Cat-eating coyotes worse than nuisance

EDITOR,
Something is eating Felton’s cats. In a few weeks, 15 or more cats in downtown have disappeared. Sad posters pop up daily. The presumed culprits are coyotes.
In 44 years, we had never lost a cat to a coyote. Now we’ve lost two. Cat parts (i.e., heads, partially eaten bodies) have been found on Gushee Street and behind the Montessori preschool on Laurel Street. Coyotes are reported trotting down Gushee in the early morning, to and from the creek. Absolutely no governmental, animal control or law enforcement agency will take responsibility for assisting residents in addressing this. If you are like me — plastering the neighborhood with posters — chances are that your beloved animal has been attacked and killed. The official term is “nuisance coyote.” Really?
This is different from deer eating roses. Wild animals eating housecats in highly residential areas where children live and behind a preschool is a “nuisance?” Someone responded to my ad saying they found cat parts in the Montessori parking lot while walking their dog. A neighbor found half-eaten parts of his cat on Gushee. Animal Control politely referred me to Fish and Game, who told me that a coyote is not “game” and referred me to Native Animal Rescue, who referred me back to Animal Control, since they don’t deal with “adult mammals.” (If anyone has seen anything like a mountain lion, please call Fish and Game at 649-2810.)
Please keep domesticated cats inside as much as possible (not always easy around here, so those of you who want to tell me to keep my cats inside, spare me), especially from dusk to daylight. This is a serious problem in residential Felton. It’s not a “nuisance.” I want to express my frustration at the gap in responsibility of all animal-related agencies (including the local state parks) in regard to controlling the aggressive population of a wild predator now adversely impacting the safety of local residential neighborhoods.
Tove Beatty, Felton