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Cornell

Coyote bites an adult on a gorge trail, prompting a university-wide notification

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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
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Killed
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Injured
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Institution
Cornell University
Private R1 · NY
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~26,000 studentsCornellALERT
Official alert policy
Read when and how Cornell says it will use CornellALERT: summarized, quoted, and analyzed.
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

Confirmed wording is transcribed character-for-character from a primary source. Use Verify this quote under each message to open that source in a new tab and compare the text yourself.

INITIAL ALERTEmail
Verified verbatim1102 chars
On Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m., Cornell University Police responded to Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, in the City of Ithaca for a report of a person who was bitten by a coyote. The person reported to be traveling west on the north side of the Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail near the Trolley Foot Bridge when the incident occurred. The coyote looks like a medium-sized dog with a grey fur coat. If the coyote can be located and observed to be healthy, the risk of rabies infection can be ruled out, and rabies post-exposure treatment for the person who was bitten will not be necessary. Anyone with information related to the location of the coyote is asked to contact the Cornell University Public Safety Communications Center at (607) 255-1111 or Tompkins County Whole Health Environmental Health Division at (607) 274-6688. Cornell University Police reminds the public to avoid contact with any wild animals and the importance of reporting bites to Tompkins County Whole Health Environmental Health Division as soon as possible to determine if rabies post-exposure treatment is needed.
Verify this quote
Cornell Division of Public Safety crime-alerts archive ('Community Notification - Coyote Bite Cascadilla Gorge Trail')publicsafety.cornell.edufind archived copies
Written in police-report register ('responded to Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, in the City of Ithaca') rather than directive alert language; the grammatical slip 'The person reported to be traveling west' is preserved from the original
Describes the animal by analogy ('looks like a medium-sized dog with a grey fur coat') because most recipients cannot distinguish a coyote from a dog at a glance
Unusually, the notification explains the rabies-protocol logic: locating a healthy coyote would spare the victim post-exposure treatment, which is why it asks the community for sighting reports rather than telling them only to stay away
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.
Corrected 2026-07-19 to full four-paragraph body from publicsafety.cornell.edu (prior text omitted final wild-animal reminder paragraph and collapsed paragraph breaks).
Message elements

How the first alert is built

To check this alert, Claude (an AI) read it in full 25 separate times, independently. Each read decided whether the message answers each of the six questions and gave a short reason. A final reviewer then weighed all 25 and wrote the plain-English verdict you see when you open a row. The score (for example 22/25) is how many reads agreed; the 25 individual reads are tucked underneath if you want to check them.

On Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m., Cornell University Police responded to Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, in the City of Ithaca for a report of a person who was bitten by a coyote. The person reported to be traveling west on the north side of the Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail near the Trolley Foot Bridge when the incident occurred. The coyote looks like a medium-sized dog with a grey fur coat. If the coyote can be located and observed to be healthy, the risk of rabies infection can be ruled out, and rabies post-exposure treatment for the person who was bitten will not be necessary. Anyone with information related to the location of the coyote is asked to contact the Cornell University Public Safety Communications Center at (607) 255-1111 or Tompkins County Whole Health Environmental Health Division at (607) 274-6688. Cornell University Police reminds the public to avoid contact with any wild animals and the importance of reporting bites to Tompkins County Whole Health Environmental Health Division as soon as possible to determine if rabies post-exposure treatment is needed.

  • Sourcepresent25/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous agreement that 'Cornell University Police responded' identifies the issuing and responding authority.

    Who is sending the alert and who is responding. People act faster on a message from a clearly identifiable, credible sender, such as a named department, the police, or a branded alert system, than on an anonymous notice. A branded signature counts.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: 'Cornell University Police responded' identifies authority.
    2. present: 'Cornell University Police responded' names the responding authority.
    3. present: 'Cornell University Police' identified as responding authority.
    4. present: Attributed to Cornell University Police.
    5. present: 'Cornell University Police responded' identifies the issuing authority.
    6. present: 'Cornell University Police responded' names sender.
    7. present: 'Cornell University Police' named as responding authority.
    8. present: 'Cornell University Police' identifies agency.
    9. present: 'Cornell University Police' identified as responding authority.
    10. present: Attributed to Cornell University Police
    11. present: Names Cornell University Police as responders and issuer.
    12. present: Cornell University Police identified as responders.
    13. present: Attributed to Cornell University Police.
    14. present: Identifies 'Cornell University Police' as responding and issuing agency.
    15. present: Cornell University Police named as responding entity.
    16. present: Identified as "Cornell University Police."
    17. present: 'Cornell University Police' named.
    18. present: 'Cornell University Police responded' identifies authority.
    19. present: 'Cornell University Police responded'.
    20. present: "Cornell University Police responded" identifies authority
    21. present: Attributes response to 'Cornell University Police.'
    22. present: Cornell University Police identified as responding and issuing authority.
    23. present: 'Cornell University Police responded' identifies the agency.
    24. present: States 'Cornell University Police responded'.
    25. present: Cornell University Police identified as responders and issuer.
  • Hazardpresent25/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous agreement that a person bitten by a coyote, with associated rabies risk, is a specific named hazard.

