Steps to Protect Coyotes and People Please Solana Beach Residents

Jeannie Hansen and Gay Pink are both sleeping better these days.

Several months ago, the Solana Beach residents were on opposite sides of the fence on the county’s policy of setting traps to capture wild coyotes that had reportedly strayed from the San Elijo Lagoon area into residential neighborhoods.

Hansen thought the coyotes were dangerous and should be caught, but Pink shuddered at the thought of the animals languishing in the deadly grip of steel-jawed leg traps.

Now the two women are happy, thanks to developments both in the brush and in the carpeted recesses of Solana Beach City Hall.

Recently, a volunteer trapper caught and euthanized an adult coyote that neighbors say might well have been responsible for some of the deaths of cats and dogs devoured on back-yard lawns and porches.

This week, the City Council adopted an ordinance prohibiting the use of the steel-jawed leg trap that was used to catch an adult coyote in early February and that set off a debate among residents about the treatment of animals.

“I know one thing, I’m sleeping better at night,” said Hansen, a 48-year-old nursing supervisor who said she has lost eight pets in the past decade to coyotes that have wandered into her yard from the adjacent coastal lagoon and wildlife preserve.

“We hear the coyotes howling at night, and that’s fine, as long as they stay in their places in the lagoon. They can howl in that lagoon all they want.”

On Monday, Solana Beach officially approved the ordinance prohibiting any group from using the traps, which are thought to bring pain and suffering to animals caught in their grip. The ordinance is scheduled to go into effect at the end of May.

The new law, however, may yet engender controversy. County officials said Wednesday that local municipalities cannot pass laws governing the state or federal governments.

“Cities have tried this kind of legislation in the past, and they’ve been preempted by state and federal laws,” said Gary Reece, chief of San Diego County’s agricultural services, whose office contracted with local trappers earlier this year to catch the first coyote in Solana Beach. “These communities can pass these laws, but they can’t enforce them.”

Solana Beach City Manager Michael Huse said Wednesday that he isn’t at all convinced of that.

“I can just say that the ordinance includes no exceptions for government agencies,” he said. “What would happen if some government agencies came into our city to begin using these kind of traps?

“Well, we’d definitely look for a legal remedy. We’d consult our attorney because these are legal questions that haven’t been answered.”

David Moreno said the city isn’t likely to face that choice--at least not soon.

Moreno, an state Agriculture Department wildlife biologist who supervised the state- and federally funded trapping program, said the two field workers who did the trapping have been laid off at least until the end of June because of budget cuts.

He said the traps being used were padded, weight-set ones designed to detain only creatures of a coyote’s weight and girth--and were not the barbaric-looking behemoths touted by the anti-trap contingent.

In any event, he added, the traps were actually pulled from the area in late February because of bad weather and damage to one trap.

But even when the workers return, Moreno said, he isn’t sure what action, if any, will be taken at San Elijo Lagoon.

“I’ll have to look at the situation if I get reports of continued problems there,” he said. “We can’t say we’d just go out and set traps. There are other alternatives, including education of people who live in the area.”

Two weeks ago, local residents were becalmed when a volunteer caught and eventually killed an ailing coyote that neighbors say may have been the culprit in the slaughter of animals near their homes.

Jim Carey, an injured firefighter on disability leave who decided to become involved in the trapping issue, isn’t sure the dead coyote will solve any problems at all. But it might be a start, he said.

After hearing press reports of the trapping debate, Carey said, he volunteered to drive area streets each morning and night in search of sick coyotes that residents said were turning on their pets because they were too aged or slow to catch wild game.

One recent morning, Carey said, he spotted a sick coyote on a residential street near the lagoon and downed it with a tranquilizer dart. He took the animal to a local wildlife rescue compound, where the 30-pound adult was put to sleep a week later.

“He’d been injured,” Carey said. “His hind legs weren’t working real well so he definitely wasn’t fast enough to catch any wild game. He was also mangy. We tried to see if we could save it, but it was too far gone.”

Meanwhile, Jeannie Hansen said she and neighbor Gay Pink will be on the same side of the coyote issue from here on out.

Together, she said, they have started a group to spearhead education on how to avoid confrontations with coyotes.

“We’re trying to educate people in terms of who to call if they spot one of these things,” Hansen said. “Flyers are being sent out to educate teachers and schoolchildren. And things seem to be working out. It’s all quiet in Solana Beach.”

Still, as Hansen’s 22-year-old daughter, Mindy, says, the memories of lost pets won’t subside easily.

Over the Christmas holidays, the family lost Zoey, their finicky Siamese cat, as well as a golden retriever puppy named Lanie--both victims of coyote attacks.

“It was terrible,” Mindy said. “Even for an animal, being devoured is a horrible way to go. I think in some cases, traps are the way to go. Because we have kids in this neighborhood as well as animals. And they’re just as vulnerable.”