Quote Originally Posted by Smilie View Post
That is awful to hear. Can you contact your game and fish department? If they are attacking pets, then they may try and take a child next.
I highly doubt a coyote has ever taken a child. They are opportunistic and very adaptive scavangers. The only native mammal to North America that has expanded their range with the on coming of White Man. Also they aren't known as Wile E Coyote for nothing.

Bunny, I'm sorry for your loss. There is a problem with the urban / wildlife interface, that humans need to accept. Coyotes have learned long ago that small dogs and kitties are tasty morsels. Coyotes are right up there with squirrels - if you trap them, another one will be right behind it to move into the territory. With coyotes in your area, you need to have a solid fence high enough that Wile E can't jump over. A split rail fence means your dogs can get out, and predators can get in. Have a friend in the hospital right now recovering from a dog escaping his yard through a rail fence and knocking my friend off his bike. But I digress.

If a "problem" animal is trapped, it will most likely be destroyed, as there's no place to move it. The joys of human population expansion and suburban sprawl. Unless the coyote is acting odd, or has attacked a human unprovoked, I highly doubt the local Animal Control or Game & Fish Department will do anything about it.

Coyotes are diurnal - they're most active in the evening and early morning hours. So your little dog was out at the same time Wile E was cruising for dinner. Wile E probably knew you had a dog, and was just checking to see if it was out, when unfortunatly the encounter occurred.

I'm sorry if this sounds a bit crass, but back when I was studying Wildlife Management in college, the joke was that we were actually studying Wild-People management, as the wildlife was doing fine without us humans. The trouble occurs when you add people to the mix. Despite how we like to deny it, we are all part of the predator-prey mix.

Ddin't mean to be this long winded either.