Community Corner
Are Coyotes Feasting on Cats in Hamilton?
Three family pets in the same neighborhood go missing in one evening.
It’s not like Ava to stay out all night. So when Christine Atkinson went in search of her beloved cat on the morning of April 5, she didn’t have a good feeling.
“She always comes home when it’s getting dark,” Atkinson said. “Every day, it’s the same routine.”
Atkinson said she looked everywhere but there were no traces of Ava to be found.
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Then she saw the flyers. Not one, but two other cats had disappeared the night before from the same Hamilton neighborhood.
Since a cat kidnapping seemed unlikely, Atkinson started to assemble the clues. There had been coyotes seen in the daytime in the area, and her garbage can had recently been knocked over and pilfered by an animal.
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She believed the worst: that a coyote had been preying on neighborhood cats.
“We’d seen coyotes roaming around,” Atkinson said.
Her first call was to the Marin Humane Society, but Atkinson said they didn't provide much help. They told her to make loud noises to scare off any coyotes she witnessed, but that was all they could do. “They didn’t really offer anything,” Atkinson said.
MHS COO John Reese said there hadn't been a swell in reports of coyotes in Hamilton or anywhere else in Marin County, but encouraged people to do their best to stave off the animals. He said water dishes and food bowls shouldn't be left outside and that vulnerable pets shouldn't be left out, especially at night. He added that falling fruit should also be picked up to help deter coyotes.
Atkinson said Ava did uncharacteristically not want to go out recently, as if her feline senses picked up on a threat or a predator.
Meanwhile, Atkinson hopes for the safe return of Ava, who is seven years old.
Or maybe take matters into her own hands.
“I’m so devastated by this,” she said. “I'm ready to hunt this thing down myself.”
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