Coyote Peninsula – The thriving, wild animals of Palos Verdes
by Mark McDermott First in a series One day last June, Sheri Hastings heard a telltale sound as she was shoveling out the muck in the horse stalls at her property on Portuguese Bend in Rancho Palos Verdes. Her dog, Blue, was baying, and he was doing so with such insistence that it could only mean one thing. The coyote had returned. A month earlier, Blue had been attacked by a coyote. Blue is a big dog, an 80-pound Catahoula, a Native American hound dog originally from Louisiana who is adept at all the things hounds tend to be good at — particularly herding and hunting. In Louisiana, Catahoulas were traditionally used to hunt wild boars. In that June encounter with the coyote, Blue had been defending his old friend, a big but decidedly docile 16-year-old labrador named Gracie who’d been sleeping under a tree when the coyote attacked. “She’s kind of a coward,” Hastings said. “But Blue, he’s actually the brave soul that goes out there, and this coyote didn’t run off. She charged, and got him.” Though coyotes are typically 15 to 40 pounds, this one appeared larger. Though extremely lean, Hastings said, it was as tall as her hound dog. Blue did not fare well in this fight. He suffered…
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