IRVINE : Cat Survives Latest Coyote Attack in University Park

Joan Murphy did not hesitate when she saw a coyote with her neighbor’s cat in its jaws.

She chased the coyote down the street during pre-dawn hours last Friday, forcing it to abandon its prey.

“I just started to scream at him. I figured I could scare him,” said Murphy, the empathetic owner of two cats she keeps indoors at night in her University Park neighborhood.

After numerous stitches and a veterinary bill nearing $1,000, Spotty survived the fourth coyote attack on house cats in the area that morning. City officials say the coyote might have come from wilderness areas in nearby William R. Mason Regional Park.

City animal control officials say new home construction in areas once wild guarantee the numbers of coyotes wandering into urban areas will increase.

“It’s kind of a Catch-22. If we destroy them, it tends to improve their breeding and make them stronger,” city Animal Services supervisor Debi Geary said. “More coyotes are being pushed out of their territory, but we are not allowed to relocate them.”

There were 96 reports of coyotes in Irvine neighborhoods in the past 12 months, including attacks on 18 cats, two dogs, two rabbits and one duck. About a year ago, an injured coyote that frequented the City Hall area was killed by animal control officers after acting aggressively toward residents. Although coyotes usually run when humans approach, Geary doesn’t confrontation.

Spotty’s owner, Hossein Aminzadeh, said the cat is beginning to eat on its own after a force-fed diet of baby food for several days.

“He was really in awful condition,” Aminzadeh said.

Joan Murphy and husband Rick, 15-year residents of University Park, say they have seen increasing numbers of coyotes straying into their neighborhood over the past several years.

“They’re doing more construction,” Rick Murphy said. “They’re taking away their food, so the coyotes come down and eat our cats.”