Coyote snatches dog off SF doorstep as horrified owners watch

Animal control officers are patrolling a San Francisco neighborhood this week after a coyote sprang out of the dark and snatched a small dog off the porch of a home as the horrified pet owners returned from an early morning walk.

The distraught couple later found the body of Bella, their beloved 13-year-old shih tzu, near their residence in Balboa Terrace, 3 miles east of Lake Merced near Monterey Boulevard.

The deadly attack Sunday morning was the latest in a rash of coyote confrontations that have stirred up fears among San Francisco pet owners that the wild canines have lost their fear of humans.

“It’s heartbreaking. It’s awful,” said Deb Campbell, the spokeswoman for San Francisco Animal Care and Control. “Our agency feels horrible when something like this happens. We don’t want this to happen to anyone else, so we need people to be vigilant.”

The assault occurred at about 4 a.m. Sunday when the couple took Bella and their other dog, a puppy, out for a bathroom break on Aptos Avenue. Campbell said the husband and wife had just returned home and were getting the keys to enter the house when the coyote ran up the front steps, chomped down on Bella and bolted.

The couple told animal control officers that the coyote dashed along the side of the house, jumped a fence and ran down an alley with the yelping dog in its jaws. Bella’s body was later found in the alley.

Another coyote was documented walking down a street in San Francisco: A well-fed looking coyote sauntered along Onondada Avenue and then turned on Cayuga, adjacent to Balboa High School and not far from greenbelt at Balboa Park. less Another coyote was documented walking down a street in San Francisco: A well-fed looking coyote sauntered along Onondada Avenue and then turned on Cayuga, adjacent to Balboa High School and not far from ... more Photo: Tom Stienstra, Gary Bozin / Special To The Chronicle Photo: Tom Stienstra, Gary Bozin / Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 10 Caption Close Coyote snatches dog off SF doorstep as horrified owners watch 1 / 10 Back to Gallery

It wasn’t the first coyote attack on a small dog or cat in the area. Campbell said there have been several encounters, including fatal maulings of three small dogs near Stern Grove over the past few years — one of them near where Sunday’s attack happened. She believes Bella’s killer also came from nearby Stern Grove.

The highly adaptable predators were first seen in the Ingleside Terrace neighborhood in 2015. The canines killed at least three cats and were seen boldly waltzing around on the streets and through people’s yards.

Since the latest attack, animal control officers have been doing daily patrols in the neighborhood at dusk and dawn, when coyotes are most active. It is illegal to trap and relocate coyotes, so San Francisco officials are consulting with the state Department of Fish and Wildlife about methods of dealing with the problem, including possibly lethal control.

It’s an issue that has garnered considerable attention recently in San Francisco as the number of coyotes has exploded. Experts estimate there are several dozen to as many as 100 coyotes roaming around the city.

The expansion of coyote territory is a Bay Area-wide phenomenon, but the migration from the suburbs into the city over the past 15 years has been remarkable.

Sightings of the clever carnivores began in 2002 in the Presidio, creating excitement and a good deal of puzzlement over how the animals got there. Answers came two years later when Golden Gate Bridge officials looked at a video that showed a coyote trotting across the bridge in the dead of night.

Genetic testing of two coyotes that were shot by federal authorities in Golden Gate Park in 2007, after they attacked dogs, confirmed that the creatures came from the north.

Coyotes have since been reported in Golden Gate Park, Glen Park, Bernal Heights, St. Francis Wood, Lake Merced and on the Olympic Club golf course.

Conflicts with coyotes intensified this spring and summer, which is coyote pupping season. In June, the predators advanced on or growled at several dogs and their owners in the Presidio. No one was hurt, but one woman reported being surrounded by three coyotes that advanced on her and her dog until she screamed.

Wildlife experts say coyotes are beneficial in many ways. They keep rodent populations down and other mesocarnivores — like foxes, skunks and raccoons — in check, which in turn helps songbird and ground-nesting bird populations.

Still, they are opportunistic and do prey on small pets if they can. Campbell urged residents to keep their cats indoors and dogs on a leash. She said homeowners should never leave garbage or pet food outside and under no circumstances should anyone feed a coyote. If approached, she said, people should wave their arms and make loud, threatening noises.

“Over the past decade, most of the incidents we’ve had with coyotes have been because people were either intentionally or unintentionally feeding coyotes,” Campbell said. “The goal is to make it so they don't look to humans as a friendly food source. We want them to be afraid of humans.”

Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: pfimrite@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @pfimrite

Residents should report coyote sightings or incidents to San Francisco Animal Care and Control by calling (415) 554-9400 or emailing acc@sfgov.org