Poway incident prompts warning about coyotes

Is your family safe from coyotes? As one Poway family recently learned, a fence may not be enough.

Luann Shapiro, who lives off of Tierra Bonita Road, thought that the 5-foot fence her family had erected around their property would be enough to keep coyotes out.

Two weeks ago she learned differently, when a coyote jumped their fence and attacked her Maltese Bichon, Roo.

“I thought as long as we had the fence, the dogs would be safe,” said Shapiro, who has lived at the house for two years without any previous intrusions from coyotes. “I want others to know how to protect their families.”

It was about 6:30 p.m., and Shapiro said her dog and her daughter’s dog were in the backyard while she was just inside the house. It was her close proximity that helped her save Roo’s life, she said.

“I was inside, and I heard what sounded like dogs fighting,” said Shapiro. “I ran outside and there was a coyote attacking Roo.”

The coyote had picked up the small dog and shook him, tearing many of the muscles in his back. Shapiro said she yelled at the coyote, as she had been previously told that coyotes will react to shouting. She said the coyote dropped her dog and ran. “If I hadn’t been right there, both dogs would have died,” said Shapiro.

Thanks to an emergency veterinary clinic in Poway, Roo survived his ordeal with about 100 stitches, which he recently had taken out.

A neighbor told Shapiro that she had seen the coyote climb the fence, which was on a steeply sloped area of ground.

Shapiro said she and her family have been talking to many people to try and figure out how to better protect their families. She said she has been researching several, including a hot-wire fence or a fence with special rollers at the top to prevent coyotes from being able to climb over, but they have limitations such as needing to be in a straight line, and some are also very expensive.

Shapiro said she didn’t want to have her story told to frighten anyone, only to help people protect their pets and children. “People need to be knowledgeable about how to protect themselves. I see people walking their dogs or walking with their children at dawn and dusk (when coyotes are most active),” she said. “The veterinarian told me coyotes can take dogs right off their collars and break leashes.”

She said she has also seen a coyote standing in the middle of the road near her house, prior to the incident. “I don’t know what drove (the coyote) to come into my yard, they’ve been acting up lately. Maybe it’s the drought,” she said.

Shapiro isn’t alone in seeing an increase in coyote activity: there have been several recent reports of coyotes in Rancho Bernardo on the website NextDoor.com.

Shapiro said her dogs will no longer be allowed to be outside alone. She’s also no longer comfortable leaving her small granddaughter outside alone for brief periods of time, she said. “Never in my mind did I think this could happen,” said Shapiro. “I wouldn’t want this to happen to anyone else’s pet or child.”

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s website cautions against leaving pets or small children outside alone, and suggested installing motion-sensitive lighting and keeping ground-level shrubbery trimmed to eliminate places coyotes might hide.

Coyotes are most active in spring, according to the website, when feeding and protecting their young. If attacked by a coyote, you should shout, and if that fails, throw rocks at the coyote to drive it off, then report any attack on a person to the nearest Department of Fish and Game or law enforcement office.