Back in the 80's (during my time in the Navy) I lived in San Diego, with only a 5' fence separating our back yard from a steep drop into a wild canyon. One morning, I looked out the back window to see a mangy coyote just outside the fence - and my 2-year-old daughter (who was playing outside) walking toward it, thinking it to be a dog...
Had I not looked out just then, things could have gone bad very quickly. When I flew out the back door yelling at the top of my lungs, the coyote fled into the canyon.
Coyotes were a common threat in San Diego, often hunting in packs - and not afraid to enter the city. A couple months after the above incident, I had just come out of the base supermarket with the same daughter (who was very tiny), and very suddenly found myself surrounded by circling coyotes, on the way back to my car. I put my daughter on my shoulder, and prepared to fight... but another customer in the parking lot witnessed what was happening, and ran off the coyotes with her car. I learned to be much more observant after that, whenever outdoors with my children.
It was very common in San Diego for a coyote to jump over a fence, kill & eat the dog that was there, then jump back over to escape.
Coyotes were not the only danger that came out of the canyons, we had tarantulas crawl into the back yard, and a large rattlesnake found its way into the playground in our complex. That situation too could have gone terribly wrong, had I not had that day off & been working outside when I heard the first scream.
