Coyote Attacks Rider on Summit Road

Got this warning from blog reader Jay, about a Grizzly Peak club member and I copied a bit below. Scary and weird.

One of our members (we'll call him Bill) asked me to write this message for him. In short, a coyote chased and bit him Tuesday evening as he rode down the Summit before the Junction on Mt. Diablo. This was after he had seen a coyote the week before and it chased him, which he reported to the rangers. The attitude the first time, as he said, sounded like, "Huh, that's strange." It's unclear if they did anything in response the first time.

On his way up Tuesday evening, he noticed the coyote farther up Summit Road. At the top, he saw one other cyclist, who said he had seen it also.

Frankly, I can't remember exactly, but, I thought Bill said the coyote chased him a bit on the way up. So the two decided to go down together and watch out for each other. Below where Bill saw the coyote on the way up, he started to relax a bit and then noticed a flash of fur at his side before the coyote got his leg.

The rangers Bill then contacted got Fish and Game approval to take the coyote down, but, unfortunately, the ranger decided to aim at the hindquarters with a .223 caliber rifle. (I don't know these things, but, I understand that is a relatively low-level caliber.) As a result, he only wounded the coyote and it got away. It likely is dead by now. But Bill's getting rabies shots.

So be on the lookout at odd times on the Mount. Likely, this very isolated event is just another in a string of bad luck for my unfortunate friend. But it's possible the coyote is still out there, or, there is something else going on.