COYOTE WATCH : Policy Trap

It’s difficult to know which is worse: the decision last summer by a Los Angeles city board to end coyote trapping after 25 years or the misunderstandings about the effort to control these animals.

Examples: One reason cited by the board, which oversees the Animal Regulation Department, was the city’s need to avoid being sued by homeowners alleging that trapping had been bungled. However, the city attorney’s office later said that the city could not be held liable in the issue of coyote trapping.

Some city officials pointed out that Los Angeles County currently traps coyotes. That’s true, but only in unincorporated areas.

Some animal lovers believed the city could move the coyotes elsewhere. Wrong; doing so would violate state law.

It was thought that homeowners could easily protect pets and small children from coyote attacks by covering garbage cans and fencing their yards. But it’s more complicated than that. Coyotes weigh 30 to 50 pounds, can run at 35 m.p.h., can burrow under fences and can scale barriers up to six feet high. To deter one, animal regulation officials now say, you need an eight-foot fence, tilted outward at 45 degrees.

In the meantime, coyotes are being spotted in more and more back yards, mostly in the San Fernando Valley, and are being blamed for increasing numbers of attacks on pets. In two recent instances, coyotes are believed to have stalked small children.

For a fee, the county will trap coyotes that have become a danger. The city should consider the same policy.