Coyotes Endanger Pets and Children

* I was deeply disturbed by a letter published Jan. 9 regarding coyote trapping. It asserted that it is the responsibility of parents and pet owners, not the city, to protect their pets and small children. It implies that the hundreds of us who have lost pets or have had their children stalked in the San Fernando Valley since the ban are irresponsible.

In most of these instances the pets were fenced in, and many of the attacks took place in daylight in a densely populated residential area that has existed for 30 years.

On Dec. 9 at 2:45 p.m., my son Thayer was six feet away from being attacked by a coyote in his own back yard despite the fact that the yard is fenced and despite the fact that he was being watched by not one but two adults. Michael Bell of the Wildlife Protection League has stated that there are no documented cases of coyotes attacking humans. In fact, volumes of such documentation exist.

It has been claimed that the homeowners are trying to wipe out the whole coyote population, when in fact all we are seeking is the trapping of coyotes that are creating an imminent danger to our pets and children.

The coyote is not an endangered species. Statistically the coyote runs less risk of meeting an untimely death than does a child in the city of Los Angeles. It appears that the commission and groups such as Mr. Bell’s, in their zeal to be “humane,” have lost all sense of humanity.

CHARISSE McGHEE LAZAROU

Woodland Hills