So people there are surprised by this? They shouldn't be, given the experience elsewhere. In this Seattle suburb (Kirkland), coyotes do a good job of reducing the feral cat population and knocking off any tabby that ventures out. They have probably gotten some small dogs, too. The police just tell people to keep their pets indoors.

But that isn't the worst story. In Los Angeles some years ago, a coyote killed a toddler in her parents back yard, (I think they admitted they had been feeding the coyotes though I could be wrong about that.)

So what is the penalty for people in Mass. when they run over an oppossum?

Where I live, it is pretty hard to drive down the road at night without running over at least one.

Oooh, a possible lefty being faced w/his beliefs. Get a fence. We are when we move, cos we'll have a coyote, too.

We've got a pack that's pretty regular from May to October, heard them yodeling last night a couple of streets over. They drive the neighborhood dogs bananas but I've never heard of them eating one. Our feral cats are about coyote-sized anyway & can probably hold their own.

Coyotes are everywhere here in Southern California. I live in urban San Diego and frequently see them in my yard. Impossible to exterminate. Very tough & smart. They increase their litter size radically when their population wanes relative to the food supply (which includes small dogs and cats). Coyotes and coackroaches are two creatures you pretty much have to learn to live with.

There's a five year coyote cycle in my neighborhood. Coyotes come through and eat all the cats. All the cat owners are oh so sad - boo hoo. Then it takes a few years for the cat owners to get over it and buy new cats. Then the coyotes come through ... Some people never learn.

He should get a bigger dog.

Randall - When I was a kid in suburban Hartford and did my paper route early, it was a rare morning that I didn't see at least one dead possum. The town was pretty good at picking them up by 8 or so, and I'm not sure most people realize how many there are in suburbia.

My only issue with coyotes is that they can't do anything about the rats on stilts (a/k/a deer). If they want to eat feral cats and little yippy dogs I will buy them Hoisin sauce.

Wolves, Cougars, Hawks, Owls that's what we need.

"little yippy dogs"

Also known as "ankle biters", but the technical term is "doglet."

Remember— When you get closer to Nature, Nature gets closer to you. It's amazing the number of transplanted urban Gaia worshipers who never figure that out.

Jim:

I tried a lawsuit recently and had a varmint expert testify concerning proper methods to eliminate ground squirels which tunneled in levees (tunnels weaken levees). He told me that he had been hired the Los Angeles to find and kill a coyote that had snatched a baby in Griffith Park in broad daylight from the family's picnic site. LA insisted that he design a plan by which only the offending coyote would be killed (I kid you not). His answer: he recorded baby sounds, went into the park at night, and broadcast them. A short time later, the coyote came stalking out of the brush. Creepy, no?

Bret:

I lived in Pacific Palisades, and there was a rash of cat 'mutilations'. The local constabulary was in a panic trying to find the pervert or cult responsible. I bet my wife that it was a coyote(s). I collected. In my hometown of Del Mar, coyotes were numerous to bea driving hazard.

"a coyote that had snatched a baby in Griffith Park in broad daylight from the family's picnic site."

I hope that the parents were arrested for negligent homicide. Personally, I suspect one of the parents killed the baby in a more traditional way and blamed the critter.

"Wolves, Cougars, Hawks, Owls that's what we need."

Hawks and Owls work for me, but personally, I prefer to be at the top of the food chain, so I'd just as soon skip the wolves and cougars.