Sophie, killed by a coyote
October 3, 2012 § 10 Comments
You read yesterday that we are building a fence. The reason for this fence is to protect our animals from predators. Last week, our little cat Sophie disappeared. We’re fairly certain that she was killed by a coyote. We have many predators here at the farm…from coyotes, to hawks, to owls…they’re all looking for something to attack and eat. If we have a secure fence, then our animals will be safer at night.
While the other animals always seemed a little more savvy, Sophie was mostly oblivious to the predators, lounging around in the middle of the pasture while one of the big hawks circled overhead, or running through the yard at night, when coyotes were out. Dave and I tried making her an indoor cat, but she wasn’t interested. Sometimes, if we were lucky, we could trick her and make her stay indoors overnight. Mostly though, Sophie was an outside cat.
We searched for her in the barn and garage, walked through the pastures, calling her, and finally decided that she really was gone. While we’re still hopeful that maybe Sophie just decided to live somewhere else for awhile, realistically we know that she has probably been killed by a coyote.
Predators are a part of life here on the farm. We understand that they live here, too, but are saddened when they kill our pets. Dave and I have been talking about how we could have forced the cat to live indoors, but she really wasn’t that kind of cat. Sophie hated being inside, and to force her to live in such a way would have ruined her quality of life. The best we could do was keep her vaccinated and wormed, and give her food and cuddling.
Poor Sophie.
Green Pocket Protector 
So sorry to hear that you’ve lost Sophie; she was a lovely looking and sounding creature, a free spirit.
Thank you. Do you have many predators in your area?
We’ve also got coyotes, so am very mindful of that. Birds of prey are regularly seen gliding on thermals over our fields, and we’ve also got foxes. Neighbouring farms on the other side of the highway complain of raccoons, but we’ve never seen any.
We mostly have coyotes and large eagles, hawks, and osprey. Dave says there are also foxes, but we never see them. Coyotes we do hear and see…all the time. We hope your dog Reggie sleeps inside at night.
He does indeed! In fact, he’s never outside on his own at all. We tend to work outside a great deal and take frequent long walks, so he gets tons of time roaming freely outside, but always with supervision. None of us like to be out at night when we can hear the coyotes, I must say!
Yes, it’s a little scary. I was outside the other night in my pajamas, on the little fenced-in porch off the bedroom, and I could SEE the coyotes scuffling around beside the house!
Wow, that is a little close for comfort!
I am really sorry to hear of what happened to your Sophie
Thank you. You are very kind. We miss her very much. Every night I walk outside, and have to stop myself from calling her name.
[…] seeing as how we have roving gangs of coyotes, plus ospreys and eagles that snatch up fowl (plus cats). So, we aren’t even collecting our own eggs. Except for the pastures that we rent out […]