it's Summertime....

and the livin' is easy...
hey..it's that time of year again to warn each other about..coyotes! with hot summer days coming on, you folks with pets, especially those annoying little dogs that shake and yap all the time, are especially vulnerable...and infants..coyotes eat infants all the time!! beware!! Cats I'm not too worried about because they generally can fend for themselves unless you've pampered the instincts out of them..but if you let your dogs out and walk them in the hills, you best be aware that eyes are watching you..both of you...and calculating ..watching and calculating...waiting for the right time to sneak in and snatch a little meal...Fiffy the poodle or Foofoo the whatever is fair game for the opportunistic coyote..
ahh, the coyote..that masterful wild canine for whom I have the highest respect is striking fear in iPod-type folks everywhere..folks who have lost their connection with the wild...if you live in the hills and can hear the coyotes at night yapping and yipping, count yourself lucky..if you think the coyotes are a threat to your dogs and should be shot, count yourself stupid...coyotes are a necessary part of life in California and a reminder that the wild aspects of this state are the best..try as we may to control nature, it always backfires on us....coyotes keep the rodent populations down, and injured or sick animals are quickly disposed of, they keep deer populations in check, and they are food for bigger animals... they are much smarter than humans, and are sentries warning us about the health of ecosystems..so if you hear them at night, it's a good sign...now, on the rare occasion they should kill and eat your pet, you are to blame, not the coyote.
As Caltrans embarks on its insane destruction of rural roadside plant habitat to install unnecessary irrigation systems with my tax money, coyotes are exposed to more dangers...hunting coyotes is fruitless because they just breed more..so the best thing to do is respect them and live with them....and leave them alone...it is your responsibility to understand wild predator dogs and not seek to eradicate them....they don't have gourmet food, they don't have an owner with a leash calling them "honey", they don't have shampooey salons, they don't chase after balls and they don't lick their own balls like domestic dogs do..really..it's true..domestic dogs are perverts!!!
so if you see a lone coyote, don't panic, don't call Fish and Game or the cops or #69....just let him go on his way and if he strikes a shiver of fear in you..good... you'll be a better person for it....and he'll be a better coyote...if that's possible...