Coyotes

An agenda item submitted by Huntington Beach City Councilman Devin Dwyer that recommended employing a licensed trapper for $4,000 to deal with the city's coyote population drew 34 public speakers and no support among council members Monday. The council amended the proposal and decided to insert informational brochures on the presence of coyotes in the city's water bills on a 6-0-1 vote, with Bohr not present for the vote, after hearing the public's concerns over the issue. Dwyer suggested hiring a trapper due to the Huntington Beach Police Department receiving 200 calls on coyote sightings and 26 reports of pets being killed by coyotes in the past year.

Residents are invited to a community wildlife educational training session on the city’s coyote problem Tuesday. Representatives from the city will be joined by the Huntington Beach Police Department and Department of Fish and Game to discuss the problem. The police department declared the coyotes in residential neighborhoods a public safety issue and have set traps. Residents have complained about cats and dogs going missing and coyotes becoming bolder, and they are concerned for their children’s safety.

Like it or not, we live in the midst of wildlife, even in Huntington Beach. Or wildlife lives in our midst. It depends on how you look at it. Some of us are thrilled by the wildlife around us, and some are not. Partly that depends on how you view wildlife, and partly it depends on how the wildlife is affecting you. For example, it's fun to see cute baby skunks parading behind mama skunk. But it isn't so nice to smell them. And it really isn't nice if your pet tangles with one and then comes into the house.

Tricycles, push cars, two slides and a seesaw sit unused in Dana Powell’s quiet backyard. But the yard, enclosed by a 6-foot cinder-block wall, no longer feels safe to her. Powell runs a licensed day-care out of her house and used to use her backyard as a playground for her six charges. Not anymore. A little less than a month ago, Powell woke up and found her 18-pound Chihuahua, Cleo, in the mouth of a coyote, but that wasn’t when the trouble started. Two years ago, coyotes started showing up in Powell’s Bolsa Chica-Edinger tract in Huntington Beach.

The Estancia High football team saw its struggles with the running game go from bad to worse Friday night as host Buena Park held the Eagles to minus-46 yards rushing in a 17-8 Coyotes victory. The Eagles did manage 82 passing yards, but managed its only touchdown when Matt Redding stripped the ball from a Buena Park running back and returned the fumble 20 yards for with 7:19 left in the game. "We didn't come to play football tonight," said Estancia Coach Brian Barnes, whose team fell to 0-3 and now has minus-24 yards rushing this season.

FOR THE RECORD: . . . . An editor?s note on the April 22 Forum page should have stated that all incidents mentioned in police records, even those described in longer media releases, are available in the public log.. . . . . . I live in a walled in community in Huntington Beach. A large coyote was standing behind my patio at 7:30 a.m. Friday. About 9:30 a.m., another one was seen jumping over a 6-foot patio wall. A neighbor who lets her cat out every morning at 7 never realized the coyotes hunt in the daylight in neighborhoods.

Huntington Beach residents in the Sea Aira Mobile Home Estates at Warner Avenue near Bolsa Chica are being hounded by coyotes. While these wild animals don’t normally bother adult humans, they definitely kill cats and small dogs. Coyotes have been known to attack unattended small children, and there is even a report of a coyote having killed an unattended 3-year-old. Reports of coyote attacks on adult humans are also on the rise, so be cautious when you see one. Coyotes have expanded their range to include suburban areas like Huntington Beach as well as highly urbanized Los Angeles.

With regards to your front page article titled, "Care, capture, return" of Feb. 14, I oppose the releasing and feeding of feral cats after they have been trapped and neutered. The cat food and the cats themselves are food for coyotes and only attract the coyotes to residential areas. According to new research by the Smithsonian National Zoological Park, free-roaming cats kill between 1.4 and 3.7 billion birds each year. Huntington Beach is part of the Pacific Flyway, an important migration route for native migratory birds.

An agenda item submitted by Huntington Beach City Councilman Devin Dwyer that recommended employing a licensed trapper for $4,000 to deal with the city's coyote population drew 34 public speakers and no support among council members Monday. The council amended the proposal and decided to insert informational brochures on the presence of coyotes in the city's water bills on a 6-0-1 vote, with Bohr not present for the vote, after hearing the public's concerns over the issue. Dwyer suggested hiring a trapper due to the Huntington Beach Police Department receiving 200 calls on coyote sightings and 26 reports of pets being killed by coyotes in the past year.

"The Great Goddess of darkness, Mother Night, Persephone, brought forth the World Egg in the beginning, mirrored now in the Moon. Then the world was one warm, glowing, single un-split thing. It rocked gently, a crack appeared, and the multifarious world was born. " - "The Truth About Eggs" by Levana Lindentree * Eggs have been a symbol of generation and regeneration since ancient times. Even the Easter bunny's brightly colored gifts are a symbolic way of wishing you children.

In the past three years, my dog and I have had several encounters with coyotes. At times, we've been within 20 to 30 feet of them, but at no time did I ever feel threatened. On one occasion, I witnessed a dog interact with two coyotes and walk away unharmed, though I don't recommend allowing your dog to do this. I am far more afraid of pit bulls off leash than any coyote. Anyone who lives near coyotes is a fool to have an outdoor cat. Small dogs and small children should never be left unattended in coyote territory.

How many pets will be eaten by coyotes in Huntington Beach (and all of O.C.) until each respective city efficiently alerts its residents? Most people are not aware, thinking their small dog or cat is lost and will come home. It will take the killing of a small child innocently walking or a toddler or infant in a playpen in someone's yard or patio. It is irrelevant if adults are present or chasing the coyote away. This morning in my small walled-in townhome community near the beach in Huntington, residents were trying to scare and chase a coyote away, and within minutes it had a calico cat in its mouth (too late for this domestic pet, ignorantly kept outside)

Residents have gathered more than 200 signatures on a petition against a proposal to replace a nursery with an RV storage lot behind their houses, citing concerns about public safety and other issues. Residents on Aragon Circle, a neighborhood near Yorktown Avenue and Ward Street, are trying to stop the Ward Garfield Specific Plan from being approved by the City Council. The proposal would turn a portion of land owned by Southern California Edison and used by the Village Nurseries Landscape Center into a storage lot with room for 557 recreational vehicles and a rental office.

FOR THE RECORD: . . . . An editor?s note on the April 22 Forum page should have stated that all incidents mentioned in police records, even those described in longer media releases, are available in the public log.. . . . . . I live in a walled in community in Huntington Beach. A large coyote was standing behind my patio at 7:30 a.m. Friday. About 9:30 a.m., another one was seen jumping over a 6-foot patio wall. A neighbor who lets her cat out every morning at 7 never realized the coyotes hunt in the daylight in neighborhoods.