Due to coyote sightings and apparent attacks upon pets, Seal Beach’s College Park West neighborhood is going the way of the Rossmoor Predator Management Team.
“We had an attack here just the other day,” said Charles Cohen, a resident of the portion of Seal Beach located off of Westminster Boulevard in close proximity to the border of Long Beach. “It looked like a neighbor’s cat was torn to pieces.”
The RPMT is a group of Rossmoor citizens who have set up a grass-roots e-mail network to gather data on coyote sightings, warnings and the finding and return of lost pets that could become coyote prey.
Cohen and fellow residents were happy when the city of Seal Beach put up a sign, warning residents and visitors to College Park West of the dangers of coyotes in the area. They were disappointed, however, when someone stole the sign. The residents reacted by hiring a sign painter and creating a new version and got permission from city official to install their sign where the original had been.
Cohen said the neighbors have no idea who took the sign. There have been some in the community who have championed the right of the coyote to exist in area’s urban setting. They often claim that coyotes were here first.
“You know, I used to shoot jackrabbits with friends here when I was a kid,” Cohen said. “Those people are wrong. We never saw any coyotes in this area.”
Cohen credited his neighbor Marty Eisenberg, for financing the sign.
“The most important of all is that the sign is now up on the fence at the entrance to Edison Park,” Cohen said.
According to Lt. Bob Mullins of the Seal Beach Police Department, they recently received a report of a coyote attack at Edison Park in the College Park West neighborhood.
“The attack occurred at 7 a.m. on Aug. 2, on a 17-pound Poodle mix,” Mullins said. “Coyotes are well established in this state and have adapted to urban and other heavily populated areas. They remain active year round, day or night, produce pups in April and May, and travel alone or in small groups. Mullins offered the following basic steps to help Sun Newspaper readers avoid having problems with coyotes:
• Never feed or attempt to get close to a coyote. Coyote attacks directed towards people have occurred in the western United States.
• Keep pets under control, and be sure not to leave them out at night. Coyotes may kill or injure a pet, especially small dogs and cats. Walk your dog on a short leash and accompany your pet outside, especially at night. Provide secure shelters for rabbits and other vulnerable animals.
• Control other sources of food that may attract a coyote: Keep your trash secure and compost bins covered; closely monitor your bird feeders to ensure that they are not attracting other wildlife; and keep dog and cat food bowls inside. Coyotes that rely on wild food sources remain wild and wary of people.
• Coyotes like areas where they can hide, yet still be near food. You can help by thinning brushy areas in your yard and closing off crawl spaces. Coyotes may use areas under buildings for resting or raising young.
• If others in your neighborhood are attracting coyotes, tell them about the hazards posed by coyotes and encourage them to take the measures recommended above.
Residents are encouraged to report coyote sightings to Long Beach Animal Control. Sightings are easily reported online at: http://www.longbeach.gov/acs/wildlife/report/default.asp# or by phone to (562) 570-7387. “The Rossmoor Predator Management Team has been contacted by many communities facing the same coyote problem,” said Rebecca Lara, who with her husband David founded the group.
“We currently are assisting the city of Anaheim and La Habra in establishing their own teams on dealing with coyotes.”
