'An Unwanted Foster': Coyote Climbs Through CA Woman's Dog Door [SEE]

WOODLAND HILLS, CA — Julie Levine was getting ready to go to bed Friday in her Woodland Hills home when her dogs started freaking out and ran straight out the dog door along the side of the house— and little did she know that this bout of barking was for an unwanted visitor, of the potentially deadly sort.

Curious about what had caused such a stir, Levine checked her security cameras and discovered that a coyote had run through her doggie door and hung out in her house for about three minutes before seeing itself out.

None of her dogs encountered the coyote but apparently detected its scent after it left, and are all OK, Levine told Patch. Even still, she boarded up her dog door.

Levine, who runs the nonprofit dog rescue center Canine Rescue Connection, called the coyote an "unwanted foster."

"Imagine if the dogs had seen it, the result would have been totally different, thank goodness," Levine said.

Levine and her neighbors are getting tired of this coyote, she added.

Just two weeks ago, Levine's neighbor chased the same coyote out of their yard. A coyote caught ahold of another neighbor's dog about a month ago, and Levine suspects it was the same animal.

Though she sees coyotes all the time in her area, she's never had one climb through the dog door, she told Patch. She has, though, had a rat enter through the dog door.

"We’re no stranger to coyotes — they're all over the place. We keep building into their habitat area … they were here first. You just have to be mindful and take steps to protect yourselves," Levine said. "You’ve got to think one step ahead of them."

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