GROVELAND — Being surrounded by a pack of coyotes was the last thing Mary Burke expected to happen while taking her four dogs for their routine walk on Monday morning.

However, just after 7 a.m., Burke called 911 to report she was being followed by a pack and was patched through to Groveland police.

"I was walking my dogs in the wooded area I always walk them in, not far from Carter's Ice Cream," said Burke, who lives at 22 South Chestnut St. in Haverhill. "Just as I was getting down to an area I call the pit — it's an abandoned sand pit — I noticed my black female (dog) was missing."

Burke started calling for her dog, and when the animal didn't come right away, started backtracking and yelling the name more frantically. She paused when she came face-to-face with a creature she described as looking like a huge brown German shepherd.

"He made eye contact with me, like he was telling me that this was his territory," Burke said.

When the eye contact broke, she saw the missing Labrador retriever, running back to her as quickly as she could. At that point, she said she knew she had to get out of the woods.

"I was so scared," Burke said. "I called a friend and started heading out away from the coyote and then saw four more in front of me."

At that point, Burke got off the phone with the friend she called for comfort and advice and dialed 911. That's when she got the Groveland dispatcher, Cindy Baptista.

Baptista was able to pinpoint her location by using the GPS signal from Burke's cell phone.

"She was able to follow her on the computer screen and help her find the quickest way out of the woods," said police Chief Robert Kirmelewicz.

Burke said that she knew she just had to keep moving and to get out of the woods. She said that more coyotes had come, and they were trying to surround her.

"They were still following me when I got out of the woods to a cul-de-sac," Burke said. "But then they heard the sirens from the police cars and finally ran off. The Groveland police saved my life."

Kirmelewicz said that people normally call them saying they've sighted a single coyote, but he had never heard of a situation like this before.

"I want the Groveland residents to be aware in wooded areas and be cautious," Kirmelewicz said. "They are pretty aggressive animals. She had four good-sized dogs, and they were still approaching."

Kirmelewicz said he has alerted his animal control officer, and Burke said she is telling everyone she meets.

"People I've talked to have said they've seen the coyotes in their yards and that there have been a lot of missing pets in the area," Burke said. "I'm afraid they could get a kid; people need to be extra cautious."

Burke said normally coyotes are afraid of people, but these ones were not at all. She had been walking her dogs in this area for more than eight years and had never seen even one there. The area Burke walked in is near Carter's Ice Cream on Salem Street in Haverhill. The land extends back to the old Groveland sand pits and across some strawberry fields once used as soccer fields.

"It encompasses quite a bit of rural wooded area," Kirmelewicz said. "The best thing to do when you see a coyote is to make a lot of noise to try and scare it off, and get out of the area."