Coyotes and foxes

The two wild dogs you will meet here, how to tell them apart, and what to do when one comes too close to you, your camp or your dog.

Who is who

Red fox: small, about the size of a house cat on long legs. Red, silver or dark, with a big bushy tail and a white tip on it. Black legs.
Coyote: the size of a medium dog, grey or tan with a darker back, a narrow face and a bushy tail with a black tip, carried low.
Coyotes crossed to the island over the sea ice in the 1980s and are now found across it.
Both hunt at dawn and dusk, and both learn fast where people leave food.

If one watches you from a distance, leave it alone and keep going. That is normal.
If a coyote comes toward you, stand tall, face it, and do not run. Running tells it you are prey.
Make yourself big and loud: wave your arms, shout, bang pots, throw a stick or a rock toward it.
Back away slowly while still facing it. Keep children beside you and pick up a small child.
If a coyote or a fox attacks, fight back hard with whatever you have.
Keep your dog on a leash on the trail and close to you at camp, most of all at dawn and dusk.
Put all food, garbage and fish guts away every night. See Keeping animals out of camp.

Report a coyote that follows people or will not be scared off to the Wildlife Division.
Wash any bite or scratch from a wild animal right away with soap and running water for fifteen minutes, then see a doctor the same day.

Don't

Do not feed a fox or a coyote, not even once. A fed animal loses its fear and often has to be destroyed.
Do not leave pet food, fish or bait out overnight at a cabin or camp.
Do not try to separate a coyote and your dog with your bare hands.

Danger

Rabies is found in foxes in this province, most often in Labrador. An animal that walks in circles, staggers, drools, attacks for no reason or is oddly tame may be sick. Stay away and report it.
Any bite or scratch from a fox or a coyote needs a doctor. Rabies can be stopped with shots after a bite, but only if they start before signs show. Call 811 for advice.
Coyotes will take a small dog, and a pair can kill a large one.

Attacks on people are rare. Most trouble starts with food left out and a dog left loose.

A fox that trots up to the car or the camp is not friendly. Someone fed it.

coyotefoxred foxrabiesdogs

Updated 2026-09-26