Canyon Lakes residents to meet, discuss options for preventing coyotes from taking pets

It was about four weeks ago that Canyon Lakes resident Matt Minter heard a noise on his back patio, and watched a coyote run away with his cat.

"I rescued my cat from Hurricane Katrina in 2005, she's been with me in six different cities, she's traveled everywhere with me. She was a part of my every routine," Minter said, as he shared the story about the night his cat was snatched from the back yard of the home he's lived in since October. He would put his cat out on the back porch for a about 20 to 30 minutes every night-- she used to eat the grass. On February 16th at around 10 PM, Minter says he was in the kitchen about ten minutes after letting her out when he heard a bang.

"She tried to run through the sliding glass door to get away from the coyote. It breaks my heart because she was trying to get into the house."

He saw the coyote on top of her, pinning the cat against the door. The coyote ran off with the cat, and Minter grabbed a flashlight and took chase, but was never able to recover his cat.

Devastated by the loss, Minter shared his story in an online community forum.

"After I put my story on the community board, there were about 20 or 30 people who jumped on there and they shared their story. All I did was open up conversations, and now conversation after conversation I'm  learning how many people in the community lost dogs, lost cats," Minter said.

Neighbors plan to meet Tuesday, March 12th during the Annual Board Meeting to discuss their options for controlling coyote populations within their subdivision.

"We're gonna have trappers, wildlife managers, so hopefully we get some resolution because we've lost way too many cats-- it's happening every night now."

The meeting is being held at the at the Canyon Lakes Villas Clubhouse, 3516 W. 36th Avenue, at 7:00 pm.

(This story was updated to show the correct meeting location.)