What to do when you encounter wildlife on your property

Quick reference: the response differs by species

If you read nothing else, read this table. The middle column is where people get it wrong.

Coyotes: the one animal you are told to intimidate

Coyote guidance is genuinely different from bear and mountain lion guidance, and the reason is deliberate. A coyote that learns to be comfortable near people becomes dangerous to pets and eventually to people. Agencies therefore want you to actively reinforce its fear of humans. The technique has a name: hazing.

How agencies describe hazing

• Massachusetts describes letting the coyote know it is unwelcome using loud noise such as an air horn, spraying it with a hose, or tossing small objects near it and chasing it off — with the explicit goal of scaring the animal rather than hurting it. It adds that children should leave the area calmly, without running, and find an adult to do the hazing (MassWildlife coyote FAQ).
• Anaheim, California puts it as standing tall, waving your arms and yelling, without running, turning your back, or breaking eye contact — and if needed throwing rocks near rather than at the animal, while being careful about bending down or losing sight of it (City of Anaheim).
• San Antonio Animal Care Services emphasises not turning away or running: keep constant eye contact and keep moving toward other people, a building, or activity. It notes these techniques generally frustrate even a bold coyote (San Antonio ACS).
• Pasadena, California lists practical tools: bright lights, a spray of water, opening and closing an umbrella, or throwing tennis balls in the coyote's direction (city notice).
• New York State DEC advises being aggressive in your behavior — standing tall, arms out to look large — and escalating to loud noise, arm waving, or thrown sticks and stones if the animal lingers (NYSDEC).
• Everett, Washington frames the purpose plainly: hazing keeps coyotes fearful of people and discourages them from yards and neighborhoods (City of Everett).

Situational responses

Denver's hazing guide, republished by the City of Lake Oswego, breaks the response down by scenario. Paraphrasing its structure: a coyote merely changing path near people warrants eye contact, yelling, clapping and noise makers to encourage it away. A coyote following a person or pet warrants an aggressive front — yelling, clapping, noise makers, moving toward it, gathering other people — continued until the animal leaves. A coyote entering a back yard warrants the same aggressive response plus a hose, again continued until it has gone (Denver coyote hazing guide, PDF). The recurring instruction is: do not stop early.

For prevention rather than response — fencing, attractants, supervision and the recent attack cases — see our guide to protecting pets from coyotes.

Black bears: give ground, never chase

Here the advice inverts. Where you advance on a coyote, you retreat from a bear.

1. 1

   Do not run

   Boulder, Colorado states it in capitals: never run, because running can make a bear chase you (city guidance). Wildlife Illinois adds not surprising the bear, and making noise so it knows you are there, noting a black bear is unlikely to attack a person unless it feels trapped or provoked (Wildlife Illinois).

2. 2

   Do not approach, and do not move toward it at all

   Florida's FWC says never to approach or surprise a bear: if you see one at a distance, enjoy it but do not move closer (FWC bear FAQ). Maryland's DNR frames the baseline as a bear nearby not being an immediate threat, and one that deserves respect and space like any wild animal (Maryland DNR).

3. 3

   If you are close, avoid sudden movement and back away slowly

   FWC's guidance is to avoid abrupt movements, back away slowly, and make sure the bear has an obvious escape route. That last clause is the one people forget — a bear between you and its only exit is the dangerous configuration.

4. 4

   Get inside, then remove what attracted it

   Bring people and pets in. Then secure the trash, pull the bird feeder, clean the grill. Colorado Parks and Wildlife traces most bear conflicts to human food, garbage, pet food and bird seed (CPW), and Michigan's DNR advises keeping attractants removed for at least two weeks if a bear keeps returning (Michigan DNR).

5. 5

   Report an aggressive bear immediately

   Maine's guidance directs people to call 911 for an aggressive bear, and to contact the state Warden Service for other bear problems (MDIFW, PDF). Your state's number will differ; find it before you need it.

Bear activity is up sharply in several states this year. For the numbers and the seasonal reasons, see why bear sightings on residential property are surging.

Mountain lions: stand your ground, get large, do not crouch

Mountain lions — also called cougars or pumas — very rarely trouble people. California's Department of Fish and Wildlife notes they typically pose little threat and generally avoid human interaction (CDFW). But the response, if you do meet one, is specific.

