As Northern Nevada gets a taste of spring... human beings aren't the only creatures enjoying the warm weather.
Now that the sun is out and things are warming up, it feels like the perfect time to get outside and experience everything the local environment has to offer, but we aren’t the only things waking up from hibernation. It can be a unique experience when encountering the local wildlife but it’s very important to keep animal safety in mind, as our region has multiple predator species that also call Nevada home.
“Generally in any altercation with a coyote, you want to kind of take that dominant role. You're going to want to face the animal, stand your ground, make yourself look big, make noise. Hazing them or trying to scare them off. As long as you are giving them some route to leave, you don't want to corner them. They will want to flee that,” says Tru Hubbard, NDOW Urban Wildlife Coordinator.
The goal of any interaction with potentially dangerous wildlife is to deter any aggressive response. Standing your ground is one the most important things to keep in mind - running can trigger a chase response and with larger animals like bears and mountain lions living in our ecosystem, running isn’t a chance worth taking.
“We're going to face them and our goal is going to be kind of to lower that level. We don't want to increase, um, any intensity there. So we're going to want to slowly back away from them. We're gonna, for mountain lions, we like to maintain eye contact. They're very visual creatures, so it lets them know that we see them. Bears, we don't want to keep eye contact, so they may take that as a threat,” says Hubbard.
Making noise while walking can also alert wildlife to your presence as it will help prevent a surprise encounter.
And always when you’re out on the trail, leave no trace.