    What the threat actually is. A complete warning names the specific danger, such as a shooter, a fire, a tornado, or a gas leak, rather than a vague emergency, because people decide what to do based on what they are facing.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: 'a person who was bitten by a coyote' names the hazard.
    2. present: 'a person who was bitten by a coyote' names the hazard/incident.
    3. present: 'person who was bitten by a coyote', coyote hazard named.
    4. present: Names a coyote bite and rabies risk specifically.
    5. present: 'a person who was bitten by a coyote' names the hazard.
    6. present: 'person who was bitten by a coyote' names the hazard.
    7. present: 'bitten by a coyote' and rabies risk named as hazard.
    8. present: Coyote bite incident named.
    9. present: Describes a coyote bite incident, a specific hazard.
    10. present: Names coyote bite incident as the hazard
    11. present: Names being bitten by a coyote as the specific hazard.
    12. present: Coyote bite reported as hazard.
    13. present: Names person bitten by a coyote.
    14. present: States a 'person who was bitten by a coyote' and rabies risk.
    15. present: Coyote bite incident named as the hazard.
    16. present: Names a coyote bite and resulting rabies exposure risk.
    17. present: 'person who was bitten by a coyote'.
    18. present: Coyote bite named specifically.
    19. present: Coyote bite incident named.
    20. present: "bitten by a coyote" specifies hazard
    21. present: Names a coyote bite incident as the specific hazard.
    22. present: Names a coyote bite incident/rabies risk.
    23. present: 'a person who was bitten by a coyote' names the hazard.
    24. present: Describes 'a person who was bitten by a coyote'.
    25. present: 'bitten by a coyote' names specific hazard.
  • Locationpresent25/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous agreement that Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, and the Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail near the Trolley Foot Bridge are specific named locations.

    Where the threat is. Saying whether danger is in a specific building, a part of campus, or area-wide lets people judge their own proximity and choose a safe direction. Without a where, a warning is hard to act on precisely.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: 'Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive' and trail location named.
    2. present: 'Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive' named.
    3. present: 'Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive' and trail location given.
    4. present: Kimball Hall, Hollister Drive, near the Trolley Foot Bridge.
    5. present: Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, Ithaca.
    6. present: 'Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive... Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail'.
    7. present: 'Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive' and trail location given.
    8. present: 'Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive... Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail.'
    9. present: Names Kimball Hall and the trail.
    10. present: Names Kimball Hall, Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail
    11. present: Names Kimball Hall and the Cascadilla Gorge Trail area.
    12. present: Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, Ithaca.
    13. present: Names Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail.
    14. present: Names 'Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive' and the trail near Trolley Foot Bridge.
    15. present: Kimball Hall, Hollister Drive, Cascadilla Gorge Trail specified.
    16. present: Names Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, and the Cascadilla Gorge Trail.
    17. present: 'Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive' and trail description.
    18. present: 'Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive' named.
    19. present: Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, Trolley Foot Bridge.
    20. present: Kimball Hall, Upper Cascadilla Gorge Trail specified
    21. present: Names 'Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive' and the gorge trail.
    22. present: Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, near Trolley Foot Bridge specified.
    23. present: Names Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive and trail.
    24. present: Names Kimball Hall, 134 Hollister Drive, near Trolley Foot Bridge.
    25. present: Kimball Hall, Hollister Drive, Cascadilla Gorge Trail named.
  • Guidancepresent25/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous agreement that the message instructs the public to avoid contact with wild animals and to report bites, both explicit protective/informational instructions.

    The protective action to take. A clear, specific instruction, such as shelter in place, evacuate, avoid the area, or run-hide-fight, drives faster and more correct protective behavior than describing the threat alone.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: 'reminds the public to avoid contact with any wild animals'.
    2. present: 'avoid contact with any wild animals' and report bites instruction.
    3. present: 'avoid contact with any wild animals' instructed to public.
    4. present: Instructs to avoid contact with wild animals and report bites.
    5. present: 'avoid contact with any wild animals' and report bites instruction.
    6. present: 'avoid contact with any wild animals' and reporting instruction.
    7. present: 'avoid contact with any wild animals' and reporting instructions given.
    8. present: 'avoid contact with any wild animals.'
    9. present: Reminds public to avoid contact with wild animals and report bites.
    10. present: Reminds public to avoid contact with wild animals and report bites
    11. present: Reminds the public to avoid contact with wild animals.
    12. present: Reminds public to avoid contact with wild animals and report bites.
    13. present: Reminds public to avoid contact with wild animals and report bites.
    14. present: Instructs public to 'avoid contact with any wild animals' and report bites.
    15. present: Instructs to avoid contact with wild animals and report bites.
    16. present: Advises to "avoid contact with any wild animals" and report bites.
    17. present: 'avoid contact with any wild animals' and reporting instructions.
    18. present: 'avoid contact with any wild animals' and reporting instruction.
    19. present: 'avoid contact with any wild animals' and report bites.
    20. present: "reminds the public to avoid contact with any wild animals"
    21. present: Reminds public 'to avoid contact with any wild animals' and report bites.
    22. present: Reminds public to avoid contact with wild animals and report bites.
    23. present: 'reminds the public to avoid contact with any wild animals'.
    24. present: Instructs public to 'avoid contact with any wild animals' and report bites.
    25. present: Contact police, avoid contact with wild animals, report bites.
  • Timepresent25/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous agreement that 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.' gives a precise date and clock time.

