To the Editor:
Re “Stop Killing Coyotes” (Op-Ed, Aug. 11): Dan Flores asks why we target coyotes for elimination when they “pose no unique or overwhelming danger.”
In the Phoenix metro area, where I live, coyotes hunt in packs, scaling six-foot walls and preying on our innocent pets, which have a right to enjoy their owners’ yards and gardens. Over the years I have suffered four devastating attacks on my dogs by coyotes that entered my property despite every safeguard to keep them out.
Mr. Flores should look at pictures of what coyotes have done to babies left sleeping in their own gardens. Defending the spread of dangerous predators in cities is completely misguided. Arguments that coyotes have rights, too, ignore our right to protect our property.
Coyotes are as dangerous as the alligator that killed a child in Florida recently. Steps should be taken to protect human beings before coyotes.
KEN VEIT
Phoenix
