Animal gave chase as a resident and her terrier fled, biting the small dog several times
By Gary Walker
Tessa the dog is recovering from her encounter with a coyote in Playa del Rey
A coyote attacked a small dog out for a walk with its owner early Thursday morning in Playa del Rey, pursuing the terrier and biting it several times as it fled alongside the woman back to her house.
Cindy Curphey said she was walking her cairn terrier (the same breed as Toto from “The Wizard of Oz”) along Hulbert Avenue near 80th Street when the coyote sprinted out from bushes and attacked 11-pound Tessa.
“I was running as fast as I could and yelling as loud as I could,” she said.
Curphey, who lives on 80th Street, said the coyote gave chase until she reached home and was able to slam a gate behind her and the dog, leaving the animal about four feet away on her driveway.
The dog was treated for a puncture wound and received several stitches but is expected to recover, Curphey said.
“To have them waking around the neighborhood like this … this could have been someone’s child,” she said.
The California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife is investigating the incident, said state wildlife warden Lt. Ron Hoffman.
“If there is an attack on a human or even a threat, then we immediately deploy someone to investigate,” Hoffman said.
Officials recommend that people use leashes during walks and not leave their pets unattended outside in areas where coyotes may be present.
This morning apparently wasn’t the first report of a coyote in the neighborhood.
“My husband saw a big coyote coming up 80th just last week in the middle of the street. Watch your dogs, cats, all animals and small children. These guys are hungry,” one resident posted Monday to the Google Group Playa del Rey Neighbors.
“It’s common knowledge that there are coyotes living in the bluffs,” Curphey said. “Several people [said they] have seen them walking along the streets recently.”
The other night I was riding the bike path along the ballona creek just west of the 90fwy when a big coyote jumped the fence and ran down along the creek. Im guessing they live in the wetlands, Plenty of food in rabbits and other critters there.
I lived in La Cañada for 24 years. Lost two cats to coyotes and my neighbors lost dogs from Dachshunds to Cocker Spaniels. I have friends in Pacific Palisades who have lost dogs to coyotes, and others in Silverlake and, even in Monte Mar. There is a reason we have leash laws. Coyotes now are COMPLETELY URBANIZED animals. They know how to live in the city. In Massachusetts, where I also have part-time home on an island near Boston, coyotes figured out how to cross the 1.75 mile causeway — undetected — to dine on residents’ cats and other delicacies. Believe it or not, we have wildlife in the city! Opossums, skunks, many different species of birds. SO DO NOT WALK YOU DOG WITHOUT A LEASH! DUH! COYOTES DO NOT ATTACK PEOPLE ORDINARILY. You would not let your two-year-old play, unsupervised, in the street, would you? Coyotes are a lovely, majestic animal and they help keep the rodent population under control without use of toxic-to-humans and the human race chemicals such as rodenticides. I am very sorry that your Toto was attacked, but be smart! Come on! At 6:30 a.m. and no leash? Hate to say it, but what would you expect?
So true. We love our wildlife. Opossum don’t hurt anyone and do not carry diseases. Coyotes may attack small animals so keep your cats indoors and dogs on a leash. Keep them safe from coyotes, large dogs, and cars.
Opossums DO attack!! I had a huge one attack my springer spaniel and then played dead. As my husband and two police officers tried to dispose of it, it came alive and tried to attack them!! The officers shot it and then took the body to see if it had any disease.
It’s called “playing possum” and it’s a defense against being attacked. If I had been there I would have grabbed the pooch and gone inside and if there were children in the house we would have gone over to the window to watch the possum come back to life and amble off into the darkness. Much better than watching a needles execution. Next time tell the officers to keep there guns in their holsters. Why are we at war with nature?
The dog was unleashed at 6AM. Why would anyone let their small animals run around at all, much less at 6AM? One of the reasons we have a leash law is to counteract this sort of thing. .
