Quote:
Originally Posted by PatrickIver
There was a coyote in my mom's back yard this morning and she has feral cats that she feeds. I am afraid for them. 
As a side dish, I feel like a fool. But, I will get over it. Onward and upward. |
They will definitely eat the cats if they can, but it's cat or dog food left outside or open garbage that might have attracted them in the first place (I'm not saying in your mom's place, just in areas of human habitat in general), or the smell of fast food deep fat fryers, or the dumpsters behind restaurants, etc.
If you google coyote and fast food restaurant, tons of stuff will come up. They've been videoed going into fast food restaurants and snatching food from tables without the patrons even noticing. The "wily" coyote nickname is apt.
My friend in L.A. lost her cat to a coyote. They come down from Griffith Park and the canyons around Santa Monica.
They're hungry and their habitat is shrinking. They eat, then go back to their pups and regurgitate the food for the litter to eat.
The animals that survive our destruction of the earth the longest will be the ones who can adapt to eating our garbage—or eating our pets.
House cats are the safest of course, but I think indoor/outdoor cats have more interesting lives. The best of both worlds, and the worst. And feral cats really have it hard, I guess.
Toddlers left alone in backyards are also not so safe from coyotes, though they aren't the most aggressive canines out there.