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A coyote vaulted an eight-foot wall surrounding a Canyon Country backyard and killed a family dog, the pet owner said today.
"I don't really know what to do at this point - we're still in the middle of grieving," Denise Mitchell of Hawks Ridge Drive said.
The attack occurred Thursday evening when the coyote grabbed one of Mitchell's two Yorkshire Terriers and dropped the dog while trying to leap back over the wall, Mitchell said.
"It was absolutely a coyote," Mitchell said. "There's a whole family of them living out here."
Because of its injuries, Mitchell's dog was euthanized at the Saugus Animal Shelter she said.
"She was left with punctures in her head," Mitchell said.
Mitchell routinely sees coyotes walking through her neighborhood, she said.
"We see them walking down the street all the time," she said.
Most coyote attacks in Southern California occur near suburban-wildland interfaces - those areas where development abuts undeveloped land, according to a report issued by Hopland Research and Extension Center at the University of California Davis.
Such areas surround the Santa Clarita Valley.
Pet attacks are usually preceded by increasingly bold coyote behavior.
Residents of such areas are encouraged to not leave food out for wildlife and to bring in their small dogs and cats, especially at night.
