Coyote in my backyard ate the neighborhood cat (warning graphic images)

[Loupey]

When my son got on the schoolbus this morning, he immediately called us on his cell phone to tell us that he saw two coyotes in our neighborhood.

Within a minute of that call, my wife looked out the back window and saw one of them in our backyard next to our firepit. So I'm scrambling to get my camera when I hear my daughter shriek that the coyote is eating the neighborhood cat that she routinely cares for. So my scrambling intensified.

It was dark when I started shooting but fortunately the sun was coming up fast and the coyote ate the cat at her leisure. I started out with the 300mm at ISO 3200 and ended up with the 500mm at ISO 400. These images are not in order but all of them were taken and processed in a manner so as not to show how dark it really was. The last image here is of the male coyote who took a guard position. From here the male slowly got up and walked across the cul-de-sac just as one of our neighbors came out with her shih-tzu. Their dog wasn't on a leash and saw the coyote and tried to go after it but the neighbor was able to call it back.

I've been trying to track and photograph coyotes for a couple years now (having only seen two at great distances). Odd because we live in a densely urban area but there are thin ribbons of trees that spiderweb out to nearby farmlands, streams, railways, and parks.

I'm glad I didn't finish raking leaves in that far corner of the yard yesterday