At first, Cameron Whittaker thought the woman he was watching on the Confreda soccer complex walking track had two dogs. The small one she had on a leash, and the larger one was following her. It was then that Whittaker realized the larger animal was a coyote, and the park groundskeeper became concerned.

He yelled to the woman and started running toward her. Instead of bolting to the wooded area that borders to popular playing fields and a walking spot, the coyote stood its ground and focused on Whittaker. He was unnerved by the animal’s boldness but kept going.

Whittaker related the story Saturday morning as he returned to the park to walk his own dog. He hadn’t seen it, but tacked to the wooden railing of the parking lot was a warning relating a similar encounter with coyotes – this time two of them – by a man named Michael. Also on Saturday there was a report of an area covered by tufts of light brown hair, as if an animal had been pulled apart.

Whittaker usually sees coyotes in the early morning hours, especially during the winter months. He arrives at the complex about 7 a.m. He’s rarely alone. There’s a regular group that walks their dogs and usually a couple of joggers.

The coyotes have become more brazen. He recalled how a fellow employee of the Department of Parks and Recreation yelled to him while he was lining a soccer field. At first he couldn’t understand the interruption until he looked around and realized a coyote was close behind. The animal had been following him.

While the coyotes may appear to be threatening, Charles Brown, wildlife biologist for the Division of Fish and Wildlife for the Department of Environmental Management, doesn’t believe they would attack a person. The only incident resembling a coyote attack, he said, happened some years ago on Prudence Island when a girl was bitten. He said it was never confirmed whether a dog or a coyote had attacked her.

He described the animals, which first made their appearance in Rhode Island in the late 1960s, as “opportunists, adaptable and resourceful.” He attributes their apparent lack of fear of humans to the fact that, knowingly or not, people are feeding them. He listed composting sites as a source of food as well as trash barrels.

“Some people have good intentions,” he said of people who purposely leave out food, but more often than not Brown thinks people aren’t thinking of how they might be feeding coyotes.

“They’re scavengers,” he said. “They tend to do pretty well with our leftovers.”

Might coyotes attack a dog, especially a smaller dog being walked?

Brown isn’t aware of an incident involving a coyote snatching a smaller dog while it is being walked. He said coyotes have been identified as responsible for killing cats and smaller dogs when let out unattended at night.

Brown said coyotes moved east from the western states through Canada and then New England from Maine.

“By the mid-’80s they were pretty well established [in Rhode Island],” he said.

The last holdouts were Jamestown and Prudence Island. He said coyotes arrived in Jamestown in the 1990s and found Prudence by 2000. He considered the state population of coyotes “as pretty stable,” although a count is not available.

Coyotes on Warwick Neck prompted a raised level of concern several years ago as residents reported the animals frequenting their yards and even following them as they walked. In response, the DEM held a neighborhood meeting where the importance of not leaving out food and small pets was emphasized.

Brown thought it not unusual that coyotes make daytime appearances at this time, as they are likely rearing pups and “the adults are working overtime” to find enough food.

He thought it unlikely that a coyote would attack a dog as a predator. Rather, he explained, the coyote would view a dog as a competitor. He said coyotes go after foxes for that reason. He said coyotes hunt squirrels, mice and rabbits and “it’s pretty well known they prey on cats.”

As for controlling the animal, not leaving out food is on top of his list.