Alamo, Danville residents fear large coyote; dogs attacked, killed

In the past month, at least six dogs have been attacked by coyotes in the Alamo and Danville area. Several cats and chickens have also gone missing. 

Bianca, a small five-pound dog, now refuses to step in her backyard alone. On June 16, Bianca witnessed the first dog disappearance in her neighborhood. Her companion, a Chihuahua named ‘Julius,’ vanished after they were let out at 9 p.m. 

“I think he went to the back of the property where the bark is, and then she went crazy, barking frantically and she was hiding underneath the patio table,” said owner Elaine Goldie. “Paul walked out and said she climbed up his leg. He couldn’t find Julius anywhere.”

Julius was never seen again. Elaine and Paul Goldie said an animal service worker told them Julius was likely a victim of a coyote. 

“He said that they had no problem, even with a 17-pound dog in its mouth, jumping over a six-foot fence,” said Goldie, noting that her property is completely fenced in. 

A few weeks later, a Jack Russel Terrier named ‘Enzo’ disappeared from his property that sits behind the Goldies. An outside dog, Enzo didn’t come up to the house for his breakfast the next morning.  The Molinaro family put up flyers and wrote about Enzo on Nextdoor. Four days later, someone found the remains of Enzo. 

“Someone had found him, probably 3 miles away from here, what was left of him,” said Kent Molinaro. 
It appeared that Enzo had been eaten by a larger animal. Neighbors suspected a coyote after two more dogs and several cats had gone missing in the following days. On the morning of July 6, Molinaro finally got a look at the animal. His second dog, Lucy, had been living indoors after Enzo’s attack and was let outside around 8 that morning.

“A few minutes later, I got up to let her back in, and that’s when I saw him or her. It was carrying her away in its mouth,” said Molinaro.“I didn’t know if she was alive, because she was limp in its mouth.”

Molinaro ran after it and the coyote let Lucy go. She was alive, but bleeding and her chest muscles were torn. 

Neighbors who have seen the coyote describe it as unusually big and dark. 

“It looked to me like a German Shepherd,” said Molinaro.

“There’s been a large coyote that doesn’t look like the typical ones that normally come through the neighborhood,” said Christie Pereira, who has a Labrador and a cat. “Everyone is concerned it’s much larger, darker, and worried it is part wolf. So all of us who have smaller animals and even bigger animals, we’ve been concerned about keeping them closer to home, because neighbors have lost cats and chickens. And when you approach the coyotes, they’re not afraid of us.”

Alamo neighbors want to stress they’re not looking to eradicate the coyote population, but they’re extremely concerned about this very large creature, that it may not be a full coyote. They want people to be on the lookout for this animal and be very mindful of where their pets are when they’re outside.