Discord Starts as Trapping of Coyotes Ends

At a hillside home in the middle of coyote heaven, a young mother put her baby to bed at night to a howling serenade. The racket must have been soothing, for when the family moved from the the Santa Monica Mountains to tamer surroundings, the child had trouble falling asleep. His mother called the song of the coyotes “his lullaby.”

For all who are unnerved by the sight of these bold, wolflike creatures--or whose cats became their lunch--there are others, such as the woman and baby, who regard them as one of the charms of hillside life.

So it was no surprise that there were mixed emotions last week when Los Angeles animal control officials ended their longstanding practice of trapping and killing coyotes that venture into neighborhoods to make a meal of pets.

The decision by the Board of Commissioners of the city’s Department of Animal Regulation resulted from pressure by wildlife advocates and from liability concerns. Wildlife experts have long urged hillside residents to take common-sense steps to minimize coyote problems--such as never feeding coyotes, covering trash bins, fencing yards on brushy slopes and keeping small pets inside at night. By leaving residents on their own, the city, in effect, has reinforced the need for these precautions.

“You have to encourage the wild animals to stay wild, and not start to think your back yard is a grocery store,” said Betsey Landis, president of the Upper Mandeville Canyon Assn. in Brentwood.

But if these measures don’t discourage coyotes, residents will still get no help from the city, and will be forced to pay for trapping services that used to be free. Some, such as Landis, who have learned to coexist and even appreciate coyotes, nonetheless worry about neighbors taking up shotguns or traps to solve the problem themselves.

Supporters of the decision, however, said it affirms the notion that adopting a rural lifestyle means respecting those who were there first.

“I think it’s a very good decision,” said Suzanne Goode, an associate resource ecologist with the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

“The animals are only doing what comes natural to them. And I’m speaking as someone who has lost a pet, most probably to coyotes, and I take responsibility for that,” Goode said.

“I certainly wouldn’t want to see the coyotes killed simply because they’re trying to make a living.”

“My gut reaction is that . . . it’s the way to go,” said Paul Edelman, staff ecologist with the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, adding that human-coyote conflicts may prove “more self-regulating than people think.”

Edelman said that when coyote populations strain the food supply, “the females’ fat content goes down, and they stop menstruating and they can’t get pregnant anymore, and they stop having pups.”

“That’s nature’s check on too many coyotes,” Edelman said. “Whether that’s sufficient to prevent . . . more animals entering neighborhoods and being bolder, we’ll see.”

But some residents are not eager to take part in this experiment.

Bruce Bialosky, who lives in the hills above Studio City, said the decision is abhorrent and an abdication of the city’s “legal obligation to protect the citizenry.” Bialosky said he and a friend have discussed possible legal action to reverse the decision.

“I personally lost a dog 2 1/2 years ago. . . . Somebody saw the coyote dragging the dog away,” Bialosky said.

“These are not nice animals. . . . They’re scummy animals. And to protect them for any reason other than control of rats is beyond my comprehension.”

Feedback from the public has been mostly negative at the Department of Animal Regulation’s Animal Care and Control Center in Chatsworth, said Lt. Richard Felosky, who admitted to having misgivings. Felosky said he is troubled by the specter of the city acknowledging the problem but fobbing it off on someone else.

People want to know, “Aren’t you going to protect me? What are we paying you for?” Felosky said. They are “asking the hard questions and I don’t have an answer for them,” he said.

From now on, the city will direct coyote complaints to other agencies, such as the state Department of Fish and Game and the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commission.

But Patrick Moore, a Department of Fish and Game information officer, said the state agency won’t act without a clear threat to human safety.

The county agricultural commissioner provides trapping service under contract with several cities. Residents of unincorporated areas pay the county a coyote-trapping fee of up to several hundred dollars, depending on the time the job requires.

Now Los Angeles residents can buy the service from the county, said deputy county Agricultural Commissioner Richard Wightman.

The city’s policy shift came after experimentation with more humane capture methods. First, city animal control officers modified the traditional steel leg-hold traps that were seen as being particularly cruel. They fitted the traps with rubber pads that reduced injuries to coyotes, but also allowed some to escape.

During the last year, the department used only cage-style traps that confined the animals without injury. Regardless of the trapping method, however, captured animals were put to death.

The controversy reflects the status of coyotes as nature’s supreme opportunists, able to handle whatever humans throw at them.

Coyotes “are very smart and we’re making them all the smarter by killing the stupid ones,” said Goode of the state parks department. “They’re not going to go away, and in fact, with all the pressure humans are putting on them, they’re expanding their range.”

At a time of diminishing expectations for wildlife, coyotes have flourished by virtue of their extreme adaptability.

And as housing tracts have chewed up hills and mountains ringing the San Fernando Valley, sending other wildlife in retreat, coyotes have stood their ground--sometimes showing their lack of awe of people by padding nonchalantly down the street or cooling off under sprinklers.

Attacks on humans have been rare and have sometimes followed the misguided practice of deliberately attracting the animals with handouts of food. A fatal 1981 attack on a 3-year-old girl in Glendale was reportedly the only documented U.S. case of a coyote killing a human.

Landis, a 23-year resident of Mandeville Canyon, said she and her neighbors encounter the animals every day--and have even come to recognize families of coyotes “that have lived for generations right along with us.”

Although she knows of no attacks on people, Landis said there have been instances of coyotes trying “to grab a small animal--a pet--when it’s standing right next to a bunch of people.”

But Landis is philosophical. “I think if you’re going to live in the hills, you have to live with the other things that live in the hills,” she said. “People and the wild world . . . have to have respect for each other.”

At times, Landis has wished the coyotes had a little more respect. Once a coyote killed her pet duck. Then there was the time her puppy dug a hole under the fence to join “the nice woolly dog outside--who ended up being a coyote.”

The puppy came out battered but alive. And he grew up. “Now,” Landis said, “he chases them.”

Coyote (Canis Iatrans)

Conflicts with coyotes, usually involving attacks on small pets, are fairly frequent in hillside and canyon areas. In some ways human encroachment has improved coyote habitat by introducing fruit trees and golf courses that attract rodents. Los Angeles decision to end coyote trapping may mean more encounters in the future.

* Facts and Figures

* Size: 32 to 40 inches long, with 12 to 15-inch tail; about 24 inches high at shoulder; weighing about 30 pounds. Notable markings: Gray on back, with red on flanks, yellowish-brown legs, feet and ears. Bushy tail is held between legs when running. Life span: More than 14 years in captivity. Food: Opportunistic, eating whatever is available, including rodents, fruit, insects, pet food and garbage. Habits: Mostly nocturnal, spending its days in chaparral and wandering into residential areas after dark. Can run up to 35 m.p.h. and cover 10 to 15 miles a night. normally, dens are in ground but often use other shelter no more than six miles from water. Some live full time in urban areas such as in vacant lots. Have been known to mate with domestic dogs. Breeding: Single annual season that runs from January to early March. Gestation of 60 to 63 day, average of six pups born in a burrow. Both parents raise pups. History: The coyote has been roaming Southern California hills since the early ice ages. Originally restricted to western North America from central Mexico to Southern Canada, it has greatly extended its range. After the mid-19 Century, it migrated eastward across Ontario to the St. Lawrence Valley and to New York and New England.

Sources: Encyclopedia Americana, Peterson Field Guide to Mammals, Reader’s Digest North American Wildlife.