Chenier Mosley stepped outside briefly to take out his trash on Northwest 58th Street on Monday morning when he turned around to find a coyote standing behind him. He grabbed his garbage can and used it to chase the animal off before it could get any closer.
“He started to come toward me so I grabbed my garbage can and chased him away,” Mosley said, according to WSVN, which reported the encounter. Mosley told the station it was the first time he had ever seen a coyote in the area, and the outlet noted there had been no other reports of coyote-related incidents nearby.
No Other Reports Filed in the Area
Beyond Mosley's own account, nothing in the available record suggests the animal lingered in the neighborhood or caused any other disturbances before or after Monday's encounter. The lack of additional reports leaves the sighting as an isolated moment for his stretch of Northwest 58th Street, even as similar run-ins pop up elsewhere around the region.
State wildlife officials say that isolation is increasingly the exception rather than the rule. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission notes that coyotes have been documented in all 67 Florida counties since a 2007 survey, and the agency says encounters between people and the animals are occurring more often statewide.
Sightings Climbing Across South Florida
The uptick isn't limited to Miami. The FWC has recorded a doubling of public coyote reports over a recent four-year span, according to The Guardian, and NBC 6 South Florida has reported a rise in neighborhood sightings across both Broward and Miami-Dade counties. In Northwest Miami-Dade, WSVN previously reported on a coyote caught on video trotting down the road near Northwest 112th Avenue and 92nd Street.
Coral Gables has seen its own wave of sightings this year. Residents there reported coyotes moving through neighborhoods, according to the Coral Gables Gazette, prompting city officials to begin coordinating with the FWC on safety guidance for residents. Farther back, in 2019, the Miami Herald reported that an El Portal police officer spotted a coyote wandering near Northeast 91st Street and First Avenue during a routine patrol.
What Wildlife Officials Recommend
Despite the growing number of sightings, the FWC emphasizes that unprovoked attacks on people remain very rare, with very few documented cases of people being bitten by coyotes in Florida. The agency advises anyone approached by a coyote to make noise, shout, and wave their arms to scare the animal off. Feeding coyotes, meanwhile, is illegal under state rules.
For now, Mosley's trash-night standoff stands as a one-off in his part of Miami, but it fits into a broader pattern state wildlife officials and neighboring communities are watching closely as coyotes continue turning up in South Florida backyards and streets.
