I agree with Jeff. This was wrong and very sad. It's just not right.

I'm very sad indeed. I have no problem coexisting with the coyotes. However, I'm not sure how I'd feel if they came in my yard and killed my little Odie. Sad all the way around!

Very sad that $ and effort has to be spent to eliminate a species that was there originally. People, if you cannot co-exist with coyotes, move elsewhere. Keep your domestic pets in at night and install proper fencing. I have very small dogs, live in coyote territory and have never lost a pet to coyotes. As for cats....domestic cats do far more damage to native birds and wildlife than most people realize, keep your cats inside to keep them safe. This elimination of coyotes is typical of uneducated, ignorant people who move into an area of wildlife and then slaughter everything that posseses any kind of nuisance or danger. I would also ask what this program is costing the taxpayers....

HIP HIP HURRAH!!!!! Keep up the good work.

I agree that killing coyotes is total ignorance. This was brought about by all of the complainers whining about seeing coyotes. Hello! We live next to a national forest. I have lived in Altadena, Glendale, La Crescenta, and Burbank my whole life and coyote sightings on residential streets far from the mountains are part of living in these foothill areas. Most people get that if you live in these areas and have an outdoor cat or other small animals that there is always the chance that the coyotes will get your pet. Good grief. If you don't like the coyotes, bears or mountain lions, move!

If you want to live in the hills then get used to the coyotes. Keep your trash cans covered and don't leave pet food out. You know, if you yell they run. I have chased them off my street at night, all I had to do was wave my arms and yell and off they ran so I ran after them. I have a screened porch so my cats can go out and enjoy the air and see everything that is going on but safe. I have lived here all my life and I can't stand people who kill animals who came here before us and are hunters.

Simply keep your small animals inside. No need for a kill program. Coyotes follow the food source whether it be garbage or cats left out all night. We need to coexist if we have chosen to live in areas containing coyotes.

I feel that if the coyotes establish a den or continually hunt in a residential area, they need to be removed.
We can't have packs of coyotes running around in packs, jumping fences and killing our pets. I have been surrounded by them as I walk my dogs and have tried to chase them off. Sometimes they just back off a bit but don't run. One of them had my silky terrier's head in it's mouth through my front gate until my wife screamed causing it to smack it's head on a horizontal bar in the gate causing it to drop our precious little girl. I ended up chasing the pack of three down the street with my shotgun, but could not get close enough for a good shot.

The entire thing is disgusting. I hope those who lobbied for this unnecessary killing have some karmic retribution. Chris, while I feel bad for anyone who loses a pet, your dog is not a "precious little girl". It is an animal. We live in an area that is adjacent to the forest. I believe that people who can not tolerate the wildlife around them should move somewhere else.

I grew up on a ranch out in the desert and we had around 3,000 head of sheep. Coyotes are oportunists and they'd come into our property at lambing season. We would have to shoot these vermin as they'd take the lambs even before they hit the ground. Some years we'd get upwards 30 or more and it never made a dent in them. They'd just show up the very next year. Now you folks who say we shouldn't exterminate them, well, what do you do if you have a mouse in your house? Do you just leave it be or do you MOVE? What is being done is no diffent then what always has been done. We are just trying to make it safe for all.

"Real Men Don't Kill Coyotes" -- Red Hot Chili Peppers

There are no predators where there's no prey.

Thank you, Revvell, for summing it up so succinctly.

But lest one think a six-foot fence is not high enough and the solution is to make it higher, I would remind himthat county code states that fences in the back and on the sides can be no higher than 72" and in front, no higher than 42". This also includes hedges that act as a fence.

Unless the county is willing to grant a variance to coyote-prone areas, we're stuck at six feet.

Coyotes don't just prowl at night.
My mom was fortunate enough to rescue my brother's Aussie from 8 of them circled around the dog right outside her patio door at 1:00 in the afternoon. Don't be lulled into complacency because you believe they only come around populated areas when it's dark.
They have been known to attack toddlers playing alone in a well-fenced back yard during the day, too.
I've seen them in my neighborhood day and night. They are dangerous animals and require management by animal control, Fish and Game, or the forest service..

Mike, one just has to wonder about the environmental disaster 3,000 sheep would cause in the desert....however, if you choose to run 3,000 of one of the most brainless animals on the face of the earth, it is incumbent upon YOU to take measure to guard and protect them. Did you try sheep guardian dogs, or donkeys with the herd? No, probably just easier and more fun to blast away at the coyotes.

I do not want to minimize the awfulness of having a toddler attacked by a coyote, as it has been documented, but lets put some perspective on this...NEVER let your toddler out of sight if you live in coyote country! Second...I almost guarantee you there is a HUGE difference between the numbers of children attatcked by coyotes...and those attacked and even killed by domestic "family" dogs. As far as I know, it is not legal to go about leg-hold trapping or shooting loose domestic dogs....

Given the potential of a toddler attacked by a coyote in a public park, or a pitbull, i would far rather face-off the coyote than the pitbull.......

