SANTA CRUZ >> Suburban sprawl, and easy food for wildlife in downtown areas, are to blame for multiple weekly calls of coyote attacks on pets in Santa Cruz County, according to Santa Cruz County Animal Shelter.

Jen Walker, the animal shelter programs and development manager, said coyotes’ territories expanded during the drought. But in urban areas, “they can have everything they need in a very small space,” Walker said.

“We are receiving calls several times a week,” Walker said. She also said house cats often are the targets. Chickens, she added, may be targeted by coyotes or raccoons.

Coyotes are active at twilight hours of dusk and dawn.

“That’s unfortunately when a lot of people have their pets outside unaccompanied,” Walker said.

A 43-year-old Seacliff woman tried to rescue her cat when two coyotes were attacking the pet about 7 a.m. Sept. 7 in her front yard and the wild animals attacked her and her cat, according to California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The woman’s cat died and the woman began rabies treatment.

Walker said coyotes rarely attack humans and feed on “pretty much anything,” including rodents.

But keeping cats outdoors is a problem, Walker said.

“We want to keep pets out of the food chain,” Walker said.

Protecting cats with enclosures, known as catios, allow cats to wander outside without having contact with wild animals, Walker said. The animal shelter will support a self-guided catio tour 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Oct. 7 at homes throughout Santa Cruz County. The tour will help residents see different designs for cat enclosures.

“If we keep them separate, they’re going to continue eating their natural prey,” Walker said. “We want them to be eating rodents.”

Rebecca Dmytryk, owner of Humane Wildlife Control,, which is based in Moss Landing, is a wildlife behaviorist who speaks nationally on predators such as coyotes. She said it is difficult to determine whether there are rising human interactions with coyotes or there are more cases reported on social media, such as Nextdoor.

Dmytryk said growing populations of feral cats and human encroachment into coyote habitats may be factors in the prevalence of interactions with the wild animals. She also said coyotes are opportunists and roaming pets — and pet foods — are easily accessible.

“They mirror our behavior. We’re lazy. We’re sloppy,” Dmytryk said of pet owners who allow their cats to wander outside. She also was referring to homes with unsecured trash bins.

Dmytryk said removing coyotes from urban areas, or elsewhere, only invites other animals to fill that habitat.

“You can’t kill your way out of it. That’s with all wild animals,” Dmytryk said.

One pair of coyotes mates per pack, Dmytryk said.

“The beauty of coyotes is that they have a really tight social structure,” Dmytryk said of the reality that subordinate pack animals do not mate. Coyotes do not rapidly reproduce. Removal of any coyotes disrupts that structure, Dmytryk said.

Dmytryk said there are likely more coyotes in urban areas with abundant sources of food and shelter than in rural or forest areas, such as the Santa Cruz Mountains. She also said many more people are bitten by domesticated dogs than coyotes.

Dmytryk said people should not feed pets outside and they especially should not feed wild animals. Coyotes, she added, can scale fences up to 8 feet high. She said properly designed fences — with metal aprons at the bottom and up to 45-degree outward bow at the top — also deter coyotes.

“Everybody has to be on the same page,” Dmytryk said.

Anyone who is having problems with an aggressive animal is asked to call 911 or the animal shelter at 831-454-7200. The shelter’s website is scanimalshelter.org.