After Gruesome Death of Her Pet, Woman Aims to Protect City from Coyotes

After a coyote attack left her pet dismembered, a longtime Fountain Valley resident wants the city to do more to keep the same thing from happening to other dogs, cats or even humans.

“It’s a rampant problem,” said Patricia Neal, who’s lived in the same house on Santa Maria Street for 36 years, “I have seen the coyotes. Everyone has without exception.”

Neal, who said she lost her cat Lily Rose to a trio of coyotes June 10, wants a discussion about coyotes on the City Council agenda.

Neal, who is concerned people, especially children, could be the next victims of coyote attacks, said she’d like the city to possibly hire an expert to come up with a plan for dealing with local coyotes, including, perhaps, some form of birth control in the animals’ food.

According to Neal, Fountain Valley isn’t doing enough to deal with coyotes. However, city and county staff say they’re doing what they can and that the most important way to deal with coyotes is prevention – making homes less appealing to Coyotes.

“We’re not getting reports of these animals acting aggressively toward humans on a regular basis, so I don’t necessarily believe that there’s evidence to support the belief that there’s not enough being done,” said Ryan Drabek with the Orange County Animal Care Services, which provides animal control services to Fountain Valley.

According to Drabek, the county organization follows the state department of Fish and Wildlife guidelines, so it does not relocate or exterminate coyotes in the 17 cities it serves.

“That service isn’t provided by us,” Drabek said. “We’re much more concerned with animals that are aggressive to people or animals that are showing signs of illness or injury.”

According to the latest figures from the Fountain Valley Police department, from March 2012 to March 2013, there have been 135 coyote sightings, and a number of those incidents involved two or more of the creatures.

“I don’t know that there’s a particular coyote problem (in the city),” said Fountain Valley Police Department Lt. Robert Sweaza. “I think we see coyotes seasonally, depending on the weather.”

Sweaza the FVPD sometimes sends officers to respond to coyote sightings, and they sometimes scare the animals away. However, he said, normally the Orange County Animal Care Services handles the calls.  

According to Matt Mogensen, assistant city manager, the Fountain Valley program that deals with coyotes is preventative in nature, aimed at teaching residents how to keep the animals from endangering pets and humans. Some of the preventative steps include not leaving pet food outside, cover trashcans and do not leave food out for stray animals.

A pet owner himself, Mogensen said he understands Neal’s concerns.

“We wish that that cat wasn’t in a position to get, you know, taken, but that happens,” Mogensen said. “Cats go outside.”

“Our steps are document it with what’s going on with the coyotes in the community and to kind of take care of it when there is a problem,” Mogenson said.

However, Neal said something more needs to be done.

On June 10, neighbors said they saw three coyotes near her yard, just before someone found one of Neal’s cats, Lily Rose, dead on Neal’s property.

After receiving a call from her daughter, Neal came home to find the animal in two pieces.

“I sobbed, I just sobbed,” Neal said.

After the incident, she said reached out a number of government officials including council members, the FVPD, and the Orange County Animal Care Services Department to do something, anything. She said they said there wasn’t much they could do.

“And there’s just nothing happening,” Neal said.

If she can’t get an item on the City Council agenda, she said, she’s considering organizing a protest in front of city hall and said a number of her neighbors have said they’ll join her.  

Neal, who served as a Major in the United States Air Force before entering the medical profession, said she’s concerned not only for her other pets, but for herself, her kids, her grandkids and especially for children who attend a nearby elementary school.

“You know I was in the military, I’m a nurse, (and) to hear “I can’t do anything” and watch people be in harm’s way is just not acceptable,” Neal said.

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