The problem of coyotes has been in our local newpaper recently. Our city is a suburb of Chicago and has lots of traffic, but there is a very small marsh and a golf course and some open farm fields nearby. The subdivision right next to where I live has resported 20 - 30 cats and dogs missing. Some of these it is know to have definitely been killed by coyotes because they were seen. A coyote actually tried to attack two labradors walking with their owner. Other coyotes have been sighted coming up on decks and trying to get to an animal inside a sliding glass door. A teacher from the Illinois Math and Science Academy who has studied coyote behavior and advised other communities with this problem has indicated that to the coyotes your animal is food. Normally a coyote will not approach a human. If it does, that coyote should be considered a danger. A person should make themselves appear as large as possible, waving their arms and shouting. We have been advised not to leave any dog food or water dishes outside, nor garbage cans that a coyote could get into. We have been advised not to have bird feeders because the spilled seeds attract rodents who are coyote prey. Coyotes hunt at dawn and dusk and this is a time to be especially careful. We have been advised to supervise our pets when they are outside at any time. The subject of trapping came up. It was indicated (by this coyote expert) that trapping or killing the coyotes is not a viable solution because when the coyote population falls, the remaining ones have more babies to fill the void and coyotes have quite a wide range of travel. The ones that should be irradicated are the ones that are aggressive towards humans because that is not normal coyote behavior. I have a 4 foot fence to I feel we have some protection, but the articles have been saying that a 6' fence is necessary. The bottom line is to be very careful.