Animal Regulation Policy Changed to Allow Limited Coyote Trapping : Wildlife: L.A. homeowners will have to take safety measures and pay to have traps set. The decision leaves residents and animal rights advocates still at odds.

The Los Angeles Animal Regulation Commission decided Tuesday to allow city employees in limited circumstances to trap and kill coyotes in residential areas, modifying its ban on the practice but failing to satisfy homeowners and animal rights activists at odds over the issue.

Under the new policy animal regulation officers will charge residents a $200 fee to set traps, but only after property owners meet certain conditions, such as putting up fences to deter coyote intrusions.

The decision by the panel is a response to the often heated debate among wildlife advocates and others, who say trapping is inhumane and ineffective at controlling the coyote population, and homeowners, who maintain that trapping is needed to protect pets and children from attacks.

The new policy replaces a ban that residents said resulted in a dramatic increase in coyote sightings since it was adopted 10 months ago. Officials said it would have been too costly to reinstitute trapping on demand.

Several animal rights activists said the fee imposed under the new policy should be increased to more closely reflect the estimated $5,800 the city spends to set and maintain each trap, while others denounced the practice of trapping under any circumstances.

Opponents of the ban complained that the criteria are so difficult to meet that the new policy, in essence, continues the ban.

“There are so many caveats that it leaves the ban in place,” said Michael Lazarou, a Woodland Hills resident who says that a coyote stalked his toddler son in his back yard in December.

The policy, unanimously approved by the commission, was recommended by Gary Olsen, the Animal Regulation Department’s general manager. The city will set traps for a resident only under the following circumstances:

* An animal regulation official must first visit the home of the resident who has complained about a coyote problem and provide educational material that explains the habits of the animal and ways to protect against coyote attacks.

* The official must then recommend mitigation measures, such as installing tall fences, that the resident can take to deter coyotes from entering the property.

* The resident must then sign an affidavit that the measures have been implemented and agree to waive the city’s liability in case a pet or child is caught in the trap. The resident must also notify all residents within 300 yards of the property that trapping will occur.

* Once all of the above criteria are met, the city will charge the resident $200 to set and maintain a trap on the property until a coyote is caught or until an animal regulation official determines that the problem no longer exists.

The city may also allow limited trapping when a coyote is suspected of having rabies because of an attack on a person; when a county, state or federal agency mandates it because of public safety concerns, or when a coyote is sick or injured.

The commission will review the policy after a year.

Olsen said he expects the policy to dramatically reduce the number of coyotes trapped annually. During the year before the ban, the department trapped and killed 35 coyotes, city officials said. (State law requires the city to kill a trapped coyote and forbids it from relocating the animal to another area.)

Before voting on the recommendation, commission President Mimi Robins said she realized that the new policy will not satisfy all sides on the highly contentious issue.

“Basically this is an ugly issue and regardless of what the commission does, not everyone will be happy,” she said.

The trapping controversy began in June, 1993, when the commission voted--partly in response to pressure from animal rights advocates--to halt the trapping of coyotes by city employees. The panel left residents the option of hiring a certified pest control company to trap the animals. Such companies charge about $800 to trap coyotes.

But since the ban, hillside residents, mostly in the west San Fernando Valley, have complained about an increase in coyote sightings and attacks on pets. A city report said the city gets about 500 calls a year about coyote sightings. Figures showing the increase in calls were not immediately available.