I have had the coyotes on the Playa Del Rey bluffs try to attack me and my large dog sevral times . The are not from the area Ihave lived here for 56 years and only seen them in the last year but are trying to take over the area.The are not acting normal and are not afraid of humans.People should not leave out food for them .If you are confronted by one stand your ground do not run from them. When you see one yell at it and there are sevral people chase it away.The need to know to be afraid of people and the will stay away.Also be very aware of small children playing any were near the bluffs the are easy target for them and it only a matter of time before one is attacked.
Your comments are moronic and foolish. The woman has every right to walk her dog without the danger of a filthy coyote attacking animals and humans. I hope all pet owners and humans that are attacked by coyotes sue their cities for millions of dollars for ignoring the safety of their residents. There is well documented cases of attacks by coyotes in people’s backyards. The problem is not the lady walking her dog it’s the freakin coyotes that need to be taken care of. There is an overpopulation
of aggressive coyotes. There has never been a problem of too many birds, squirrels, cats and small dogs. A neighbors beautiful young cat was killed by coyotes last week.
The SOB coyotes left half the cat behind.Coyotes just -kill they were not even hungry.
All coyotes need to be trapped and be dealt with. They carry rabies, fleas, worms,
mange, Parvo to name a few disease. DUH how majestic…..
pat: actually you are INCORRECT.
the city has leash laws in effect in order to:
a) protect the domestic animals
b) protect people
and
c) protect wild life
your point of view is inconsistent with rational coexistence with wildlife.
having lived in urban environments my whole life,
i can tell you that in places that lack coyotes or other predators you will have rats and mice in abundance. ALWAYS.
the last cat killing incident in the area was when a pack of racoons killed a local cat. if we had more coyotes, we would have had fewer racoons. . . . .
You moved next to an ecological reserve and didn’t expect wildlife to wander into the neighborhood? There’s an abundance of wildlife at Ballona, not just coyotes so if you should happen to be out walking your dog off the leash at 6am and come across an opossum or rattlesnake, don’t expect it to be any more warm and fuzzy than the coyote if your dog decides to go after it. Here’s a tip for you and anyone else that has small dogs or cats in the neighborhood. If you run from a coyote you are training it that you are weak and they will become more brazen as a result. Conversely, if you hose it down or carry an air-horn and scare the daylights out of it, it will leave and not come back. This is how wild animals survive in the wild, they “learn” where it is OK to hunt and where it is not. Train your coyotes, don’t exterminate or relocate them, studies have shown that if you do either of those things they will only breed faster and you will have more untrained coyotes roaming around than you had in the first place. Learn to live with (and love) nature, you’re lucky enough to have it in your backyard.
the whole story doesn’t fit to me.
we have a presumably healthy coyote ATTACKING an 11 pound domestic dog, and, somehow the dog’s neck didn’t get snapped in the first 10 seconds? really?
the dog only had a MINOR wound?
this coyote is such an INEPT hunter that it couldn’t dispatch a little dog?
how could this coyote survive?
this scenario is not making sense.
in addition, the reporter is trying to generalize this to characterizing the coyote as being a danger to children? quite a leap.
the report made to the argonaut is that the coyote REPEATEDLY attacked the dog.
(and the dog, miraculously still had only MINOR injuries).
something seems amiss with this story.
You are a total idiot…but you already know that, don’t you. I have watched coyotes attack our dogs and chase them all the way into the house. If we weren’t standing there at the time, our dog would have been lunch. Coyotes are incredibly aggressive and dangerous around children and pets. They need to be put down when then get comfortable getting too close to kids and pets in residential neighborhoods. Let me know how you feel when it’s your kids that gets mauled.
