Pet in Hillside Home Falls Prey to Coyotes

She was a 12-year-old English spaniel named Emily.

She was a gift, a bit of furry cheer to boost her mother’s spirits after the family’s previous pet was put to sleep, said Karen Jiler of West Hills.

But Emily met a far less humane fate Friday morning when she was ravaged by the coyotes that roam the Santa Monica Mountains above her owners’ Woodland Hills home.

“She was nothing but a carcass and a head,” Jiler said.

Emily’s owner, Bobbie Parry, said she and her husband had brought the dog back to the house only a month ago after extensive earthquake repairs forced them to board Emily at a Van Nuys kennel.

The dog normally slept in the garage, but during the recent heat wave it had access to a fenced-in side yard at night, Parry explained.

“It was very hot so we didn’t want to close the door,” she said.

Although homeowners have maintained a sometimes tense coexistence with coyotes since the city stopped trapping them two years ago, Parry said she had never imagined that her beloved pet would fall prey.

“We’re heartsick,” she said.

Jerry Greenwalt, assistant general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Animal Regulation, said that though pet owners should take care to protect their animals from the heat, they should be aware that pets may need protection from predators as well.

“I don’t think there’s anything special you can do to keep the coyotes away,” he said.

“We’re telling people to keep their pets in,” said Lisa Paulson of the Veterinary Medical Center in Woodland Hills. She explained that as coyotes’ natural habitat shrinks due to development, they are forced to look elsewhere for food.

“They’re not afraid . . . of people as much because there’s not as many places for them to go,” she said.