A teen fisherman reported a run-in with a coyote in Spotswood.
Anthony Bonsante, of South River, was fishing for catfish in a stream of DeVoe Lake, between Domino's Pizza and Immaculate Conception, an area that came highly recommended by his dad, who fished there in his youth.
"As it started to get dark, I lit my lantern," Bonsante said Monday afternoon. "As soon as it really got dark all around me, I heard something walking around. I thought it was something small like a rabbit or something."
But the noise kept coming closer. Bonsante said he picked up his lantern and started to look around.
"I saw two big yellow eyes in the small patch of woods nearby," he said. "I held my lantern up and it started walking towards me. It bowed its head and started to growl at me. It started to circle up on me. I was panicked for a second. I thought, "What do I have to defend myself?' "
He saw a big stick a few feet away and, without turning his back on the animal, he grabbed the stick.
"As I'm going for the stick, it was coming closer," he said. "It was growling louder and louder. It was like you see in a movie. I yelled at the thing, and as I yelled it jumped at my neck. I took this stick like a baseball bat and I hit this thing in the face as it came at me. It landed on the ground a few feet away, yelped and ran away."
Bonsante then grabbed his belongings and ran.
"It wasn't a dog," he said. "It was scraggly with a tiny rib cage. It was gray and mean looking."
The family alerted police.
Mayor Nicholas Poliseno said the incident is under investigation. He also contacted the warden of the New Jersey Division of Fish and Game.
"We want to alert our residents and to urge them to be very careful with their children and their pets if they go outside after dark," he said. "If you see a coyote, blow a whistle, clap your hands or yell. Do not turn around and run."
Bonsante said it was his third day fishing in the same spot.
"It's probably been watching me the last couple of days," he said. "I really thought I was hallucinating. Thank God there weren't more of them. Coyotes travel in packs. I kind of figured if I had stayed there, his buddies would have come crawling out of the woodwork and I would have been coyote dinner."
The teen said he believes the chicken liver he uses for bait may have attracted the animal.
"The chicken liver stinks really bad," he said. "He's probably been smelling it the last couple of days."
Bonsante said he doesn't intend on fishing again in that area — at least not for the rest of the week.
"I'll be back maybe next week," he said.
But his dad, Roger, said, he won't be alone.
"He's never going there again without me," Roger said.
In May, police and animal control officers in East Brunswick received a number of reports of coyote sightings in a number of areas throughout the town. All of the coyotes spotted displayed appropriate reactions to people, leaving the area.
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