Coyote roller for containing fence-hopping pets - videos and photo

[Paul Jones]

Marv,

We see a lot of coyotes everyday in Southern California because we live on properties ranging from 1.5 to 4 acres that go down into a box canyon. A lot of our land is left as natural brush and trees. After doing our fire prevention brush clearing I can always see all the narrow coyote trails throughout the properties. a few weeks ago around 5 AM I was taking some trash out to our garbage can when coming around a blind corner I just about ran into what I thought at first was a coyote. It was about two feet away and it just casually started to walk away when I noticed it had almost no tail. I took a closer look in the dim morning light and discovered it was a beautiful bobcat. Years ago we used to see more bobcats and foxes on the properties but it is now mainly coyote territory and they have become very bold.

Regards, Paul

Postscript: About 12 years while brush clearing down in the lower part of our property that goes into a steep box canyon behind our house, I saw my neighbor on the other side of the box canyon waving his arms. I thought he was going to yell at me because we we deep into fire season and always the potential of accidentally starting a fire with the hot equipment. I cupped my ears to hear what he was yelling about. He was trying to warn me about a mountain lion heading my way. I had been having trouble with my equipment all day and had been down on the ground trying to adjust the carburetor. Not a good situation in this case. I never ran so fast up the 40 degree slope to get to the upper part of the property. When I got up to the top I could see parked across the way two sheriffs patrol cars, a California Department of Fish and Wildlife car, and then about thirty minutes later a news helicopter flying circles overhead. They didn't find the big cat and I wasn't planning on going back down anytime soon. The road down our hill has a deer crossing sign near the bottom and early in the morning I occasionally see the deer trying to cross the road to where this is water. The deer remind me of them being part of the food chain.