A coyote was found dead of possible poisoning in a Woodland Hills neighborhood where residents are complaining of more coyotes. Kim Baldonado reports for the NBC4 News on Monday, June 17, 2019.
Some residents in Woodland Hills fear that some people who don't want coyotes in the neighborhood are taking matters into their own hands after a coyote was found dead of possible poisoning in the neighborhood.
Over the weekend, the mother of the coyote pups was found dead near a backyard pond. Animal control officials told neighbors the animal may have been poisoned. Another coyote was found dead with an arrow in its back recently.
"It's ugly. Shooting an arrow, killing an animal, killing anything is not a solution," said film composer Misha Segal, adding two adult coyotes and their two liters of seven pups took up residence recently in a backyard. "They're beautiful animals. You just have to watch your dogs."
Kristi Dietz says she's noticed more coyotes in the neighborhood.
"I don't have a problem with the coyotes around," she said. "It's the multitude of them."
Dietz posted about the coyotes on the neighborhood website NextDoor.com alerting her neighbors to keep an eye on their pets. That touched off some surprisingly violent comments.
"Several people on NextDoor said, 'Let's shoot them, let's poison them.' I said, 'number 1, poisoning is illegal and let's try to find a solution for this."
John Brother wants the coyotes out of the neighborhood because one of his dogs was recently attacked, but he doesn't think killing them is the answer.
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"I prefer to have them relocated," he said.
Dietz's concern is for the motherless pups. "Now that the mom's dead, where do the puppies go? They don't have any sense, they just run in circles. They're just playing and having fun."
