SAN DIEGO (KGTV) -- Coyotes are likely the culprits killing pets in one San Diego neighborhood and leaving the just front-half of the pets’ bodies on neighbors’ front lawns, animal services, and a veterinarian said.
Mabi Castro of Lincoln Park sais Kaiser, their nine-year-old Terrier, went missing from their backyard in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
“I heard like a yelp, like he was in pain, and then it just sounded like it was fading away, like it was getting farther and farther away,” Castro said.
Later that morning, in the daylight, they found only the front half of Kaiser’s body, including his head, a few doors down on a neighbor’s front lawn.
“All of us are just in shock because we don’t know what happened,” Castro said.
Another neighbor said he found the front half of a dead cat on his lawn last week.
10News showed the photo of Kaiser’s body to a veterinarian at B Street Veterinary Hospital, and to Dan DeSousa with San Diego County Animal Services.
Both agree the killer is likely a coyote.
“It does appear to be the work of a coyote, and a coyote can easily clear most fences, snatch a small animal, and then jump back out,” DeSousa said in an email to 10News.
“As such, we need to learn to coexist with them. That means “hazing” a coyote when it is seen in residential areas (honking at them, using an air horn to scare them off, or even throwing something at the animal),” DeSousa said.
People should not leave pets in their yards and remove any cat or dog food, as that attracts not only cats and dogs, but also skunks, opossums, and other animals, which then attract a coyote, De Sousa said.
Castro said now they can have closure on Kaiser’s death.
“All our neighbors have small dogs," she said. "Yesterday I was telling them to keep their dogs safe. Keep them inside."