• Do not run. The US Fish and Wildlife Service warns never to run past or away from a cougar, because it may trigger the instinct to chase. It advises making eye contact and standing your ground, and picking up small children without turning away or bending over if possible (USFWS, mountain lion safety).
• Make yourself look big. California State Parks advises staying back and appearing as large as possible — standing close together with others, opening a jacket, raising your arms — making plenty of noise by yelling, banging or speaking firmly, and not turning your back (California State Parks).
• Throwing objects is part of the guidance here. Several public agencies describe facing the animal, making noise, waving your arms to look bigger, and throwing rocks or other objects (Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory safety notice).
• Do not crouch or bend down. Crouching makes you look smaller and more like prey — which is why the guidance about picking up a child specifies doing it without bending over if you can.

Raccoons, skunks and foxes: mostly a disease question

These animals are unlikely to confront you, so the risk profile is different: it is about disease and about pets, not about being attacked.

The CDC's core prevention advice is to keep your distance from wildlife, never approach animals that appear injured, sick or dead, and be especially wary of animals that are normally active at night — bats and raccoons among them — being out during the day. It advises calling animal control for assistance rather than handling the animal (CDC, rabies exposure).

Practical steps: bring pets indoors, secure trash and pet food, close off crawl spaces and gaps under decks, and keep pet rabies vaccinations current. Do not attempt to trap or relocate the animal yourself; most states regulate that, and handling is exactly where exposures happen.

If an animal bites or scratches you or your pet

• Wash the wound, then seek care. Post-exposure prophylaxis, as the CDC describes it, consists of wound care, human rabies immune globulin, and a series of four or five rabies vaccine doses, administered as soon as possible after exposure (CDC: about rabies).
• Scratches count. The CDC notes the virus can spread through the bites and scratches of an infected mammal, and that treatment before symptoms begin is what prevents disease (CDC clinical overview).
• This is common, and that is reassuring. The CDC reports only about one to three human rabies cases a year in the United States, while roughly 60,000 Americans receive post-exposure treatment annually after a bite or scratch from an animal suspected of being infected (CDC: animals and rabies). Seeking care is the normal outcome, not an overreaction.
• Take your pet to a veterinarian the same day, even for wounds that look minor. Puncture wounds seal over contamination, and your vet needs to assess rabies risk and vaccination status.
• Report the animal. Animal control needs to know, and in several of the incidents reported this year that report is what triggered a public warning for the rest of the neighborhood.

Common questions

What should you do if you see a coyote in your yard?

Do not run and do not turn your back. Make yourself large and loud: stand tall, wave your arms, yell, clap, use a noise maker, spray a hose, or throw small objects near — not at — the animal. Keep eye contact and move toward people or a building. Bring pets and children close; children should leave calmly, without running, and get an adult. Keep going until the coyote leaves.

Should you run from a bear or a mountain lion?

No, from either. Running can make a bear chase you, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service warns that running from a cougar can trigger its instinct to chase. Back away slowly from a black bear, leaving it an escape route. Stand your ground against a mountain lion, face it, look as large as you can, and make noise.

Can you haze a bear the way you haze a coyote?

No. Hazing is coyote-specific. Moving toward a bear runs directly against agency guidance — Florida FWC says never approach or move toward one. With a mountain lion you hold your ground and appear large, but you do not advance. Identify the animal first, then choose the response.

When should you call animal control?

Call animal control or your state wildlife agency when an animal is aggressive, will not leave, appears sick or injured, has bitten or scratched a person or pet, or is a nocturnal species out and active in daylight. For an immediately dangerous animal, some agencies direct you to call 911. Many cities also run a dedicated wildlife reporting line — Dallas Animal Services, for instance, publishes a coyote hotline number for residents to report sightings (Dallas Animal Services, PDF).

Does reporting a sighting actually accomplish anything?

Yes, in two ways. It lets an agency identify an individual animal whose behavior has escalated, and it builds the record that triggers public warnings — that is what happened in Irvington, New York and in Bergen County, New Jersey after coyote attacks on dogs. It also feeds the statewide datasets behind figures like Colorado's 6,129 bear reports, which is how agencies allocate response resources.

The precondition nobody mentions

Every instruction on this page begins the same way: if you see the animal. That is doing a lot of quiet work.

Coyotes cross yards at 3 a.m. Bears work through bins after midnight. Mountain lions are famously hard to see at all. The realistic case is not standing face to face with an animal and choosing the right response — it is never knowing the animal was there, so you never fix the gap under the fence, never move the bin, never file the report, and never think to keep the dog on a leash for the last outing of the night.

And if you own cameras, the frustrating part is that the evidence usually exists. It is just buried in a motion history full of cars, wind and delivery drivers, which is precisely why people mute those notifications.