Greybeard said:
Many surburbanites may (reluctantly) recognize that humans taking over vast amounts of the predators' habitat limits their options. What most suburbanites do not know though, is the impact that CATS (BOTH house and feral) have on the small wildlife population. Cats, also being natural-born hunters, can wreck havoc on nature's balance of small animals. This is sometimes first recognized (or intentionally NOT recognized) by a dramatic reduction or disappearance of song birds.
I've had the privilege of serving cats for most of my life. Some of them have been outside cats. One, that we just lost to kidney failure a few years ago, was a terrific huntress. In her five years with us (we adopted her as an adult), she may have gotten one bird (we found a bluejay carcass once). She got tons of chipmunks, mice, and voles, many of which she deposited at my wife's feet. Sometimes they were even dead by then -- I guess she was trying to teach us how to hunt.
Since her demise, we've had to start using various methods to poison, trap, and/or shoot the varmints that she used to control. Her brother is getting elderly and has mostly retired from hunting and her replacement was declawed by her former slaves and thus is an indoor cat.
Decimating songbirds? Only in their little kitty dreams.
Regarding Eastern coyotes, yup they certainly are bold. A few years ago, I was driving home one summer evening, just about dusk, through Wellesley, MA. This is a leafy suburb about 15 miles west of downtown Boston. I was driving down a two-lane road with houses on either side when I spotted the coyote in my lane. I slowed down and stopped about a car length from the coyote. The coyote stared at me for a bit, then sauntered across the road to the shoulder, where he stopped and stared at me.
Around here, the coyotes have killed a number of housecats and dogs. They've even attacked fairly large dogs (golden retriever). A couple years ago, on Cape Cod, a coyote bit a small child. No, the coyote did not have rabies.
I agree with the suggestion of OC spray for your friend. While I'd love to shoot the buggers, the local gendarmes would take a dim view of that.
M1911