Noor Saulat and Hector Rodriguez, freshmen majoring in architecture and architecture and innovative technologies, respectively, were walking back from a late night in the studio when a coyote ran up to them around 3 a.m. on Jan. 20 outside Ford Salvatori Hall of Letters, Arts and Sciences. A common fixture of California’s wildlife, the coyote has caused a stir among students after several recent encounters within and near campus.

Saulat and Rodriguez said their coyote encounter was “scary.” Rodriguez said he and Saulat attempted to slowly back away from the coyote, but it kept getting closer to the point where it was trying to bite his ankle.

“You’re not meant to run but stand firmly and make noise, and we weren’t doing any of that, so it was just kind of following us around,” Saulat said.

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As Saulat and Rodriguez ran away, the coyote chased them into an alleyway and waited for them to make the next move. 

“We parkoured up basically onto a window ledge, and then [the coyote] was playing games with us,” Saulat said. “It was peeking across the corner.” 

Nafis Aboonour, a freshman majoring in philosophy, politics and law, also had an unexpected encounter with the coyote while he strolled through campus around 11 p.m. one January night.

“There was just this area that was just like an empty pit of darkness and I was like, ‘Why don’t I just walk in there,’” Aboonour said. “Sounds really stupid now that I’m talking about it.” 

As Aboonour walked toward the dark area by the Parkside residence halls, he saw something quickly run past him. 

“I turned back around, and all I see is these glowing eyes in the dark,” Aboonour said. “And then I realized it was a coyote because it was moving closer to me.”

Aboonour said his close encounter with the coyote makes him curious about how it got there and what impact it is having on campus life. 

“If students [don’t] feel safe with these coyotes just roaming around, has campus authority done anything about it?” Aboonour said. “Because I don’t feel like I’ve heard anyone talk about this in terms of people who have authority on campus.”

David Carlisle, the Department of Public Safety assistant chief, wrote in a statement to the Daily Trojan that DPS had received several reports of a coyote sighting near the center of campus.

“If a coyote becomes aggressive, animal experts recommend that you do not run,” Carlisle wrote. “If a student encounters an aggressive coyote on campus, they should call the DPS emergency number, 213-740-4321, or report the situation to DPS using the free mobile safety app LiveSafe.”

Miguel Ordeñana, a USC alum, environmental educator and wildlife biologist at the Natural History Museum of L.A. County, said there are a lot of people who have misperceived coyote behavior as aggressive and threatening. 

“They have a flight distance,” Ordeñana said. “[A coyote] just feels comfortable being that close, knowing okay, if this person comes any closer, I can escape safely and be okay also.”

According to Carlisle, coyotes have become very common in urban areas throughout Los Angeles.  

“According to the County of Los Angeles, simply seeing a coyote is not a problem, particularly if the coyote keeps its distance,” Carlisle wrote. “DPS does not have any reports of a coyote attacking a person.”

Ordeñana participated in a study led by the National Park Service, monitoring coyote populations in parks just south of USC, such as Augustus F. Hawkins Nature Park and the South L.A. Wetlands Park.

“They’re all around, just north of USC, just south of USC, around the edge of USC, so it’s inevitable for them to eventually make it in there and take up space for a little bit,” Ordeñana said.

Ordeñana said it is hard to tell if the coyotes’ sudden appearance are a result of the L.A. wildfires. He said coyotes are one of a few urban species that can take advantage of the fires by going around burned areas and waiting for escaping rodents and rabbits to eat. 

“These could be just individual coyotes that had just left their pack and [were] trying to look for a new territory of their own,” Ordeñana said. “They are just being more visible now.”

Ordeñana says as a USC alum, he always wants to push for the coexistence of humans and coyotes in L.A. 

“I think there’s a middle ground that we all can live in, where we do not necessarily want to hug a coyote, but we could at least have a respect for them that keeps us [and coyotes] safe,” Ordeñana said. “A lot of native communities are achieving that, and I would want the same for our USC community.”