Poway Set to Outlaw Handouts for Wild Coyotes

The once-timid coyotes that inhabit the woods around Poway are getting bolder.

Poway residents tell stories of coyotes that prowl brazenly on their lawns, refusing to leave even after they try to chase them away.

Enough complaints have filtered in to City Hall that Poway city officials have come up with a plan they hope will rid the area of the animals.

To educate residents and discourage coyotes, the City Council tonight is expected to pass an ordinance that would make it illegal for residents to feed coyotes.

Officials believe it would be the first ordinance of its kind in a county that experts estimate may have as many as 500,000 coyotes within its borders.

Unwanted encounters with coyotes have become increasingly common in San Diego County as once-rural areas such as Fallbrook, Rancho Penasquitos and Tierrasanta have become tract-housing projects.

“Every time we develop land we are invading their territory,” said John Fitch, Poway’s assistant city manager.

While in most parts of the county, the animals still try to steer clear of direct contact with humans, in Poway the man-coyote relationship has taken on an added twist.

According to Pamela Colby of the Poway city community services staff, coyotes by the score have been venturing far into town because some misguided residents have been feeding them. Their presence in neighborhoods increases the danger of attacks on humans by the stray animals, who have already been singled out as a menace because they often kill cats and dogs, said Colby, who has been studying the coyote-feeding issue for the City Council.

“People may have thought they were doing the coyotes a favor, but what they are doing is causing the coyotes to rely on them for food,” Colby said.

“The animals are becoming bolder and are losing their fear of people, causing unnatural behavior which can be dangerous to the community. . . . We don’t want our coyotes to think it is all right to come into town.”

Officials hope that, if the coyote’s food supply is cut off, the animals will seek food in the wilderness near Poway.

“If the coyote finds an available food source it will stay in the area,” Fitch said. Hector Cazares, assistant director of the county animal control board, said that coyotes will often eat out of dog food bowls or wait until dark before pouncing on an unguarded trash bag.

He added that, although coyotes have reportedly attacked humans in Los Angeles and Riverside counties, there have been no reports of attacks on humans locally.

“We get calls about coyotes attacking dogs or kittens or puppies,” Cazares said.

Colby said that the proposed ordinance would not serve as a prosecuting tool but rather as a method for increasing public awarness.

Residents reported feeding coyotes will receive a letter advising them against doing so for the good of the community, Colby said.

“This is not being looked at as a heavy-handed approach,” Colby said.

“We’re just trying to get the message out that if people love the animals, and I think most of them do, that they shouldn’t feed them.”