Officers Quit Taking Calls on Coyotes : Animal regulation: The department, which was receiving 30 inquiries daily in the West Valley on a trapping ban, refers questions downtown.

A 7-month-old ban on coyote trapping in the city has generated about 30 calls daily to animal regulation officers in the west San Fernando Valley--so many that the officers have been told by their bosses to stop responding directly.

The Animal Regulation Department instead has asked that all coyote questions be referred to an animal regulation spokeswoman in downtown Los Angeles. The department’s decision to refer all coyote questions away from animal regulation officers has infuriated some West Valley residents who want to talk directly with the officers about the problem.

“It’s a problem when people have a pressing problem . . . and cannot get an answer from officers with 30 years of field experience,” said Michael Lazarou, a Woodland Hills resident who formed a Valley homeowner group that wants the city to consider lifting the trapping ban.

Lazarou contends his 19-month-old son was stalked by a coyote last month in his back yard, and that incident turned him, literally overnight, into an activist on coyote issues.

But animal regulation officials defend the new policy, saying the 30 or so daily coyote questions received at the West Valley animal regulation office over the past two weeks have prevented officers from performing their duties in the field.

Animal regulation spokeswoman Nancy Moriarty said that the department’s general manager, Gary Olsen, instructed West Valley officers earlier this month to refer the calls to Moriarty. She said Olsen did not issue an order but simply a suggestion to address the problem.

“It was not a gag order but a way to alleviate the overload” of calls, she said. Moriarty added that she is an animal regulation lieutenant with 15 years experience in the department and therefore is qualified to answer a broad variety of questions about coyotes.

The controversy over coyote calls is the latest development in an increasingly contentious debate that began in June when the Board of Animal Regulation Commissioners voted to halt the trapping of coyotes by city employees. Because the ban was partly aimed at saving the city money and freeing up animal regulation officers for other duties, not at saving the coyotes, residents still are allowed to hire a certified pest control company to trap the animals.

Although the ban was supported by animal rights organizations, it infuriated some hillside residents in the West Valley who have grown concerned over an increase in coyote sightings and pet attacks.

Animal experts attribute the increase to the recent brush-fires, the abundance of food and small wildlife and the trapping ban. The sightings have prompted the animal regulation board to schedule a Jan. 24 meeting in Reseda to consider lifting the ban.

Lt. Richard Felosky, senior animal regulation officer in the West Valley office, said he is “ambivalent” about the instructions to refer coyote questions to Moriarty because he enjoys helping people with problems.

But Felosky said he understands why the department would ask him to refer questions to Moriarty and intends to continue “following orders.”