Huntington Beach is well-known as a seaside getaway with beautiful weather and great surf; however, with every great place comes a great problem. One issue is the growing coyote population in the community. The majority of residents living anywhere around Huntington Beach, or even Costa Mesa, are aware of the infamous coyotes. Although they are not typically spotted every day, they always seem to make an impression. 

Coyotes appear to be very confident animals and don’t mind the presence of non-threatening people. Attacks on humans are slim to none, but attacks on other animals are becoming more frequent. To be specific, coyotes usually target animals such as birds, mice, cats, rabbits, anything smaller than them. However, cats are their primary choice because of their population in communities and their habit of being unattended.

According to the city’s Huntington Beach Wildlife website, coyotes inhabit wooded or closed-off areas such as the Santa Ana River Channel and the Huntington Beach back bay. Around this time, babies have been recently born and are still learning their way around. With these inexperienced coyotes, there are chances of wandering into residential areas, bigger packs accompanying them, and angry mothers. 

A resident in Costa Mesa commented, “[coyotes] are a very big problem in our neighborhoods and the city won’t do anything about it. They are eating a lot of small cats and dogs. Our neighbors are always posting about spotting the coyotes so other neighbors know to bring their pets in.”

For the future, we should keep in mind the coyote population and how rapidly it’s going to grow. Do these animals pose a threat to individuals inhabiting Huntington and Costa Mesa, or are they just city dwellers like the rest of us?