More info here... http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1497867/posts
In the past couple of years I have heard from fly fishers about the large size of coyotes back in the NE and their lack of fear of humans, (No one shoots them there, like out here.) They felt that attacks like this would become very common.
Most of the coyotes we have in N California are normal to small, mangy and not agressive.
Apparently in the Bend/Redmond and Sun River areas in Oregon, the coyotes are often big and agressive. The biggest coyotes, I have ever seen were in that area. Dogs and cats which are left outside often become part of the food chain in that area.