How WeHo deals with coyotes

The “Coyote Management & Coexistence Plan” — mentioned by City Manager David Wilson at Monday’s City Council meeting — was prepared by the Humane Society of the United States and adopted by the City of West Hollywood. It outlines a comprehensive, humane strategy for mitigating conflicts between coyotes, humans, and pets in urban environments. The primary goal is to prioritize human safety while promoting coexistence through education, proactive measures and non-lethal control methods.

The plan emphasizes the importance of understanding coyote behavior, including their role in ecosystems, as they help control populations of rodents and other small mammals. Coyotes are adaptable and thrive in urban areas due to abundant food, water, and shelter, which can lead to conflicts with humans and pets. By implementing preventive practices such as removing food attractants, securing pet food and trash, and keeping pets indoors or supervised, human-coyote interactions can be minimized.

A key component of the plan is educating the community about coyotes’ natural behaviors and providing residents with the knowledge needed to avoid conflict. This includes outreach efforts such as distributing brochures, using online resources, and conducting public meetings to ensure widespread awareness of the best practices for living alongside coyotes.

One central strategy in the plan is “hazing” — a technique used to discourage coyotes from becoming habituated to human presence. Hazing involves making loud noises, shining bright lights, or using water sprays to scare coyotes away from populated areas. A community-based hazing program can be highly effective, especially when residents are trained to use these methods consistently.

The plan outlines the limitations of lethal control measures, stating that they are generally ineffective in the long term due to the “rebound effect,” where coyote populations quickly recover after removals. It is also difficult to ensure that the specific nuisance coyote is targeted in lethal control efforts. The plan advocates for lethal measures only in cases of unprovoked human attacks.

Local ordinances, such as leash laws and anti-feeding regulations, are recommended to help minimize conflict situations. The plan stresses that cooperation between residents, city officials, and wildlife experts is critical to success. Monitoring and data collection, including the use of incident reporting forms, are essential for tracking coyote activity and assessing the effectiveness of management efforts.

The plan categorizes human-coyote interactions into several levels, from observations and sightings to encounters and incidents, and provides specific responses for each type. Educational outreach and hazing are common responses to sightings and encounters, while more aggressive responses, such as high-intensity hazing, may be required for incidents involving aggression or attacks on pets.

In cases of pet attacks, the plan differentiates between attended and unattended pets, with recommendations to keep pets on short leashes and supervised at all times. Pets left unattended in backyards are at a higher risk of coyote attacks, and preventive measures such as fencing or kennels are suggested.

For human attacks, the plan distinguishes between provoked and unprovoked incidents, with appropriate actions including gathering detailed information, rabies vaccinations, and potentially lethal control of the offending coyote if necessary. However, the focus remains on addressing root causes, such as human behavior that attracts coyotes, and using non-lethal methods to manage conflicts.

The plan also provides appendices, including a coyote incident report form, guidelines for implementing a community-based hazing program, and a yard audit checklist to help residents identify and mitigate attractants that might draw coyotes to their properties.

The “Coyote Management & Coexistence Plan” for West Hollywood promotes a balanced, humane approach to managing coyote populations and preventing conflicts through education, hazing, community involvement, and preventive measures. Lethal control is considered a last resort, while the focus remains on coexistence and ensuring human safety through responsible management practices.

DID YOU KNOW?

• Coyotes help control rodent populations — They play an important role in urban ecosystems by reducing the number of mice, rats, and even Canada geese, helping maintain species diversity.
• Coyote populations are resilient to removal — Lethal control leads to a “rebound effect” where coyote populations can recover rapidly, even when 70% of their population is removed.
• Urban coyote home ranges vary significantly — Resident coyotes typically occupy 2-5 square miles, while transient coyotes can cover up to 10 square miles.
• Coyotes communicate with scat — They use scat to mark territories, and it often contains seeds, bones, and hair, distinguishing it from domestic dog feces.
• Coyotes rarely hunt in packs — Unlike wolves, coyotes primarily hunt alone or in pairs, and their family groups are focused on territory defense rather than collective hunting.
• Coyote “song” distorts numbers — A small group of 2-3 coyotes howling can sound like a much larger group due to their vocal range and how they communicate.
• Diet flexibility — Coyotes are opportunistic omnivores, consuming everything from rodents to fallen fruit, pet food, and even garbage.
• Non-selective removal programs are ineffective — Targeting specific nuisance coyotes is crucial, as random removal of coyotes doesn’t resolve the conflict and new coyotes often fill the vacant territory.
• Coyotes adapt to human routines — They shift to nocturnal activity in urban areas to avoid human contact, despite being naturally diurnal.
• Hazing techniques — Hazing methods include waving arms, loud noises, and spraying water. Regularly changing these techniques is essential, as coyotes can become desensitized to a single method.
• Cats as prey — Outdoor cats are similar in size to prey like groundhogs and rabbits, making them vulnerable to coyote attacks, which is considered normal behavior and not a sign of a threat to humans.
• Feral cats are doubly at risk — Coyotes are attracted not only to the cats themselves but also to the food people leave out for feral cat colonies.
• Unintentional human behavior worsens conflicts — People often unintentionally attract coyotes by leaving out pet food, unsecured trash, and water sources, contributing to the habituation of coyotes to humans.
• Coyotes can habituate quickly — If residents ignore coyotes or find them “cool,” this can reinforce the animal’s comfort around people, increasing the likelihood of conflict.
• Habituated coyotes learn quickly — Coyotes that are hazed regularly by different people using varied techniques learn faster to avoid humans and their territories.
• Lethal control is rarely recommended — The plan advocates for lethal measures only in cases of unprovoked attacks on humans and advises against using traps, which are non-selective and difficult to manage.
• Coyotes may use urban structures for dens — Coyotes often raise their young under sheds, decks, or other structures in urban areas, bringing them into close proximity with people and pets.
• Coyotes don’t pose a direct threat to humans — Even though coyotes may prey on small pets, their behavior is generally not dangerous to humans unless provoked or habituated.
• Hazing must allow an escape route — When hazing, residents are instructed to ensure that coyotes have a way to flee, as cornering them can make the situation more dangerous.
• Attended vs. unattended pet attacks — The plan makes a distinction between attacks on pets that are attended (on a leash within six feet of a human) and those that are unattended, with different responses and preventive measures for each.