Panel to Weigh Lifting Ban on Coyote Trapping

Lifting the controversial ban on coyote trapping will be one of the options before the Los Angeles Animal Regulation Commission on Tuesday when it takes up the issue, city officials said Friday.

The other three options before the citizens panel are to continue the ban indefinitely, to allow trapping only under limited circumstances or to allow limited trapping but charge a fee for the trapping service, according to city officials and a draft report obtained by The Times.

The commission’s review of the city’s coyote trapping policy comes 11 months after a previous commission voted--at the behest of wildlife advocates--to halt all trapping by city employees.

But that decision has drawn a flurry of protest, primarily from hillside residents in the San Fernando Valley who fear the end of trapping will leave pets and children vulnerable to coyote attacks. Wildlife advocates have defended the ban as humane and reasonable.

The debate over trapping climaxed on March 23 during a community meeting in Woodland Hills that drew dozens of residents, wildlife advocates and wildlife experts. At that meeting, the commission asked Gary Olsen, general manager of the Animal Regulation Department, to make a recommendation on the coyote problem.

But Olsen and the Animal Regulation Department have shied away from making a recommendation, deciding instead to offer the commission four options.

The first three options were outlined in a draft report dated May 20:

* Continue the ban. Under this option, the department would concentrate on educating the public on ways to coexist with the animal. “The focus of the education process, in part, is to remind pet owners of their responsibility to protect their animals,” the report says.

* Provide trapping but only after certain criteria are met. The criteria include:

An Animal Regulation official must first visit the home of the resident reporting a coyote problem and make sure the resident has received the educational information provided by the city about coyotes.

Secondly, the resident must comply with recommendations made by the Animal Regulation official to make the home less vulnerable to coyotes. Such recommendations may include installing taller fences, for example.

Trapping may also be allowed when a coyote is believed to have rabies as a result of an attack on a person; when a county, state or federal agency mandates it due to public safety concerns; or when a coyote is sick or injured.

* Provide trapping so long as the above criteria are met, but charge the resident a “cost recovery” fee for the trapping service. The report does not specify how much the fee would be.

In an interview Friday, department spokeswoman Nancy Moriarty said a more recent version of the report drafted Thursday includes a fourth option: to lift the ban and allow trapping without specific criteria and without a fee.

Moriarty said the final draft was sent Friday for approval to Olsen, who was on vacation. The final report will not be released to the public until Tuesday, she said.

Councilwoman Laura Chick, who represents parts of the West Valley, said she submitted a recommendation to the department that is nearly identical to the option that allows trapping under limited circumstances but requires a fee.

Under her option, the fee would vary depending on whether the trapping was successful or not.

Chick said she doesn’t believe trapping will completely solve the coyote problem but wants the city to provide some limited trapping if residents are willing to pay for the costs of the service.

A spokesman for Mayor Richard Riordan said the mayor’s office has tried to help find a resolution to the debate that will appeal to all sides. But as of yet, Riordan has not backed any particular option, said Riordan spokesman David Novak.

Tuesday’s commission meeting will be held at 10 a.m. at the Animal Regulation Department’s Downtown offices at 419 S. Spring St.