Den removal from a yard may be heartless but it is necessary to prevent breeding and training more coyotes centered in a neighborhood rather than the preferred habitat of the mountains. Besides the dangers of habituated animals, does anyone really want a potential mange pit in the back? As for that surrounded Aussie, maybe the coyotes had something else in mind other than dinner. Years ago, when Altadena was a bit more wild and wooly, I had an Aussie who would get out and run with the coyotes at night. They would give him a full greeting ceremony and he would take off with them. I think the sheep dog "eye" fit in well with their hunting plans. From the smell of wild sage and artemesia on him, I knew he had spent the night in the brush with them. I know better now than to be sloppy with gates and doors. Do not try this experiment at home.

http://www.valleywildlifecare.org/Coexisting_with_Coyotes_2PA.php good site explaining ammonia use , prob to work is need to get all home owners try at same time . works for bears also , which has been proven worked up here by cabins .

Coyote rollers: http://coyoteroller.com/home

Mike, if you killed 30 coyotes every year, and they continued to return in the same numbers, don't you think that maybe killing them wasn't working very well? It's not really solving the problem if you have to keep doing it over and over. I worked in S. Africa with goat and sheep ranchers, teaching them non-lethal methods of predator control. We had one guy who lost 80 lambs, every year, to predators. He had two full-time employees who did nothing but ride around his ranch killing every predator that they saw - and this is Africa, so the predators we are talking about are lion, leopard, hyena, etc. We convinced him to try non-lethal methods of predator control. The first lambing season using those methods? He had *zero* losses. No lambs were killed by predators that year or in any subsequent years. And no predators were killed either. It seems to me that if a bunch of ranchers in Africa can protect large herds of animals against lions and leopards, a bunch of pet owners in Altadena should be able to get their act together enough to protect their pets against coyotes.

I was just wondering... does a female dog in heat attract coyotes? Since there seems to be a population explosion of small dogs in the area (just check out PHS website), could some of the coyote behavior concerning small dogs be related?

I should have known better than to post to one of these threads, there are always morons with nothing better to do than to throw out insults. I know damn well going out there with a shotgun isn't smart or legal, I would never do anything to jeopardize anyone or their property and I do know the range of the birdshot in my gun. I feel so enlightened now that I was made aware that my dog is actually an animal and not a girl.......sheesh, I do need to get the heck out of here, too many pinheads!

Chris sounds like a responsible gun owner. He was in control of the weapon and did not use it because he could not do so safely. What he was doing I believe was also legal as he was defending his property. In Oregon if your dog goes onto a cattle ranch the rancher can legally shoot the dog. I would assume the law in CA is somewhat similiar. If a stray dog comes onto your prop. and is vicious I believe your within ur rights to kill it. Coyotes are sure doing a poopy job at controling squirrel population.
Also the comment about there are no predators wwhere there is no prey is not really applicable as coyote are omnivores. And eliminating all of their prey would involve a lot of killing.

Also the cpyote roller come on that is just stupid it kept a medium dog out big deal.

sorry stupid was a bit strong.

By the way, nothing can catch a Squirrel, not even a cat!

I hope am never in a town meeting with none of you..... It was mentioned that this year was an abundance of coyote sightings and killings. Therefore it needs to be addressed and handled for the sake and safety of the community. Prior to this the residents have co-existed with the animals of the wild, this current situation was handled to protect all.

We need to thank those who have addressed the problem and tried to handle it the best way to protect the community.

I'd be interested in the locations of the killings?

I'm so done with this.

This comment is from reader Marcia DeRousse who emailed it in:
"I had coyotes jump my 5 ft fence and chase me, beginning in April. I am a disabled little woman, and would definitely be considered prey to them. If I had been taken seriously at the time I reported this, I imagine the many, many pets- cats and dogs- that were eaten would still be alive, and those hearts broken would be whole. Also, an elderly man near the Rose Bowl was walking his dogs, and a coyote pack attacked them, ate the dogs, knocked the man down and he had to hav emajor surgery at Huntington for head trauma.

I am all for animal rights. But right now, it seems human and domestic animal rights need to be considered as well. Trapping and euthanizing the rogue coyotes is necessary at this point. There are too many of them, and they have no natural predators to thin them out. Are we, the people being chased by and hurt by coyotes less important than the coyotes, who are flea infested, probably disease infested, and hungry because their population is too large?"

To more or less repeat a post I left on another article, one aspect of "the problem" not discussed much is that coyotes can be carriers of disease. My folks (in Orange County) recently had a pair make a den in their backyard. County animal health providers there said their policy is to do nothing, they let them be. There was a resulting flea infestation, and my mother recently had a rash outbreak - she is now being treated for Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever. Three of the four pups were found sick/dying/dead. The one picked up by animal control which was still alive - he said they would try and rehabilitate it and release it elsewhere ...

Note, my parents live in the heart of suburbia, surrounded by miles of tract homes. This is not a fringe wilderness area - these are the definition of urban coyotes.

Rumors abound. Next we will hear about chupacabra attacks.
@Dan. I find the coyote pack attacking the man and eating his dogs not credible. It is contrary to everything the experts have reported about coyote behavior. I would like to see more details. Was it reported in the media? When did this alleged attack occur? With all the coyote reports on the internet, why wasn't this particular attack reported? Also, standard fences are not 5 foot fence; they are usually 6 feet.
@SteveB. It makes no sense that someone would allow coyotes to stay in their yard. And, by the way, fleas do not carry Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever.

Why do you say that. No one hasgiven any info on the kill sites...