No they weren’t. The neighborhood is mad at the Dallas police department for even suggesting it.
Neighbors have been complaining about the coyote before the attack.
Neighbors have been complaining about the coyote before the attack.
Several years ago now, I was in the metroplex north of Dallas (in west Plano, I think), and had pulled into a grocery store parking lot to park and make a phone call. Mid-morning, around 10:00. Some motion caught my eye and I glanced up to see an adult coyote emerge from an overgrown, unkempt empty lot next door and trot across the grocery store parking lot. As I turned my head to watch, he descended into the landscaped drainage ditch area that ran along the front of the grocery store tract.
That drainage area tied in to a 30" culvert that runs beneath the divided street, leading straight into a large subdivision and winding greenbelt area. Yep, straight into the drain pipe went Mr. Coyote. Lots of Dallas neighborhoods have bike paths and walking paths, which allow easy access from the still undeveloped fringes of the area, right into residents' back yards.
I used to hear the 'yotes at night, yipping in the greenbelt area near my house. They've since gone quiet... there is now a large bobcat presence in the area.
Good to know.
If people are leaving their pets-especially small dogs-outdoors at night-or even all day-in an area where there are predators, it is like offering the predators some takeout food-and your yard is the drivethru-same with an unsecured trashcan at the curb...