One cavalier was killed and eaten. They are picking off cats and dogs so as usual be sure never to leave an unwatched pet outside... :
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/267190
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/267190
I was so sad to read that this morning (came to me through a google alert). My neighbor lost her kitty a few months back to a coyote, a few weeks later there was one not 20 feet from my back window just staring at me and then we heard them killing something on our hillside. The doggie door was then permanently shut. The dog do not go outside unaccompanied until we get a fence with a coyote roller bar and I know they will be safe. I can't blame the coyotes, they've got nowhere else to go. I called our Wildlife Assistance center and their advice was to scare the coyotes away (I have a pellet gun I carry outside with me now, we've seen coyotes at 6 in the morning and as early as 4 in the afternoon). He said that unless you frighten them away they will edge in closer and closer. Scary.
Aren't mountain lions a problem in Southern California as well? I've read articles about them killing and eating pets.