A small dog named Stanley is presumed dead after a coyote grabbed him from a yard near the Tangley Oaks Apartments in Lake Bluff on Wednesday and dragged him into a wooded area. His owner, Ken Robertson, said his wife was standing roughly 10 feet away with their dogs when the coyote seized Stanley and fled, and she gave chase but could not catch up before the animal disappeared into the trees.
The attack happened in an unfenced yard that backs onto woods, according to Lake County News. Lake Bluff police, as reported by NBC Chicago, said the dog was taken from a yard near the apartment complex at 241 Leeds Ct. Authorities searched the area near Tangley Oaks but were unable to find the dog, and the station notes that Stanley is assumed to be dead.
Lake Bluff police told NBC Chicago that this is believed to be the first reported case of a coyote taking a dog in the village. Police and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources are working together to document the incident, and officials are using it to remind residents to take precautions with small pets, particularly by keeping them close and supervised outdoors, even in fenced yards.
How Common Are These Attacks, Really
Despite the alarm the incident has generated, dog attacks by coyotes remain statistically rare across the Chicago region. Researchers with the Urban Coyote Research Project document roughly 1,100 to 1,300 human-coyote interactions across the metropolitan area each year, yet record only about a dozen attacks on dogs annually, according to Encyclopedia MDPI. Dietary studies from the Cook County Coyote Project, led by Dr. Stanley Gehrt, found that domestic pets make up less than 5% of mammal hairs in coyote scat samples, suggesting most conflicts stem from territorial competition rather than coyotes actively hunting pets for food, per the Land & Wildlife Report.
Seeing a coyote does not necessarily mean people or pets are in danger, and coyotes are considered a natural part of the region, NBC Chicago reports. Still, adult coyotes typically weigh between 20 and 40 pounds and can reach up to 55 pounds, giving them a significant size advantage over small companion pets, according to guidance from the City of Lake Forest. In neighboring Lake Forest, police investigated a suspected coyote attack in February 2018 that killed a resident's pet dog, according to Patch, showing this kind of conflict has occurred before along the North Shore.
Why Coyotes Are More Active Right Now
The Lake County Forest Preserve District's official guidance notes that coyote sightings and pet encounters tend to peak during two periods each year: winter mating season from February through March, and spring denning season from April through June, when adults are protecting pups. That seasonal pattern echoes a broader trend across the region this summer, when Hoodline reported daytime coyote sightings near the Magnificent Mile as adults foraged more aggressively to feed litters of pups.
Removing the coyote responsible for Wednesday's attack is not as simple as it might sound. Under Illinois Administrative Code, capturing or lethally removing a nuisance coyote on private property requires an IDNR permit or a licensed professional contractor, and state wildlife biologists caution that removing individual coyotes rarely reduces local populations, since transient coyotes quickly move into vacant territory, according to Wildlife Illinois.
What Lake Bluff Residents Are Told To Do
Lake Bluff residents who need to report non-emergency wildlife encounters are directed to go through the Lake Bluff Police Department, which coordinates with the Lake County Health Department on animal and rabies control services for the village. If a coyote is actively attacking a person or pet, county guidance instructs residents to call 911 immediately.
NBC Chicago outlines several steps for anyone who encounters a coyote: stand tall, appear larger, yell, clap, wave your arms, or use a whistle or noise-making device, and never run. If the coyote moves away but keeps looking back, people should keep making noise and appearing large until it leaves the area entirely. Residents are also urged not to intentionally feed coyotes and to remove outdoor food sources that could attract them or their prey.
