Coyotes in West San Jose. 

The San Jose Mercury News reported that coyotes killed two domesticated cats in West San Jose over the last two weeks.

West San Jose is not wilderness, or even rural.  It's a suburban neighborhood of well-maintained homes and lots of families with children.  Urban critters--raccoon, skunk, possum and squirrels--are common.  However, coyotes were unheard of until these incidents.  

The cat "just had fur left on its paws, and its guts were ripped out," said the cat's owner when she discovered the carnage last Saturday morning.   A week earlier another neighborhood cat was ravaged by coyotes.  The newspaper reported that residents have heard coyotes howling and some residents even saw coyotes in their front yards.

The family whose cat was killed contacted the local wildlife authorities.  They were told the coyotes could not be relocated from their neighborhood.  The outreach and education director of the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley, said that according to laws set in place by the California Department of Fish and Game, coyotes cannot legally be trapped or relocated unless they are sick, injured or orphaned.

"There are laws in CA against relocating wildlife," she said. "We don't believe trapping and relocating them is something that's available."  

Newpaper reader's comments surprised me.  Many, perhaps most, were unsympathetic with the cat owners.  The most common comments were along these lines:   'The cat owners shouldn't let their cats out of the house'.  And 'the coyotes were here first'.  

I agree with those sentiments, but they miss the critical issue--public safety.  What happens when a pack a hungry coyotes attack and maybe kill a toddler, or an adult?   Will we argue about who was here first?  

Being a Realtor, I had to comment that coyotes in a residential neighborhood would be a required disclosure for any homeowners who were selling their house.  Coyotes in the hood is definitely a material fact.

We'll see if we've heard the last of it.  I hope not.  I think the coyote "non-relocating policy" in a residential neighborhood borders on lunacy, even if the coyotes were there first, and even though cat owners should keep their feline friends indoors.

Lloyd Binen

Broker/Realtor/DRE 572654

Certified Realty Services

19200 Shubert Drive

Saratoga, CA 95070

Certified Residential Specialist (CRS); Graduate Realtor's Institute (GRI)

408-373-4411; or e-mail

 
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10 Comments on Coyotes in West San Jose

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Lloyd, there have been many coyote sightings in Washington, DC! And my bet is that shooting one trying to have your cat for lunch might land you in the slammer.
12:41pm • #1
390,097 Points 27 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Lloyd: So sad. I'm not a fan of coyotes but we have encroached on their territory. And domestic cats that get caught by them? They don't have the skills to survive out there.
4:06pm • #2
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We've had sightings in the close-in neighborhoods of Silver Spring, Maryland.  I'm thinking maybe those posters for missing cats in my neighborhood say a lot.
8:00am • #3
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Hey, Lloyd, I included this post in Last Week's Favorites.  Have a great week!
10:03am • #4
510,688 Points 1 Featured Post Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Wow, you just never know where they'll show up next. We used to have entire packs where we lived in very rural, very mountainous Angel Fire, New Mexico. One even bit the end of our black lab's tail off! She was just lucky he wasn't closer when he chomped down. Do you have any idea how much a tail bleeds when the end has been biten off? And what happens when the dog doesn't seem to notice and runs through the house wagging her tail?

Gretchen

 
11:04am • #5
860,690 Points 174 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

I've got two outdoor cats and live in Saratoga not far from where this has happened.  When I heard about it, my feeling was "There's nothing we can do.  It's nature."  I can't keep the cats inside and it's rare that something like this happens.  Hopefully the coyotes got their fill and will leave.
11:16am • #6
580,285 Points 37 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Hi Lloyd ~ what an odd-sounding law San Jose has.  I can completely understand it if you're talking about rural areas nearby ... but in established neighborhoods, human safety also comes into play, as your post noted.  I'd be very concerned!  We have some coyotes in my neighborhood too and I don't let my dog out of my sight -- especially since our neighbor's cat "disappeared" after the last sighting.
12:49pm • #7
292,425 Points 20 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Pat, Thanks for including this in your Favorites.  I know you're not talking about the coyotes on Capitol Hill.  Right?   Could urban coyotes become as common as raccoon?

Hella, cats don't have the skills to survive, but neither do children.  And that's my main concern.

Debbie, Yikes, I hadn't thought of that.  

Gretchen, I guess a dog wagging a bloody tail stump would leave messy blood splatter that looked like a Jackson Pollack painting?  Lots of fun cleaning it up, I'm sure.

Bryan, yes, hopefully they don't develop a taste for cat, and they leave the area.  I'm mostly worried about small children.

Hi Maureen, if the Dingo ate Meryl Streep's baby in A Cry in the Dark, it seems to me a pack of hungry coyotes could get some toddler.  That's my worry.  Hopefully we don't have to lose a child before the law is changed.
4:34pm • #8
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About two years ago, in the Denver area, a boy was attacted by a coyote. It's a real concern. The boy is okay, but this does happen. We lost two cats over the summer to either owls or coyotes. My area is extremely rural. It's not uncommon to see coyotes, and just this morning, a small mountain lion was spotted right in the town of Cedaredge, Colorado.
9:39am • #9
292,425 Points 20 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Debbie, yikes.  West San Jose is completely suburban with lots of children and that's my concern.  We too have had Mountain Lions in nearby Santa Cruz mountains.
10:04am • #10


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Lloyd Binen Silicon Valley R since 1976;408-565-8177

Saratoga, CA

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Certified Realty Services

Address: CA DRE #572654, 19200 Shubert Drive, Saratoga, CA, 95070

Office Phone: (408) 565-8177

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