You may be surprised to learn that coyotes are marauding through the Countryside neighborhood in Lake Forest. It's not as if Countryside is up in the hills. In fact, it's bordered by four busy streets!
My family has lived here for 23 years. We have always shared our home with a variety of pets. You can imagine our shock and sadness this week when we discovered that a coyote had killed one of our cats on our neighbor's front lawn.
I called the Department of Fish and Game to report the incident. The representative asked if I live near a lake. I do. Lake Forest I is across the street on one side of the tract and the Duck Pond is on the other side. The representative said that the coyotes would come here for water.
She then asked if I have a problem with raccoons and opossums. I do. The possums run across my block wall fence in the evening and drive my dog crazy. If I forget to close the garage side door, the raccoons break in and rummage through the stored bags of cat food. One night, as I entered my garage with a full basket of laundry, I was surprised by a mama raccoon and her three babies exiting the premises.
The representative correctly guessed that I have fruit trees. She said that the fruit trees attract the possums and raccoons who in turn attract the coyotes. To stop the coyote invasion, we must discourage the possums and raccoons. Here are suggestions from the Department of Fish and Game:
- Immediately clean up any fruit that falls from the trees.
- Don't leave pet food outside at night.
- Keep garbage cans tightly covered.
- If you see a coyote in the neighborhood, scare it away. Do not make it feel welcome and NEVER feed it.
- If the problem persists, call a professional trapper.
If you'd like to learn more, go to http://www.dfg.ca.gov/.
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