Posted on 09/28/2014 3:34:31 PM PDT by jazusamo
When Charlene Warner walks her dog each morning in her neighborhood in upscale Seal Beach, California, she’s terrified she’ll be attacked—not by muggers or gangs, but by coyotes.
“They are killing our animals. They are scaring us. I go out every morning with rocks in my pockets, tennis shoes on, mace on my neck, a whistle on my neckand a foghorn on my leash, and I still don’t feel safe,” Ms. Warner said last week in comments before the Seal Beach City Council.
She has reason to be nervous. Stories abound in nearby Orange County of dogs and cats snatched off leashes and plucked out of backyards a few feet away from their horrified owners. Mangled pet carcasses turn up on front lawns, often identifiable only by their tails.
Earlier this month, a woman living in the Leisure World retirement community opened her screen door to pick up her newspaper, only to watch a coyote scamper inside, grab her cat, and run back out. Another Seal Beach resident, Nate Kranda, started a memorial Facebook page for photos of dead pets.
It’s not just Southern California. From Florida to Washington to Maine, communities are wrestling with how to handle the influx of a surprisingly fearless coyote population. Nobody knows whether the coyote’s numbers are actually on the rise, but there’s little doubt that the adaptable predator is increasingly making itself at home in urban and suburban America.
“It’s spreading all across the United States now,” said Rex Baker, professor emeritus at Cal Poly Pomona, who’s done extensive research on coyotes. “You’re having less hunting going on, and urbanization is continuing, and the coyotes are showing up everywhere.”
In rural America, the solution is obvious: Trap and shoot the varmints. In suburbia, however, local governments are increasingly adopting a “coexistence” philosophy...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
It's California. Coyotes have the right of way.
One reason there are so many coyotes in cities is that they have the same range of diet that we do. They can eat almost any food we throw away, so trash is an easy meal.
Instead of rocks in your pockets try a Keltec PMR 30 on you hip. Blast the little so and so’s.
I popped one out back with a 410, 3” 5 pellet buck shot. Havent’ seen one since.
A few months ago we lost a Shih Tzu to Coyotes.
We have almost every night visits by Coyotes up in the area between the Horse corrals, and the Barn. We see their prints in the loose soil in the mornings.
Our last Donkey passed away last December, or we probably wouldn’t have the Coyotes so brazenly running around the yard at night.
We keep the little critters kenneled at night not only due the Coyotes, but the birds of prey as well. If the area wasn’t growing I’d sit up, and shoot the b-stards, but there are too many homes around here now, and more being built.
We really wish for the old days when it was just us, and a couple of others out here surrounded by Orange groves. Orange groves are all gone now, and more homes in most all directions around us. Still rural, but not like it was.
I am so sorry for your loss.
We sure have plenty here in NW Iowa. I was just out on the front porch and I could hear ‘em yipping and yelling outside of town.
That’s a shame, rqsr, sorry to hear that.
I think I’d be tempted to put a couple traps out at night to get their attention
Cunning is a good word to describe coyotes.
I’ve read some on coy-wolves and seen pictures. I believe they were blamed for the death of a woman in the NE either hiking or jogging a few years back but I could be mistaken.
They sound like an animal that a bounty would be justified on but the animal enviros would go ballistic.
Ms. Fox in that article and those like her are many times quick to discount a possible coyote attack on people.
They do happen and I recall at least one attack and believe there were two on small children in areas of So California in the last 5 or so years.
I’m not sure that the previous order by Interior is still in effect, since apparently somebody is capturing/studying/then releasing them.
http://www.easterncoyoteresearch.com/coywolfgallery/
But seriously, anybody who wants more coyotes around is just being a public pest, like breeding lampreys for release.
A decade or more ago, some jerk who really liked snapping turtle meat decided to become the snapping turtle “Johnny Appleseed”, by introducing them to lakes throughout the Midwest. The imbecile should have been put in prison for that.
we’ve always had coyotes in upstate NY, this year they look bigger - maybe they are better fed. I’m seriously considering carrying a pistol when walking the dog on a neighborhood trail.
I’m so sorry.
Hey, Bears gotta eat too...
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