Map of the Day: Long Beach Coyote Sightings and Attacks

Long Beach's Animal Care Services could not be more correct: "It’s a People Problem, Not a Wildlife Problem." As human development encroaches on wildlife habitat, coyotes and other animals become part of a neighborhood's fabric as they search for food and water.

And easy to find trash and kitty cats keep those coyotes coming back. On Saturday, a cat was nabbed from the front yard of a Long Beach home. The owners, hearing their cat scream, went outside to find Bear--that's the feline's name--in a coyote's mouth. They were able to scare the coyote, who dropped Bear, before leaving, but it was too late to save Bear, explained the Long Beach Press Telegram. A few minutes later, two coyotes came back, strolling down the street.

There's not too much a city can do in regards to eradicating the coyotes. Relocation is not an option and you can only kill them in certain situations. However, Long Beach has been taking a proactive approach, found the newspaper.

"We are the only city that I know of that tracks this information about coyotes and makes it available to the public....We have been doing this for only the past (eight) months so the data is limited, but we need help from residents to report sightings," said the Manager of Animal Care Services. "If we see a pattern of reports in an area, we usually begin an education campaign including the distribution of postcards and possibly a community forum to spread the word....It requires an entire community working together to remove the elements that attract wildlife."