Coyote roaming through Atwater Village causes concerns for neighbors
A very bold and brazen coyote is making its presence known in an Atwater Village neighborhood, sometimes seen chasing dogs, cats and even kids.
A video shows a woman walking down the street as she screams for it to go away. One dad that CBS News Los Angeles spoke to said he's worried that the coyote, which has been roaming the neighborhood for months, could hurt his child and his cats. He nicknamed the wild animal Wiley.
"What's different about Wiley is he's being fed," said the man, who didn't want to share his name. "I don't know if domesticated is the word, but he's very used to human presence."
The person refused to stop feeding the coyote, according to neighbors who spoke to CBS LA. Residents formed a group chat to document Wiley's behavior with cell phones and door cameras. Another video shows two people chasing Wiley away after he tried to attack a cat.
While they don't want to demonize the animal, neighbors are concerned the situation could escalate.
"We run after it with air horns, which I never leave the house without," resident Richard Dean said. "I carry a baseball bat now when I take the trash out because he will sit in the front yard and sit on the front porch and stare at you."
The overwhelming sentiment in the neighborhood seems to be that coyotes come with the territory of living in Los Angeles, but it's becoming increasingly likely that someone may get hurt.
"When people are feeding him, or coyotes in general, that's when it's getting in a gray territory," a neighbor said. "You are putting people, young children, animals at risk. It's a complex issue, and we understand that here, and we just want people to be safe."
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife said it's illegal to feed wildlife, and coyotes are not typically relocated. The department urged residents to secure access points to crawlspaces and to remove anything that would attract the coyote from the outside of their homes.
