DANGER IN OUR BACKYARDS

I live on Henrietta Avenue between Pennsylvania and Maryland. On Wednesday night, Sept. 30, around 8:00 p.m., one of my two beloved dogs was killed by a large animal in our backyard. We had just arrived home from work and let both our dogs out as we have done hundreds of times. They were out there for 10-15 minutes max, and my dog was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When we called them in, our little one, Lucy, bounded in very quickly, but Mackey, a 23-pound Corgi mix was not right behind her as usual. He was several yards behind, falling and stumbling as he came toward the sound of my husband calling him.

When he got to the door my husband could see that he was very hurt; an animal had pretty much opened his entire chest cavity. We rushed him to Eagle Rock Emergency Pet Clinic (4254 Eagle Rock Blvd., [323] 254-7382), but there was nothing they could do.

I am concerned because I called Animal Control (Pasadena) and they said they were 90% sure it was a coyote and there was nothing they could do. They did not think it was a mountain lion, and did not seem to have enough evidence suggesting that it could have been in order to justify sending someone out to investigate. Later, however, I heard that people in the Briggs Terrace area heard mountain lion sounds recently. I called Animal Control again and they said coyotes are around wherever there are deer, and really seemed convinced it was, in fact, a coyote. Regardless of what kind of animal it was, extra caution should be taken in the coming weeks and months by morning joggers, evening walkers, pet owners and parents who let their children play outside around dusk.

We feel absolutely rotten and horrible because we knew and we were warned that something like this could happen, not only because of where we live, but especially because of the recent fires. We have great fences, but Animal Control told me a coyote (or whatever it was) can scale a 10 foot fence. How do we make our yards safe for our animals. . . our children? This feels like a violent crime that happened in my yard, an attack, not only on my sweet dog, but on my home!

La Crescenta residents, especially in the “Crescenta Highlands,” need to be reminded that they should not let their guards down. I do not want this to happen to someone else. My heart is just broken and I wanted to alert someone who I thought would surely want to know what is going on, literally right in our backyards.

Amy Matalas

La Crescenta

WELCOME EXTENDED

If you can stand one more grateful, gushing welcome to your new paper.

On behalf of the La Crescenta Woman’s Club, and my own family, bless you Robin Goldsworthy and your loyal team for putting all of us back in touch with our little town via your new publication. It’s great to see some familiar reporters, departments, subjects and viewpoints again. Thank you!

Between the Woman’s Club being dark for three months during summer vacation and the vacuum where our local news used to be, we have felt like orphans, totally disconnected from our community; no mention of people we know, or those we might like get to know; no familiar columnists; no coverage of events, town history, philanthropy, restaurants, sales, shopping…no, not even the police blotter.

Other publications have courted us, tantalized us, made empty promises to us, but have not met us at the altar. We’re obviously “GU” (geographically undesirable – a term used way back when I was an active swimmer in the dating pool).

I am sending in my subscription [$52] and I encourage other grateful readers and advertisers to follow suit so we won’t lose our local voice again.

Gloria L. Lee, publicity chair

La Crescenta Woman’s Club

La Crescenta