Los Angeles Needs a Coyote Attack Hotline

Editor,

My husband and I would like to thank you for giving us a chance to express our concerns.  If not for your editorial recognition we would have become just another… "Pets Lost To Coyotes story."

As you know, after the unspeakably brutal loss of our pets and our ensuing inability to report the incident to any Public Agency, we sought the help of NBC Channel 4 News.  Our hope was that NBC4’s Patrick Healy would be able to elicit help from the City on our behalf.  To our dismay, the news stories content and Mr. Healy’s summation left us feeling even more distraught and helpless.  This is why we are grateful that you saw the news story and contacted us with the desire to do a more comprehensive interview.

The Patch interview, conducted by Randall Mah, proved to be healing for us on many levels.  We are grateful to the many readers that shared their own heartbreaking stories with us.  We appreciate their sincere condolences and for the most part, valid suggestions. The exposure and resulting comments from your readers helped us formulate the specific accountability we desire from our City Officials and State Agencies. 

These are our requests for mandatory and necessary changes:

There is a critical need for the establishment of a Coyote Attack Hotline Program.  The existence of a central emergency hotline will ensure that a 911 call for help, will never again be ignored.

The 911 Operator will be able to transfer, or direct the caller to the established hot-line resource.  The Coyote Attack Hotline agent would take a complete report that would include: The victim’s name, address, date and time of the attack, a description of the attack, as well as a description of the location where the attack took place. 

The Coyote Attack Hotline would be responsible for alerting the appropriate authorities and notifying the public that an attack has taken place in their neighborhood.

We have compiled a list of suggestions that were derived from some of your contributor’s comments as well as our own contributions.  We are proposing that these suggestions be offered to the caller and also included in a Public Alert Announcement, generated by the Coyote Attack Hotline.

How to protect your small children, pets and property:

1. Move all food sources indoors.  This includes water, food dishes, treats, bones etc.
2. Install motion detecting security lights that illuminate as much of your yard as possible.
3. Trim trees and bushes so the entire perimeter of your yard is visible.
4. Check to see if neighboring backyards have been abandoned.  Are grasses and foliage over grown? Unattended yards offer Coyotes hiding places from which to stock their prey.
5. Take note, if you have an over abundance of Squirrels in your yard there must be a food source within the vicinity.
6. Fruit trees are a problem because they attract a myriad of animals, making your yard into a smorgasbord for Coyotes looking for food.
7. Accompany your pets at all times, if it is dark use a flash light and talk out loud to your pet.  A human voice may act as a deterrent.
8. Large breed dog are helpful in discourage predators as well,

Our pets and possibility small children have become prey in our own back yards, this is an issue that can no longer be ignored.  Unfortunately, for us it is too late for our dogs (Molly and Squeaky).  We do not want their deaths to have been in vain.  Therefore, we are asking for more accountability on the part of the City, Animal Control Agencies and the State.  It is our right to know when our neighborhoods are at risk.

It is unconscionable and negligent to allow Coyote attacks to go unreported, due to the unavailability of a responsible Public Resources.

We are told to “co-exist.”   As animal lovers, we are not out to harm Coyotes.  Our issue is with the City and State’s flawed notion of “co-existence.” This notion is inequitable and intolerable, because it allows our pets and (possibly, small children), to potentially become, a food source for Coyotes.

There is a major problem within a system that compromises the wellbeing of its public while protecting the rights of Coyotes.  If we become proactive, demanding more from our City and State Agencies, no human, pet or wildlife will be compromised.

The key to a more equitable co-existence between Man and Wildlife will be the establishment of a Coyote Attack Hotline Program.  The goal of this program will be to solve problems before they happen.  Warning the public that a Coyote attack has taken place in their neighborhood, is only one preemptive function of a working program, getting to the root of the problem should be the another long term goal.  Investigating and instituting food distribution plans for displaced hungry Coyotes would be a great place to start.    

Very Concerned Citizens,

Sandra and Julian Parness
Chatsworth