By ANNIE KIM

FOUNTAIN VALLEY – Kyle Pheasant and Joe Vu were disturbed when they found a large puddle of dark blood on Vu’s driveway one August day. The next-door neighbors followed the blood trail about 200 yards to the end of their Rock Fish Circle cul-de-sac, toward a greenbelt that connects to Fulton Middle School.

“I saw a pool of blood and I got scared, so I verified with my (surveillance) camera,” Vu said.

Vu’s surveillance video showed two coyotes cornering and attacking Coco, Pheasant’s 3-year-old cat, and dragging her away.

At least 67 coyote sightings were reported in Fountain Valley from Jan. 1 through Thursday. Nearly half were concentrated in neighborhoods bordered by Warner and Talbert avenues and Newland and Bushard streets.

Vu and Pheasant live in police reporting district 42 between Warner and Talbert avenues, east of Newland Street, an area with the highest number of coyote sightings in the city.

Typically, coyotes are more active during breeding season in the spring and early summer, but recent high temperatures may be causing them to continue searching for food, said Lt. Kent Smirl of the California Department of Fish and Game.

“This hot weather we’ve been having is making their metabolism go up so they haven’t slowed down. They need more food,” Smirl said. “Generally, (activity) slows down as the weather cools down and they begin to look for dens.”

More than 100 coyote sightings in the city from August 2010 to August 2011 prompted the police department, working with the state Department of Fish and Game, to conduct several town hall informational meetings in the city last year.

Residents were asked to remove food sources from outside the home, pick up ripened fruit that has fallen to the ground, bring in small pets at night, and share information with neighbors.

Vincent Sosa, who also lives near Fulton Middle School, said he’s seen dozens of coyotes in his neighborhood and at the school.

“I see them running around in the middle of the night. They go in and out, roaming around houses,” Sosa said.

Coyotes are looking for the “Big Three,” food, water and shelter, and have a high sense of smell allowing them to easily detect pet food, pets and garbage, Smirl said.

“Fountain Valley has a big problem with people feeding feral cats,” Smirl said. “People don’t realize they are luring the coyotes into the neighborhood,” he said.

Resident Ron Shelton, organizer of RD 43 Neighborhood Watch, a local group named after the police department’s reporting district, has been advocating the removal of coyotes in the city for more than a year.

The local group includes about 250 families and has had at least eight coyote sightings from Jan. 1 through Thursday, according to the police department’s crime trends reports.

Coyote sightings can be reported to the police department at  (714) 593-4485.