It may not be such “common knowledge” – but naturalists and wildlife biologists who have studied the Coyote know that these animals, which are excellent hunters and do keep down the population numbers of mess-predators such a skunks, squirrels and rabbits, walk very long distances – as far as up to 50 miles in a night. The urban coast of LA is surrounded by wild areas – the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the Baldwin Hills, the Santa Monica Mountains, the Playa del Rey Dunes (under the airport flight path) and the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve. Coyotes have been observed walking the sandy beaches, the beach bike path and the wide streets of upper Playa del Rey for many years – if you are out at night, dusk or dawn. Coyote is not really interested in humans, but an unleashed little dog? It looks like prey. So keep your little dogs on a leash! Respect and love the Coyote. She helps us keep things in balance.
They are also rampant in Huntington Beach and surround areas. They are now entering our schools, playgrounds, and roaming our housing at ALL TIMES of the night and day!!
Oh, come on, GarysGirl ~ you are hallucinating. Must have gotten into the native hallucinogenic plants at the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve. Have you been smoking the Datura?
Marcia…what are you talking about? Come on down to Huntington Beach and have a look for yourself!! In Costa Mesa they have city signs warning about the presence of the coyotes. I was on a elementary school campus when two coyotes arrived! I asked what the protocol is and they said that there was no protocol!! So smart ass Marcia come on down and look for yourself!!
garysgirl,
the only scenario i can imagine for there to be ANY truth to ANY of your assertions is if PEOPLE ARE FEEDING THEM.
coyotes don’t go out for a stroll just for the pleasure of it, they go seeking food. if there is no reasonable expectation of food, there is no reason for any wild animal to expend the precious time and energy required to show up at any/all these locations.
Gensis, can you please tell me why I would make this up? I grew up in the Santa Monica/Westchester/Playa Del Rey area. I don’t remember there being issues with coyotes there. Living in the OC is very different. Some of our public schools have “farms” with livestock. The coyotes are attracted to that. I also live in an area where we have a middle school surrounded with houses and a playground where the house hold cats roam. I have many neighbors that have lost their pets to the coyotes. I believe in part this is because we have the Santa Ana riverbeds surrounding the area. This allows the coyotes to travel freely around the area. Come on down and have a look for yourself!
why would you be letting your cat roam?
there are the predators
there are the cars
there are the unstable/cruel humans
there is FIV
and on
and on
and on
in Playa del Rey, one of these roaming cats was killed and partially consumed on Friday night by a group of raccoons.
Coyotes are practically the onlyway to keep the raccoon population under some sort of control.
We’re inundated with raccoons and skunks and squirrels (Idiots actually feed some of these animals).
Basically, it’s virtually impossible for birds to nest in trees now, and it’s NOT because of the coyotes.
1) farm animals that are not protected by adequate fencing, coyote rollars, guardian dogs, llamas, etc. have ALWAYS been susceptible to predators– everywhere
a school deciding to house farm animals without protecting them is demonstrating ignorance/stupidity.
2) roaming cats are prey to all sorts of predators INCLUDING SICKO HUMAN PREDATORS. it has always been this way.
keep in mind that wild predators, by culling out those cats with FIV, feline leukemia, and other contagious diseases, will actually benefit the health of the remaining roaming cats.
of course the roaming cats that are mowed down by cars are something else.
maybe the owners of the roaming cats might reconsider their roaming status? there is a reason that many cat rescue organizations will refuse to adopt cats out to people who don’t see the obvious advantages of keeping their cats indoors. the average lifespan of an indoor cat is in the high teens. the average lifespan of an outdoor cat is in the middle single digits. the implications are obvious.
plus, i’ve witnessed that UNLEASHED little dog being walked in the morning and it was TRAILING it’s owner by a half a block. (p.s. this is AGAINST THE LAW)
the whole story of the coyote running after the dog and it’s owner yet being unable to catch either the dog nor the middle-aged owner is preposterous–completely defies belief.
It doesn’t help that some woman drives up almost every night and puts out bowls of dog food along the fence line of the Playa Del Rey dunes. The entire pack of coyotes show up, gaining confidence while she looks on like they’re her pets. Ask or tell her to stop and she throws a tantrum. Call the cops and they might show up in an hour or two. Someone’s kid will have to be attacked in that forgotten neighborhood practically under the flight path before anything gets done about her.
