Coyote-Infested Hollywood Hills

There are wily animals howling at the moon in the hills of Hollywood, California and I'm not talking about the new Anthony Hopkins movie called “The Wolfman”.

Several coyotes caught me by surprise as I sipped on a glass of red wine off the deck of my friend's house overlooking L.A. last night. The coyotes belt out yelps that sound more like evil laughter from a deranged clown; an ear-piercing ruckus that put chills up my spine.

Coyotes travel in pacts throughout Tinsel Town ignoring keep-out signs, decimating the pet population and taking dips in pools. They are a real nuisance but unless they attack a human they are surprisingly protected by local wildlife authorities because they keep the rodent population at bay. They're now the principal wild canine in California.

My friends 2 Rottweilers went crazy listening to their bloodcurdling screams. And coyotes aren't afraid of people and have adapted quite well to populated areas. Despite a dense living environment, L.A. is still a desert and coyotes were here long before people were so it appears they aren't going anywhere anytime soon.