A coyote strolled into a Los Angeles dog park and did something nobody expected: it played. Video shows the animal chasing a golden-brown dog across the grass, trotting alongside a large white dog, and even pausing for a face-to-face sniff before the chase resumed — a scene that has since raced across social media and drawn warnings from wildlife officials who say the clip is far more complicated than it looks.
The footage was posted to Instagram by Obedient Trails, a Los Angeles-based dog training company, according to the New York Post. In the video, the coyote and the golden-brown dog regroup after their first chase before the coyote pursues the dog again, while the coyote and the large white dog are shown walking side by side and investigating each other up close. The post has pulled in more than 135,000 likes and around 2,200 comments, with one commenter joking, “Evolving to a couch near you,” and another quipping, “It’s a canine. So technically…” A third wrote, “Looks like I found a free poppy at the dog park!”
The playful footage runs against the animal’s reputation. As the same report notes, the coyote has a fearsome urban image, one built on genuine incidents rather than internet charm. Last August, a 6-year-old boy suffered severe injuries requiring around 20 stitches after an aggressive coyote bit him multiple times at Del Amo Park in Carson, a case Hoodline covered in detail as state wildlife officers collected DNA from the boy’s clothing to try to track the animal responsible.
Why Wildlife Officials Say Don’t Try This
Official guidance from Los Angeles Animal Services explicitly warns residents never to encourage or allow domestic dogs to interact or “play” with coyotes, urging owners to keep pets leashed and under close supervision at all times. That warning lines up with the numbers: a behavioral analysis of recorded coyote-dog encounters found genuine social play occurred in just 11 of 35 cases, with the majority involving aggressive, defensive, or predatory behavior, according to Adopt a Pet…