Suburban NY police: Watch out for the 'coywolf'

Coyote hybrid spotted wandering around suburb

Police are warning residents about an usually large coyote-wolf hybrid that's been spotted around a New York City suburb.

The animal was an eerie sight in the fog near Rockland County condos, WCBS reported.

“It looks larger than your average coyote,” Nyack resident Sean McCormack told WCBS. “Very scary, yeah, very scary."

“It’s a coywolf -- basically, it’s a mixture of a coyote and a wolf,” Clarkstown police Officer Peter Walker told WCBS.

Clarkstown police are advising residents to stay away from the hybrid, which is technically known as the eastern coyote, WCBS reported. Coywolves are larger than western coyotes -- up to 75 pounds. They have different coloring, too, with more gray in their coats.

Experts said anyone that encounters a coywolf should make a lot of noise, scream and wave their arms to make themselves seem bigger, WCBS reported.

Clarkstown police said that if the coywolf is seen acting aggressively, they will "do what we have to do to stop that threat," Walker told WCBS.


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