Skip to content
Campus Alert Archive
Cornell

A Grey Coyote on the Gorge Trail, and a University-Wide Email by Nightfall

NYotheradvisorymedium confidence
Under Investigation

On the evening of August 25, 2025, a coyote bit an adult on the Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail near the Trolley Foot Bridge on the edge of Cornell's Ithaca campus, prompting a University-wide community notification that evening. Cornell University Police responded to Kimball Hall at about 6:45 p.m. EDT and the medium-sized grey coyote was repeatedly seen roaming campus into the night.

Alerts
1
Response
Killed
Injured
Institution
Cornell University
Private R1 · NY
~26,000 studentsCornellALERT
Confirmed Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence

Some alert texts below are approximate reconstructions from news coverage, not confirmed verbatim transcripts. Reconstructed texts are shown in italic with a dashed border. Verified verbatim texts have a solid border and are marked accordingly.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Community Notification - Coyote Bite, Cascadilla Gorge Trail. Cornell University Public Safety has received reports of a coyote on campus and in local neighborhoods. Yesterday, an unaffiliated adult was bitten by a coyote while on the Upper Cascadilla Gorge trail near the Trolley Foot Bridge. The coyote is described as a medium-sized animal with a grey coat. Please avoid contact with any wild animals and do not feed, approach, or corner them. If you are bitten or scratched, wash the area with soap and water and contact the Tompkins County Whole Health Environmental Health Division to determine whether post-exposure rabies treatment is necessary. Report any sightings to Cornell University Police.

This text has been reconstructed from news coverage and may not reflect the exact original wording.

Reconstructed from quoted excerpts in The Cornell Daily Sun and a circulated screenshot; the opening lines 'Cornell University Public Safety has received reports of a coyote on campus and in local neighborhoods. Yesterday, an unaffiliated adult was bitten by a coyote while on the Upper Cascadilla Gorge trail' track the directly quoted source text.
The notification is framed as a discretionary community/health advisory rather than a Clery timely warning, because a coyote bite is not a Clery-reportable crime even though it triggered a campus-wide message.
The pointer to the Tompkins County Whole Health Environmental Health Division for rabies post-exposure assessment is the operationally specific instruction that distinguishes this from a generic 'avoid wildlife' note.
Context

Background

The Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail runs along the northern edge of Cornell's Ithaca campus near Oak Avenue and the Trolley Foot Bridge, a heavily used pedestrian route. On the evening of August 25, 2025, Cornell University Police responded to Kimball Hall at about 6:45 p.m. EDT for a report of a person bitten by a coyote while traveling west on the north side of the gorge trail. Cornell sent a University-wide email that same evening, and student journalists visually confirmed the medium-sized grey coyote roaming campus into the night, with sightings reported near Teagle Hall around 11 p.m. The message urged the community to avoid contact with wild animals and to contact the Tompkins County health authorities about possible rabies post-exposure treatment. This is a representative example of a campus notification driven by wildlife rather than crime: the legal hook is health-and-safety discretion, not the Clery Act, but the delivery channel and tone mirror a timely warning.
Analysis

Key Findings

Cornell used its University-wide email channel for a wildlife/health advisory, not a Clery timely warning, because a coyote bite is not a Clery-reportable crime
The notification combined a specific location (Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail near the Trolley Foot Bridge), a physical description (medium-sized grey coat), and a concrete health instruction (contact Tompkins County Whole Health about rabies post-exposure treatment)
The victim was an adult unaffiliated with the university, illustrating that campus alerts often cover incidents involving non-students on or adjacent to campus property
Outcome
The bitten adult, unaffiliated with the university, was urged to contact the Tompkins County Whole Health Environmental Health Division about possible post-exposure rabies treatment. Cornell said it was working with campus, local and state wildlife experts to address the coyote.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Official
  2. Student Paper
  3. News
  4. News
Tags
wildlifecoyoteadvisorynew-yorkrabieshealth-advisorycornellUnder Investigation
Added May 2026Updated May 2026Via ingestion