A woman returning home with her dog suffered an unexpected attack Sunday, when a coyote snapped up the pup as she stood at her front door.
CBS 5 reports that the incident occurred at on Sunday morning in SF's Ingleside district an area along Ocean Avenue and near Balboa Park a quiet residential neighborhood known more for its proximity to CCSF's main campus than for wild animal attacks.
A 13-year-old Shih Tzu named Bella was returning home with her guardian, a woman named Jodi, when the attack occurred. According to CBS 5, Jodi says "the coyote raced up the front steps and grabbed her dog while she was getting her keys to enter her house" then "took off down the side of the house, jumped over a fence and ran down an alley."
Oddly enough, though the coyote killed Bella, it didn't eat her, leaving Bella in that same alley for Jodi and her husband to find her later on.
Though the Ingleside seems less ideal for coyotes than, say, the Presidio, where last month dog guardians said coyotes were growing more and more aggressive, they are still sometimes seen.
“My wife saw one in the middle of the day walking down" an Ingleside street, one of Bella and Jodi's neighbors told CBS 5. He says that another time, a coyote followed him as he walked down the street "then stopped in the middle of the intersection so I turned around and challenged it.”
San Francisco's Animal Care and Control says that San Francisco's current coyote population is somewhere between 50-100, with the majority living in wooded areas like the Presidio, Golden Gate Park, and Stern Grove. It's the latter spot that's seen the some of the most high-profile coyote attacks, which between that and a dog killed in his Balboa Terrace front yard spurred a Board of Supervisors hearing in March 2016.
But despite the Supes hearing, coyote attacks continued in the city, with a cat killed on its Park Merced doorstep just a few months after the political event. It's almost like coyotes don't read the news or something.
SF officials are working with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for the best way for human and coyote culture to coexist in SF, but don't expect any easy solutions. After all, though SF ACC Executive Director Virginia Donohue told CBS 5 that “For a coyote to come up on a porch is definitely not a good thing,” it's unclear what, other than never allowing your pets to leave the house, could have averted Sunday's sad situation.
Related: Coyote Aggression On Rise, Presidio Dog Owners Claim