A pack estimated at 10 to 15 coyotes is living in the wooded areas of Forsyth Technical Community College's main campus in Winston-Salem, and the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office is urging students, employees and nearby residents to keep their distance after deputies rescued one of the animals from a fence there on Friday, August 28.
Fence Rescue Triggers Public Warning
According to the Charlotte Observer, Animal Services deputies responded to the campus, located at 2100 Silas Creek Parkway, and freed a coyote that had become trapped in a fence before it fled into nearby woods. The animal appeared uninjured when it was released and returned to wooded cover on campus. Forsyth Tech enrolls about 10,000 students, per the same account, and sits in an urbanized stretch of the city about 80 miles northeast of uptown Charlotte, where wooded stream channels running through the area give coyotes a natural path into campus green spaces, according to Forsyth Technical Community College.
In its news release, the sheriff's office said it will work with Forsyth Tech and appropriate wildlife professionals to protect students, employees, visitors and surrounding residents. The Observer reports the agency is monitoring the situation and has advised the public to exercise additional caution in the campus area. Students were told to avoid walking dogs on campus, particularly near wooded areas, and to maintain a safe distance from coyotes rather than approach them.
Why Wildlife Officials Can't Just Relocate Them
The sheriff's office recommendation that Forsyth Tech hire a licensed wildlife trapper runs into a legal wall once an animal is actually caught. North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission regulations strictly prohibit relocating or rehabilitating captured coyotes, meaning any trapped animal must either be released on-site or humanely euthanized. Because coyotes are considered a potential rabies vector species, state rules do not allow wildlife rehabilitators to accept them, according to the NC Wildlife Resources Commission. The commission also classifies coyotes as a non-game nuisance species that can be hunted year-round on private land with no bag limits or seasonal restrictions, including night hunting with artificial light or thermal optics in most counties.
Coyotes are wild canines resembling the red wolf and typically weigh about 45 pounds, per the Observer. They are opportunistic feeders that, per the sheriff's office, can approach people and domestic animals, and wildlife experts say they will eat whatever is available, including cats and small dogs. The sheriff's office advised residents never to intentionally feed or approach a coyote and to allow one to leave the area if encountered.
A Warning About Dogs in Heat
Among the more unusual details in the sheriff's advisory: officials specifically urged residents to keep female dogs in heat securely confined, warning that coyotes can interbreed with domestic dogs to produce hybrid offspring, commonly called coydogs, when wild coyotes interact with unneutered domestic dogs.
Rare Attacks, but Real Regional Precedent
Coyote attacks on humans remain rare, the Observer notes, but nearby incidents help explain why law enforcement is treating a habituated pack near a campus as a genuine concern. In April 2024, a coyote attacked and injured two hikers in the Uwharrie National Forest, and county animal control confirmed the following month that the animal had tested positive for rabies, according to the Randolph Record. In March 2021, Guilford County Animal Control reported six coyote attacks over two days at Lake Brandt Park in nearby Greensboro, leaving four people bitten and forcing temporary trail closures, as reported by WCNC. That episode occurred during early spring, which coincides with coyote mating season.
Coyote sightings statewide tend to peak in October and November, according to the NC Wildlife Resources Commission, as juvenile coyotes disperse from family packs and travel up to 300 miles in search of new territory, often navigating suburban corridors and greenways along the way. The commission's records show coyotes first expanded into western North Carolina during the 1980s and are now established in all 100 counties, making the Forsyth Tech pack part of a much longer pattern of the animals adapting to life alongside people rather than an isolated event.