Wow, that is just wrong on so many levels. Apparently she is oblivious to the fact that feeding wild animals only makes them dependent on it and they will even stop hunting if they get enough of it. I agree, something should be done to stop her, she thinks she’s being humane but in reality she is being the opposite.
jeff, that woman is so wrong.
does she go to one particular spot on a schedule?
if so, i would want to try to intercept her in order to dissuade her from this horrible practice.
There never have been coyotes in this area… There is a nest in the bluffs and a group is filming the babies, how they got here is something no one wants to address.. We had red foxes that Howard Hughes bought in after WW2 and they were removed because they were eating the birds in the sanctuary… What do you think the coyotes are eating? Love how the environmentalists love to claim we are in a wild animal pathway – WE DON’T.. We fought hard to keep the wetlands and our birds… Coyotes WERE NEVER HERE…
I think the coyotes are mostly eating gophers and rabbits. I know this because I’m there every day and I see what they eat. This is not to say that they don’t eat birds, they do, unfortunately they eat the geese that breed here, but small birds are not easy prey and wild animals don’t waste valuable energy trying to eat things that are difficult to catch. You said “how they got here is something no one wants to address.” Why do you say that? How do YOU suppose they got here? I’d REALLY like to know. I’ll can tell you this much, they get around. I saw one with a distinctive marking on one side of the creek on one day and saw it on another side of the creek on another day. While watching it on the other side of the creek I saw it jump over a six foot fence like it was hopping over a bush. Like Gary’s Girl says “they’re showing up everywhere.” Let us not forget, we are the ones who moved into their habitat, not the other way around. You can’t say coyotes were never here, you have no idea how long coyotes have lived this valley, and neither do I.
my 35lb. domestic dog can make it over my 6 foot fence/lock wall, makes perfect sense that a coyote would be able to do better. . .
Geri Myers, you simply don’t know what you’re talking about.
i’ve watched as the raccoons have destroyed EVERY birds nest in the trees in my backyard.
there are NO coyotes in my backyard.
the raccoons are LIVING in my trees.
i NEED some coyotes to reduce the raccoon population so that the BIRDS can reproduce!
coyotes can’t climb trees like mine.
also, the folks in the west bluff development are INUNDATED with SKUNKS.
I have lived here for 56years and have spent almost every day walking there and when I was younger hunting there with hawks and falcon.The coyote have only recently worked the way down from above Ladera hieghts The are here becuse of plenty of water and food provided by the new eco system Playa Vista built for them.The Canadian gesse no longer stay threre in the day now becuse the cannot feed any longer in the marsh To easy for the coyotes to caught then. They now the spend fron sunrise to sun set at Westchester Golf course for now the coyotes have not yet figure out how to get out there plus there to many people so the feel safe.But this is what happens when you build something like the wetlands feed by plastic water pipes. Theyn are slowy eatting the wetlands of all of its wildlife When I was young you could go out in the moring and see thousands of rabbits on the lawns the foxs almost wiped out allmost of them .For 10 years i did not see any rabbits In the last few years they were making a come back but now the face extinsion again fron the coyotes. The other day a young Redtail hawk was learing to fly and landed below it nest the coyotes were wating for it and kill it.We used have 4 to 5 pairs nesting here Also all the burrling owls have been wiped out by themWhen I grew up there was only one small river runnig from theThe far east end of Huges aircraft to the ocean not this disneyland wetlands we all have to look at.Water dry up in the summer but now the have all year round water source the builded The perfect coyote reserve and not a wildlfe reserve for the native wildlife.
