Letters to the Editor: We need to remind coyotes that they should be afraid of humans

To the editor: There is nothing romantic about coyotes, or other wild animals, copulating in residential areas (“Expect to see more coyotes in your neighborhood. Here’s why,” Jan. 8). The attitude of learning to live with them is wrong and comes from misplaced empathy (as does feeding wild animals, including squirrels, which ultimately feeds coyotes).

Until 16 months ago, there were no coyotes in my neighborhood in the Flats. People would hike with their dogs off leash in Griffith Park with no coyotes in sight. Coyotes were afraid of humans and hid. Suddenly, they have seemingly lost their fear, maybe because people are feeding them.

The county needs to have a program to scare them off so they are not in residential neighborhoods and they return to how they existed for decades.

Harlan Levinson, West Hollywood