I live in a nice suburban area in mukilteo wa, so I'm not quite sure how to deal with aggression in wild animals. We've never had anything besides the occasional deer wandering into our yards. This is not rural by any means, it's ocean front suburban property with some greenbelts here and there. Recently a coyote has shown up, along with reports that it's been eating the neighborhood pets. This coyote has been seen with increasing frequency now intruding on the greenbelt behind our yard, and about a week ago our cat went missing. This angered me of course, but I decided to just wait a week and cool down without making any decisions. But today, the coyote was actually following my mother as she walked our dog in daylight. Is this normal behavior? I have some concerns that it may be rabid. The fact that it's been stalking the neighborhood eating pets, as well as it's new aggression is causing me to consider just shooting it the next time I see it. It's been stalking around our yard and we've seen it every day the last 3 days. Our dog is at least twice it's size, and was going nuts barking and trying to get at it, but it just stood there watching my mother and her undeterred. Any advice from people who've dealt with similar problems with predatory animals, or those from rural areas who know something about coyotes would be appreciated.