Coyote concerns reach new level

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The Los Alamitos and Cypress area have long lived with the threat of coyotes living in the area. The caution has always been, keep track of your pets and not let them out after dark, or allow them to get too far away alone.

The Los Alamitos and Cypress area have long lived with the threat of coyotes living in the area. The caution has always been, keep track of your pets and not let them out after dark, or allow them to get too far away alone.

The general belief has been that the coyotes were not likely to attack any humans, but that belief was disproved last week when a two-year-old girl was reportedly attacked at Forest Lawn Park on Thursday.

According to reports, the Long Beach girls was bitten and dragged by the coyote before it was scared off by the girl’s mother. Though the coyote released the girl, reports also stated that the coyote stood nearby and watched the girl and her family as they called 911.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife reported that it killed three coyotes in the area and believed that one of them was responsible for the attack. It has always been a fine line between protecting the animals and protecting residents and their pets.

Now that a child has been attacked, it may be time to take a more aggressive approach to curtailing the coyotes, at least the larger and more aggressive ones.

Recently, the Rossmoor Homeowners Association also reported several coyote sighting and the attack of a small dog, that was in a fenced yard. The following is what the RHA reported:

In the past few weeks the RHA has received notice of several coyote sightings in Rossmoor and at least one attack of a pet Chihuahua in a well-fenced yard.     

A coyote attack is reported to have occurred on Kensington at approximately 10:30 p.m. on July 13th. The dog was sleeping in the residents’ backyard behind closed gates. The coyote had to have either climbed a 7-foot high neighboring wall or the residents’ 8-foot high front gate, which features sharp spikes. The dog has spent several days in an emergency facility but is expected to survive.