KMIR6 Investigates Coyote Problems in Rancho Mirage

[JRLeft]

Coyotes are attacking dogs, killing cats and even stalking people in at least one Rancho Mirage country club.
One homeowner just barely saved her dog from a pack of coyotes and asked us to investigate.

You may remember that this past June, two women were bitten by coyotes in the Sun City Palm Desert community.
Friday we spoke with a woman living in Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage.
She just barely saved her dog from the jaws of coyotes.
Chou-Chou is an adorable family pet that almost fell prey to coyotes.
Linda Hogg was walking the dog on a leash in the country club when she stopped to tie her shoe.
"Coyote brushed up against the back of my legs, and grabbed her in the mouth and took and yanked the leash away from me."
Linda went running for her dog.
"Two other coyotes then came along too for the kill, and she got loose, she got loose, I was screaming and chasing and throwing rocks."
Linda threw herself on Chou-Chou, picked her up and started towards home.
"Then they stalked me, I tried everything, screaming, yelling and throwing things, called my husband on the cell phone, he picked me up."
In June, we talked to people who had coyote problems from Rancho Mirage to Palm Springs.
At The Living Desert, they say coyotes are very adaptable and move in where there is food -- from rabbits to trash, and your pets.
"It's a neighborhood problem, so don't feed coyotes intentionally or even unintentionally like putting out pet food for your cats and dogs and that sort of thing, that's probably the best thing, the other thing is don't be indifferent to coyotes either, so if you see them, chase them away," said Living Desert's Director of Conservation and Education, Peter Siminski.

Video at the link: http://www.kmir6.com/news/toprotator/170784336.html

The Coyote population is exploding in the US.

[fasttense]

1. Coyotes have moved into areas where wolves once roamed.

The wolves competed for the same food and kept the coyote populations in check. But now most of the wolves are gone and the niche is being filled by coyotes. If you kill all the coyotes, something else will move in to fill that predator niche, maybe mountain lions, bob cats or wild dogs.

I don't feel sorry for these country club homeowners. We live in a rural area and not only do coyotes hunt our pets, they hunt and kill our chickens and lambs. But we fight back by keeping guard dogs and locking up animals at night.

But if it wasn't the coyotes, it would just be something else.

[JRLeft]

2. I agree, human population explosion has encroached on their habitat.