As part of their monthly Creatures of the Night series this summer, the Elkhart County Parks Thursday evening will feature coyotes.
On Thursday the Elkhart County Parks invite you to come out at dusk and see what you might hear. At 9:30 p.m. they’re hosting a Creatures of the Night hike at Lieber Nature Preserve.
An Indiana Department of Natural Resources expert will separate myth from fact about coyotes. County Parks naturalist Krista Daniels says coyotes hide from people, creating a mystique that they’re dangerous to small children and pets.
“They are wildly misunderstood," Daniels says. "Most people, immediately when they hear coyotes, they get scared. They're like, Oh! My kids and my small pets can't be outside. That is completely false around here. We have such an abundant food supply for them that it is very unusual for there to be a human or even a pet interaction.”
Daniels says coyotes are very social and vocal, even if we don’t quite know what they’re saying.
“I think it’s purely just communicating, so maybe letting each other know, hey, we're going to go over here, or watch out for that over there, or there’s a good food source here. I don’t know for sure but there’s a lot of chatter that goes on.”
