Can San Diego residents dealing with aggressive coyotes take matters in their own hands and kill the problem animal?
Yes, but there’s a catch.
Although state law allows individuals to trap or shoot nuisance coyotes, the reality of that option is complicated in urban areas, where coyotes have made themselves at home.
The adaptable animals, which slink through fences or hedgerows, have also slipped through cracks in the rules governing how people can deal with them.
State and federal officials will step in when an animal attacks a human. If it is harming pets, damaging property or lurking uncomfortably close to people, state law allows people to kill the coyote themselves.
But local firearms ordinances may restrict residents from shooting coyotes in their neighborhoods, and trapping requires specialized skill. Professional trappers are available for hire, but their services can cost thousands of dollars.
As aggressive coyotes become a safety hazard in Southern California neighborhoods, residents are seeking a clear map of how to prevent the problem, and what to do when the predators get out of hand.
Most wildlife officials agree that the best strategy is to avoid letting coyotes become comfortable around humans. They urge residents to keep pets in at night, remove pet food and trash from their yards, and haze coyotes with noise, rocks or water guns.
When the coyotes become too familiar with humans, experts say, those measures won’t work anymore. Some San Diegans are noticing the same thing.
Remove pet food and bird seed from outdoor areas at night
Keep pets inside at night
Pick up fallen fruit.
Secure garbage
Trim hedges to limit shelter.
Install motion detector lights
Avoid walking dogs in areas frequented by coyotes
Carry a walking stick and air horn while walking a dog.
Throw rocks or tennis balls at approaching coyotes
Fill a supersoaker with a capful of ammonia as a hazing method. The allows people to stay far from an aggressive coyote while delivering a spray that uncomfortably stings the animal.
Avoid feeding coyotes under any circumstances.
“I’ve lived in San Diego in my whole life, 50 years, but I’ve never seen coyotes being this brazen,” said Matthew Tinney, who lives in the Fletcher Hills community of El Cajon, where coyotes venture onto his driveway and jump the backyard fence.
Recently he spotted one of them staring through a window at the family Chihuahua.
“I remember back in the days when you’d yell at them and they’d take off scared,” he said. “These guys are not scared. They’re not afraid of anything.”
As the animals become bolder, solutions become trickier.
The California Department of Fish and Wildlife becomes involved when a coyote attacks a person. That’s what happened last month when a San Diego woman was bitten on the leg during an early morning run.
Kensington resident Janet Snook was running before dawn, when she felt a coyote nip her leg. She eventually outran the animal and received medical care including a series of rabies shots.
In that case, state game wardens worked with federal trappers to try to catch the offending coyote, but pulled the trap after several days.
“(California Department of Fish and Wildlife) only responds when it’s a public safety threat,” spokeswoman Janice Mackey stated in an e-mail.
Other law enforcement and animal service agencies won’t get involved in coyote nuisance issues either.
San Diego Police doesn’t respond to coyote complaints, but defers to state wildlife officials, said office Humberto Hernandez, a spokesman for the department. San Diego County Animal Services doesn’t handle wild animals, said deputy director
Lauren Joniaux.
“We deal mostly in domestic animals and the only time we’re going to deal with wildlife is if they’re sick or injured,” she said. “As part of our environment, we have to learn to coexist with them.”
If a coyote is approaching people or eating pets, however, residents can act on their own.
That’s what Clairemont resident David Kennedy has been pondering. Kennedy often sees coyotes stare him down during hikes in nearby Tecolote Canyon. He and his wife lost two cats in five years, and reluctantly adopted a new feline, knowing the risks she would face.
“Honestly, if I lose this cat, I will do something,” Kennedy said. “If I have to get a bow and arrow, I know where they den.”
Unlike game animals and endangered or protected species, coyotes have no special protection. Anyone can kill them without tags or permits.
How you do so is a different matter. And the rules aren’t always clear.
Although state law allows shooting of nuisance coyotes, it requires anyone who does so to comply with local ordinances. And most cities have restrictions on discharge of firearms within city limits, where an errant shot could endanger people nearby. Hernandez, with the San Diego Police Department, however, could not say how San Diego firearms laws apply to coyote control.
Kennedy said he assumes that shooting the animals is not an option.
“I have legal firearms registered to me, but I know I can’t fire them legally in the city,” he said. “I don’t want people running around shooting guns.”
That leaves trapping, which is also legal to residents. Trapping commercially requires a state license, but catching a pest on your own property doesn’t.
Knowing how and where to trap is more complicated.
“Coyotes are not easy to catch,” said Vince Piyamanothamkul, owner of the San Diego-based company, A All Animal Control. “You have to really monitor these guys and follow their trail to place the trap in the right location.”
Although the price tag for trapping can range from a few hundred to several thousand dollars, demand for such services has increased steadily, said Dan Fox, president and principal biologist for Animal Pest Management, an animal control firm that operates throughout Southern California.
“Twenty years ago we used to get a call a month,” Fox said. “Now we get four or five a week.”
The process doesn’t require wiping out an entire pack, experts said. Removing a few of the bullying coyotes can often keep the others in check, by sending a warning signal to the rest of the pack and preventing the bold ones from training juveniles, said Rex Baker, a professor emeritus of agricultural biology at Cal Poly Pomona, who is one of California’s leading experts on the animals.
“When all of a sudden there’s a danger flag thrown up, that affects their behavioral imprint,” he said. “That makes them a little bit wary and cautious.”
Niamh Quinn, vertebrate pest management advisor for the University of California Cooperative Extension, is drawing up a regional strategic plan for coyote management that would spell out the actions needed at each stage of the problem.
“It’s the responsibility of people to deal with coyotes, and keep them wild,” Quinn said. “In the management plan there should be levels where hazing should be increased, and levels where hazing is not effective and coyotes should be suppressed.”
Kennedy is hopeful that neighborhoods and local governments can find a way to keep aggressive coyotes in check.
“It’s unnatural and you can’t just fix it without a concerted effort, without a community effort to make these animals understand that they need to live out there as wild animals,” he said.
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