[oucorry]

Here's to hoping for a swan song to song dogs' attacks on SoCal kids



The alarming news of coyotes attacking children in southern California has gotten Backcasts thinking of ways to better defend ourselves from the troublesome pests.

One kid was grabbed by the throat in a park and dragged by a coyote, according to a video report on the Web site of an NBC affiliate out of San Diego.

Another incident involved, get this, an immature coyote chasing a pet pooch through a doggie door and into a residential home while its mother waited hungrily in the brush outside, according to the TV news station.

The recent wildfires that have ravaged the Southland may be to blame for the spate of attacks, a park ranger told NBC 7/39. Small mammals, such as rodents and rabbits, compose the primary diets of coyotes, the ranger said, and since many of these prey animals were killed in the blazes song dogs are searching for other critters to make meals of and pouncing on kids.

In the interest of safety for our young ones, we're going to lift the following passage from the Web site of the Press-Enterprise newspaper of Riverside, Calif.

Keeping Kids Safe

Animal control experts say it just takes a little vigilance and common sense to keep children safe from coyotes. Here are some tips:

• Never leave small children unattended outside, either in a park or the back yard.
• Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house.
• Trim ground-level shrubs to reduce hiding places.
• Feed and water pets in the house rather than leaving food outside.
• Secure trash cans so the lids don't come off and they can't be tipped over.
• Don't feed or provide water for wild animals around your home.

Source: California Department of Fish and Game

If a menacing coyote is seen, rangers suggest throwing rocks or making loud noises to scare it off.

One thing missing from the list is just shooting the no-good canines, which, of course, wildlife agencies wouldn't recommend in such a public format.

But we'd bet anyone reading this column would gladly face the legal consequences of shooting a coyote that was endangering someone's life.

We also bet we'll be reading an account of just such a scenario should this over-the-top series of attacks continue to plague the Southland.

Most southern California coyotes are the size of a small dog, weighing roughly 30 pounds, the Press-Enterprise reports, and the largest song dogs have been known to kill sheep, fawns and calves … and even attack adult humans.

So attacking toddlers is child's play.

Since the late 1970s, there have been at least 111 coyote attacks on humans in southern California, resulting in 136 people being bitten, Rex Baker, a retired Cal Poly Pomona professor who has studied the region's coyotes, told the Riverside newspaper.

There has been one fatal coyote attack on a human in southern California – a 3-year-old girl was grabbed by the throat in her Glendale front yard in 1981 – but at least 49 children have been bitten, according to Baker's research.

That's 49 too many.