Upper Valley Residents Want Something Done About Coyote Attacks

Coyotes are causing problems for some people in El Paso’s Upper Valley and those people are asking for something to be done…by someone. The whole issue seems to be a “the buck stops nowhere” situation. When the coyote issue was brought up to a city representative they were told it was something to take up with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Texas Wildlife said it’s up to the city to co-ordinate any kind of plan. The city responded that El Paso’s Animal Services department only deals with domesticated animals and pets. When the question goes back to the State Wildlife Department, they said Texas game wardens had traced the coyotes back to Keystone Heritage Park. But the board president for Keystone Park said they’ve only ever seen one coyote there and that he believes the coyotes are coming from nearby arroyos. The city rep who was originally contacted says that she’s only gotten the single complaint about coyotes so maybe the story is being overblown?

If you’ve ever seen an El Paso coyote, you know that they’re pretty pathetic looking. Most of the coyotes I’ve come across are scrawny, easily frightened creatures that look like they’re on the brink of starvation. In the story that ran on KDBC they only showed one video of an actual coyote attack and that was on a chicken. Some pet dogs would attack a chicken if they got out so it’s not really a surprise that a starving wild coyote would go after one.

At least we’re not in California where they have not only coyotes but wolves and mountain lions. Those animals don’t just kill chickens…they’ll go after your dogs and cats, too. Some California hikers and joggers have been attacked by mountain lions, some even killed.

So, we can consider ourselves lucky that we only have to deal with coyotes and not bigger more dangerous animals. I suppose you could put up a fence but coyotes have been known to climb chain link and just jump over other fences.