Mailbag:

In regards to the coyote problem in Huntington Beach (“‘Never feed a coyote,’” Feb. 25): I’ve been a resident for 22 years. We live in the Village View tract. On Monday, my cat was killed by a coyote in our front yard.

The next morning, a coyote returned to our street and tried to attack our neighbor’s pug. Fortunately, the owner was able to save the dog.

Last Friday, a dog was killed in the front yard of a Circle View tract. My sister lives near Cal State Long Beach and lost two cats on separate occasions due to coyotes in her neighborhood.

I can go on and on.

For people to believe there is not a problem is absurd. I’m just glad the city is taking steps to ensure the safety of its residents as well as our pets.

Residents must learn to coexist with coyotes

People and their actions have removed the fear from coyotes. We need to quit leaving items that attract them to our areas, such as food and water set out, areas to hide and easy prey — dogs and cats — out overnight.

We need to learn to coexist with our wildlife or suffer when it is gone. We will be complaining about the rats and rabbits when the coyotes are gone.

I live on the east end of the area and love seeing the improving conditions.

Exterminate coyotes for residents and pets

Thank you for your article about the coyotes in Huntington Beach. We live near Newland Street and Adams Boulevard with the Bartlett Park area behind us. Coyotes have been an increasing problem this year, with numbers growing into what seems like a pack. Almost every night, we waken to howls as the coyotes call to each other or when food has been found. We have heard horrible sounds of dogs crying out their last whines. It makes us sick to our stomachs as we see new lost cat and lost dogs signs posted.

I lie in my bed at night listening to the coyotes’ frenzied barks, worrying the neighbors cat didn’t make it inside or that the ducks that breed this time of year will be devoured in the park or that the little squirrel we enjoy will never be seen again.

So I am in favor of exterminating the coyotes. I thank the city for taking action. I have called Animal Control over the years but the reception is so apathetic I have given up.

Your article mentioned calling 911 when a coyote is spotted. I could be doing that every week. Is that really what the police want us to do?

It’s the call of the wild; learn to live together

As long as the attraction for coyotes remains — cats out at night, food left out and garbage uncovered — coyotes will be attracted. Removing one or more coyotes will only create a space for another coyote to fill. This is the law of nature. Better to educate the public on how to coexist.

If we could, we would kill all the sharks off our coast. We would kill all birds because they can get sucked into airplane engines. Birds have no business flying in the skies, and sharks should not swim in the ocean. People are the only beings with any right to live on the Earth. I am sure this is how many people feel.

Opinion piece was typical partisan shot

Too bad! Sen. Tom Harman almost had me in his Community Commentary “Bill will stop over-regulation” (Feb. 18) with some at-first-blush reasonable analysis. But then he couldn’t resist taking a shot at “trash-talking liberal do-gooders,” and I realized it was all just partisan claptrap as usual.

Mobile home owners need support

Our local government has a decision to make that affects a most vulnerable segment of our community (“Seniors protest selling home lots,” Feb. 25). It must choose to side either with the thousands of residents, many of them elderly, who own mobile homes (a.k.a. “manufactured housing”) in our city, or with mobile home park owners who are trying to maximize profits by skirting city provisions to protect the property rights of these at risk citizens and gouging them in the name of “free enterprise.”

A previous City Council, facing a similar decision in 2004, passed the Mobile Home Conversion Ordinance, which preserves the private property rights of mobile home owners and the viability of mobile home parks to serve their intended residential purpose in our community. Park owners have been trying to get around this ordinance since.

The decision is simple: property rights preservation or economic greed. Senior citizens or business special interests. Protection or abandonment. Residents will want to know where our elected leaders stand. So will voters.