The historical record and observations from naturalists show that there WERE Coyotes here for a very long time. And then they were hunted out of the area when cattle ranching and agriculture was practiced. It was just in the last decade that they’ve come back to Ballona in terms of being here more often and not just passing through. We ARE in a wild animal pathway. The Coyotes help the birds (bird eggs and baby birds) by keeping the meso-predator population (skunks, rabbits, foxes) numbers down. As for the person who claims they are in Huntington Beach, of course there are Coyotes there, which is also helping the birds at Bolsa Chica. What I meant was ridiculous was the comment that: “They are now entering our schools, playgrounds, and roaming our housing at ALL TIMES of the night and day!!” Not possible.
Yes it is…I was there and I have seen it. There are also pictures posted on Facebook. Check some of the forums on Facebook relating to Huntington Beach. People post sightings there quite often!! Costa Mesa had STREET SIGNS warning people to keep their animals inside and BOTH Huntington Beach and Costa Mesa have meetings at city hall warning residents of what to do when approached by the coyotes!!
if you own property, your property needs to be fenced WITH COYOTE ROLLERS.
that still won’t keep the raccoons out, but it WILL keep the coyotes out.
i’ve had friends who, for years, maintained a feral cat colony in their back yard surrounded by fences with COYOTE ROLLERS.
their neighbors, inexplicably, didn’t install rollers and lost an entire cat colony. who knows exactly what type of animals actually killed the cats? nobody really knows..
Sorry I’m unfamiliar with coyotes and recently moved to Playa del rey…can
Someone please let me know if coyotes hunt only small animals or can they attack humans also?
I don’t believe that there are too many (if any) reports of them attacking humans, BUT given time and their lack of fear it wouldn’t surprise me if they do in the not to distant future. Some people say to carry pepper spray or a stick of some sort to scare them away. In the OC they are getting pretty brazen!!
The picture is a West Highland Terrier. What’s up ?
the owner describes the dog as being a Cairn terrier.
Hi guys,
Saw two coyotes in the Ballona Wetlands by Vista del Mar two weeks ago. This morning, a male Chihuahua mix got snatched and was killed at the north end of VDM. Heartbroken for the poor dog’s parents. 🙁
never has it really been safe to have a chihuahua out without supervision.
if the dog is small enough, even my local hawk might become interested.
i believe that even some of the meso predators will kill a small chihuahua.
the “poor dog’s parents” need to do a better job parenting.
We saw a big Cayote at the Ballona Freshwater Marsh yesterday.. be careful with your small dogs
coyotes BELONG there.
OCDane, this is a very good observation.
certainly NO domestic dogs should be running around in that marsh.
I saw a big coyote at 11:30 last night on Trask, north of Manchester. It was walking on the middle of the street and when it saw me it went into someone’s front yard. I got into my car and saw it going from house to house, going as far as it could into the front yards and sides of the houses. Cats were running back and forth across the street as their houses were being “visited” by the coyote. Keep your pets and children safe!
To everyone being “logistic” about “wildlife” and how coyotes are native, (or not) to this land; lets take a few steps back… If you want to say they should belong here because they are a part of nature… thats a poor excuse… HUMANS are not native to this natural habitat so how about we pack up our things and go so all the animals can run cycle “NATURALLY”… no? get humble….
In a time of natural survival and desperation, especially intending a wild animal that is a predator, generally, animals especially predators, will go to any length to survive. This may be an extreme, however, if they are killing animals, birds, pets, this shouldn’t be something we all have to fear.
I put money on whoever says that a hungry Coyote won’t go after a human. WE ARE FOOD TOO! just bigger and smarter than Coyotes…
Bottom line, my dog is like a child to me, and if i see any coyotes come after me, I’m going to protect the both of us in defense. Some real hardcore BS some people are spewing about a predator that is a carnivore, in a time where they had to come back here for food out of desperation, POSSIBLY won’t attack you.
i write this as i hear coyotes make noise down here by the lagoon… I have been in experiences in Utah where coyotes have tried to attack humans so try denying a life experience…
Keep your dog on a leash, its safety from reckless speedy drivers potentially hitting them.
Don’t leave food out unless you want bugs or rodents, let alone in this case, Coyotes…
– Anonymous