Our story this morning about a coyote invasion in Upland generated lots of viewer e-mails from people all over Southern California who say the same thing is happening in their neighborhoods.

Coyotes breed in January or February and have their litters in April.  That's why you see more young coyotes around during the summer months.  They're looking for food.

This summer, there's less to eat in the hills because we had so little rain.

On Laurel Avenue in Upland, the coyotes are snacking on small pets such as cats.  Several cats have disappeared lately.  Their owners believe the cats became food for hungry coyotes, who've been seen roaming around not only in the early morning hours but sometimes during the daytime, too.

Kim in Morongo Valley writes:

Regarding the coyote situation in towns I need to say in the defense of the coyotes all their territories are being built upon and limits them to natural feeding grounds . .  So the simple answer to this problem is to keep your small animals inside in the mornings and the evenings. Simple as that!!

Here's a message from Debi:

We live in the Whittier Hills and for the last few weeks they have howled all night long. Saturday night about 8pm we saw 5 on our vacant lot next to our home. They are not afraid of people at all. We have poop all over our small cul-de-sac and the city won't do anything about it! Any suggestions?

Move to Iowa, would be my suggestion.  Just kidding about that.  Finally, here's Gary from Irvine who says the coyotes there are a hazard on the roads:

We have at times, had to swerve our car to miss hitting them while crossing the road. At night we can hear them howling nightly. This is what happens when man decides to invade their territory.