Jaws ‘90--Coyotes Drop In for Meals : Canyons: Drought and development drive the canines closer to humans. Residents fear for the safety of children and pets.

Last month, Mandeville Canyon homeowner Randy Jacobs followed the morning ritual of sending his three Yorkshire terriers through a kitchen doggy door into the back yard. But awaiting their arrival was one wily coyote, who snapped one of the dogs up in its jaws and disappeared over a six-foot chain-link fence as Jacobs looked on helplessly.

Neighbor Maureen Gratten watched the coyote scamper through her yard, where she plays with her month-old twins and two older children. After several other coyote sightings, she says, the older children are afraid to play outside and she and her husband fear for their safety.

“I don’t like to see dogs get killed, but my biggest concern is the children,” said Gratten’s husband, Claude Dorais. “To a coyote, a little baby and a little dog are the same. They’re food.”

Over the years, Los Angeles hillside homeowners and coyotes have generally maintained a separateness despite their overlapping habitat. Lingering at the edge of the burgeoning city, coyotes remained invisible in the day, waiting until night to retake the brush-covered canyons.

But that peace has been broken recently, as drought and development have forced coyotes away from their normal foraging patterns. And not just in Brentwood’s Mandeville Canyon.

Miles away, in Laurel Canyon, residents have reported similar sightings. A coyote killed a macaw on the front porch of a hillside home, and another person said a neighborhood cat recently was snatched up by one of the wild canines. To get to the cat, the neighbor said, the coyote climbed more than 40 concrete steps.

Animal control officers say they are not surprised by the surge. The coyote has long been considered among the smartest and most adaptable creatures on earth. Wildlife officials say the animals are just adjusting to the scarcity of food because of the drought and new developments that encroach on their natural habitat.

In addition, animal experts say, the urban coyote has become so accustomed to humans that it has lost its fear of his two-legged neighbor. Although coyotes in rural areas will rarely get close to people, Los Angeles residents routinely report that the animals sometimes stand within several feet of them without moving.

“It’s not that there are more coyotes, but that there is just less room for them and less natural game,” said Louis P. Dedeaux, wildlife specialist with the city Department of Animal Regulation. “When you have a drought condition, the litters of their natural prey dwindle and the coyotes become more active in the urban environment.

“But they are definitely getting more brazen. They’re probably the smartest animal in North America and they know what they can get away with. And if the opportunity (to grab a small animal) exists, they’ll take it.”

Two years ago, several coyote sightings were reported on the highly developed flatlands of Beverly Hills. Residents reported several animals missing, and a few neighbors made some gruesome finds south of Santa Monica Boulevard: remains of cats and small dogs that had been unable to escape the coyotes’ powerful jaws.

Dedeaux said Westside animal control officers, who cover the area between the Hollywood Hills to the Pacific Ocean and from Mulholland Drive to El Segundo, expect to catch between 80 to 100 coyotes this year, an increase of about 25% over past years. Coyotes have been captured in the hilly enclaves of Pacific Palisades, Brentwood, Malibu, Bel-Air and even Cheviot Hills.

Dorais said that since he moved to Mandeville Canyon five years ago, he has rarely seen a coyote, although he can hear them outside his window at night. But so far this year, he said, he has spotted at least four coyotes in the daytime, including one that attacked his poodle before he was able to run it off.

Dorais’ concern prompted Dedeaux to put a coyote trap in the family’s back yard, which can be done when there are repeated sightings in a single area. However, wildlife specialists say the best defense against coyotes is to remove food, water and garbage from areas accessible to the animals and to keep small pets inside, especially from dusk to dawn. Dedeaux said coyotes rarely attack humans and almost never attack anything larger than themselves.

However, Jacobs is taking extra precautions and urging other canyon homeowners to do the same. He is building an outdoor cage for his dogs, saying that enclosing them is the only way to protect them from animals that can outrun any dog and have been known to scale 14-foot fences.

“We know coyotes come with the neighborhood, but this is a serious problem,” Jacobs said.

Dedeaux said that as long as the drought persists, coyotes will continue to extend their boundaries. But he said that if homeowners take normal precations to protect their animals, they shouldn’t experience problems.

“The truth is that we need the coyotes to maintain (ecological) balance,” he said. “They’re good for rodent control. But when you look at the overall picture, with the drought and the development, it’s only natural that you’d begin to see more of them. The situation just calls for them to be more visible.”

TALE OF THE COYOTE

Adaptable, cautious and opportunistic, the coyote was historically an animal of the West. It has adapted far better than most large mammals to human encroachment, and now ranges from Alaska to New England to Costa Rica. Numbers continue to be generally on the rise in the West, with populations as high as six per square mile in some areas.

Canis latrans, as it is known in scientific circles, is considered a species of wolf. It averages 4 to 4 1/2 feet in length (including tail). Most adult coyotes weigh between 30 and 50 pounds.

They will eat almost anything, animal or vegetable, but rarely attack anything larger than themselves. They have no natural enemies, other than man.

Despite attempts to the contrary, the consensus among wildlife experts is that coyotes cannot be domesticated.