    When the message applies. A timestamp, the word now or immediately, or a phrase like until further notice tells the reader whether the danger is current and how quickly to act.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: 'On Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'
    2. present: 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.' given.
    3. present: 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.' given.
    4. present: Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m. given.
    5. present: 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'
    6. present: 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'
    7. present: 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'
    8. present: 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'
    9. present: Gives 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'.
    10. present: Specifies Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.
    11. present: Gives exact date and time, Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.
    12. present: Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m. given.
    13. present: Specifies Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.
    14. present: Gives 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'
    15. present: Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m. given.
    16. present: Specifies "Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m."
    17. present: 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'.
    18. present: 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.' given.
    19. present: 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'
    20. present: "Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m." given
    21. present: Specifies 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'
    22. present: Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m. specified.
    23. present: 'On Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'
    24. present: States 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.'.
    25. present: 'Monday, August 25, 2025, at 6:45 p.m.' given.
  • Impactpresent25/25

    Final assessment

    Unanimous agreement that the stated risk of rabies infection and need for post-exposure treatment is a clear consequence.

    What the hazard could do to the people in its path. Beyond naming the threat, a complete warning conveys its potential consequences or severity, such as that a tornado can level buildings or that a leak could be explosive, so recipients grasp how much danger they are in. Research on warning message content finds that a concrete impact statement helps people personalize their risk and act sooner.

    See all 25 individual reads
    1. present: References 'risk of rabies infection' and need for post-exposure treatment.
    2. present: References 'risk of rabies infection' as a consequence.
    3. present: References risk of rabies infection and need for post-exposure treatment.
    4. present: States the risk of rabies infection if the coyote is not located.
    5. present: Risk of rabies infection stated as potential consequence.
    6. present: References 'risk of rabies infection' as potential consequence.
    7. present: 'the risk of rabies infection' and need for 'post-exposure treatment' states harm.
    8. present: Mentions 'risk of rabies infection' and post-exposure treatment need.
    9. present: Mentions risk of rabies infection as a consequence.
    10. present: Mentions risk of rabies infection and need for post-exposure treatment
    11. present: States the risk of rabies infection as a potential consequence.
    12. present: Risk of rabies infection mentioned as possible consequence.
    13. present: Notes risk of rabies infection if coyote not located and observed healthy.
    14. present: Discusses rabies infection risk requiring 'post-exposure treatment'.
    15. present: References rabies infection risk as potential consequence.
    16. present: States the concern is "rabies post-exposure treatment... will not be necessary" if healthy, implying infection risk.
    17. present: Discusses risk of rabies infection needing post-exposure treatment.
    18. present: Discusses rabies infection risk and need for post-exposure treatment.
    19. present: Risk of rabies infection mentioned as consequence.
    20. present: Discusses "risk of rabies infection" and need for treatment
    21. present: Describes 'risk of rabies infection' as the potential consequence.
    22. present: States rabies infection risk if coyote can't be confirmed healthy.
    23. present: Mentions 'risk of rabies infection' and need for post-exposure treatment.
    24. present: Discusses 'risk of rabies infection' and need for post-exposure treatment.
    25. present: Mentions 'risk of rabies infection' and need for post-exposure treatment.

Systematic AI judgments with visible reasoning, not human-validated codings.

About this analysis
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. EDT. 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

Every claim on this page is meant to be checkable. Open the links below (and the Verify this quote control under each confirmed alert) to read the original university, news, or archive page yourself. Hostnames are shown so you can see where you are going; archived copies survive when live pages move or disappear. See also our methodology.

  1. Official
    Community Notification - Coyote Bite Cascadilla Gorge Trail
    publicsafety.cornell.edu
    archived copy
  2. Student Paper
    Wild Coyote Spotted on Campus, Adult Bit - The Cornell Daily Sun
    cornellsun.com
    archived copy
  3. News
    Cornell University Police respond to on-campus coyote bite incident - WBNG
    wbng.com
    archived copy
  4. News
    Coyote bites person near Cornell trail - Fingerlakes1.com
    fingerlakes1.com
    archived copy
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "Cornell University: Coyote bites an adult on a gorge trail, prompting a university-wide notification." Incident of August 25, 2025. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/cornell-university-coyote-bite-2025-08-25/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
wildlifecoyoteadvisorynew-yorkrabieshealth-advisorycornellUnder Investigation
Added May 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion