Beaches Coyote Attacks on Pets

[Axeman]

And HH, while my comment was in rebuttal to your earlier comment, it was in the spirit of fun and debate...wished it was made over pints.

[Halton Hills]

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[Carl-Adam]

I live in mississauaga and we have had coyotes for years behind our house and they have never been a problem. This issue just shows the continued disconnect between people and nature.

[Lee]

There is a continual fight in the Beach between people and dogs, so it's no surprise that there is a fight between people and coyotes.  I read today that the neighbours are also at odds with each other as some of the neighbours are feeding the coyotes!  Here we go again, yet another reason why people should not be allowed to feed wildlife!  

I am an animal lover and feel very bad about the little dog that was killed.  I also am very annoyed at cat owners who let their cats out unsupervised for many reasons.  I never let my cats out of the house, they could get killed by a car or die because of injesting poison, whether it's pesticides in a yard or antifreeze from a car.  They also use gardens and screen doors as their litterboxes which is highly unfair to neighbours.  

The coyotes wouldn't be an issue if people would control their garbage and leave their cats inside.  Take away all that food and they'll go elsewhere.

[Axeman]

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Umm...I loved these...

[David Shilman]

... it's built in food supply of geese, squirrels and FiFi's...

... (too many Fifi's eaten)...

Not sure I get it.  This seems to be trivializing the death of cats or small dogs.  Do either of you have pets?

(For the record, I think that if a small pet gets eaten by a coyote, it is most likely the result of irresponsible owners, not the "fault" of the wild animal.)

[Pat Hodgson]

My use of "Fifi" was just meant to be shorthand for small dogs and was not intended to be a trivialization, although I see now that it could be interpreted as such.  I do have cats but they are 100% indoor only.  I do not have a dog now but have in the past.  Obviously I am aware of the emotional attachment that people can get with their pets.  But that is all the more reason why one should be responsible with them.  If you really care about your cat staying alive, it should not be outside.  There is much less expectation of danger for a small dog, so I think some people have been very much caught by surprise.  Hopefully most owners understand the danger and can change their behaviour to mitigate it.  I don't believe there is any right to leave small animals outdoors unattended with implicit government guarantee that any threat to them will be eliminated.

[Axeman]

another pet peeve of mine...cat owners or people who feed feral cats...and have no regard for what they do to birds at a feeder -- and relying on the argument that it is the way the food chain works...except that these cats get fed...

Anyway, apparently the city is going to use paintballs and loud horns to scare the coyotes off....