If you have listened to, read or watched the news lately, you can’t help but notice the growing number of stories about attacks by coyotes. Just this week, I can recall stories about a dog being killed by a coyote in Lake Tahoe, a woman was attacked by a coyote in Santa Cruz and another dog was killed by a coyote in Los Angeles.
Here are some startling statistics:
Death and damage from coyotes in California, between 1995 and 2012, totaled over $14 million in reported losses. The verified losses were almost $11 million.
Year-to-year verified losses have been increasing. In 2010, the losses were over $298 thousand. Losses went up to over $399 thousand in 2011 and in 2012, losses skyrocketed to over $869 thousand. This is mainly due to the ever-increasing population of coyotes.
Damage and death from coyotes includes birds, buildings, cattle, horses, fences, fowl, fruit, goats, llamas, deer, melons, thousands of household pets, rabbits, sheep, pigs and endangered species.
These statistics are from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Wildlife Services and we should remember to thank them for responding to complaints. Without their efforts to protect us, the monetary losses would even be greater.
In today’s society, there are those activists who feel the need to protect animal rights. That can be a good thing, but where do we draw the line? More and more, we see coyote warning signs posted in our communities. We are being told by our officials that we have to be careful if we walk after dark and we have to keep our pets locked up at night.
Yesterday, another dog was killed by a coyote in an upscale L.A. neighborhood. Sorry, but I thought it was kind of funny when a city councilman suddenly decided that something had to be done about coyotes in, “his neighborhood.” I guess that you and I must not live in the right area because when we call, we are told,“We have to learn to live with coyotes.”
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