wildlife Society reports that we even have a special breed of coyote: "One path moved north through Canada and actually ended up breeding with wolves and spread eastward, and others took more of a southern route along the U.S. and then those two lines converged right around here, right around the mid-Atlantic area...and now we have what we call the eastern coyote." Western coyotes weigh about 30 pounds, and our eastern coyote weighs 50 pounds.

Normally afraid of humans, coyotes are unlikely to let themselves be seen on any given day. But --and this is one of those rather big buts-- when it comes to attacking humans, Pederson told WAMU, "There is always that possibility, especially small children." She recommended keeping a close eye on children when they're outside. Does this add a whole new fear to parenting in the DC area?