Latest Coyote Attack Highlights Greater Problem

The news in Arizona has been filling up with so many stories of coyote attacks over the course of the last couple of years that it's threatening to drop from the news because these attacks have nearly become a daily occurrence. One of the recent stories involved a dog named Lexy (yes, after the car). Lexy was being taken for a walk by its owner in a well-to-do residential area of Phoenix, when out of the blue, Lexy found itself in the grasp of a coyote and fighting for its life. Thankfully, Lexy's owner had Lexy on a leash and was able to pull Lexy away from coyote while threatening the coyote at the same time. Lexy survived the encounter in tact, if not battle scarred.

Due to repeated complaints to the Arizona Game and Fish Department, a public meeting will be held to assuage pet owners, but officials have already gone to the media to prepare the public that they may not like what Game and Fish has to say. Basically, it's their conclusion that humans are creating the risk to their own pets. And there is nothing that Game and Fish can do about it.

People move to the Valley to get a little closer to nature. To wonder in it, to have immediate and almost at demand contact with nature. But what we've forgotten is that there are consequences to our actions. It's really less than the fact that we are now living on land that was just ten years ago, a hunting ground for coyotes, it's more that we have not been properly interacting with them. I've been guilty of myself. I just stand and watch the coyotes as they go by. When one ate my Halloween pumpkin last year, I just watched it. I didn't even bang on the window to disturb it. Unconsciously, I was experiencing my own personal live action Discovery Channel show.