Policy Only a Coyote Could Love : L.A.’s new rules for trapping by the city will confound most homeowners

If cartoon character Wile E. Coyote lived in the city of Los Angeles, his life surely would be much easier, despite his perpetually unsuccessful pursuit of the road runner. Only a coyote might find solace in the city’s labyrinthine new policy on how and when it will trap the animals.

Since 1968, the city’s animal regulation workers had trapped and killed coyotes that were considered dangerous. It was done free, and on request. That stopped last summer, in part because of the cost of the trapping, because of an outcry from animal rights folks and because the city thought it could be sued if it bungled a job or if it failed to catch a particularly elusive coyote. (Had city officials asked their own lawyers about the possibility of lawsuits--and they didn’t--they would have heard that any such lawsuit was highly unlikely.)

For a fee, Los Angeles County immediately traps dangerous coyotes. The city could have simply done the same. It didn’t.

Meanwhile, lots of coyotes have been spotted near homes, particularly in the San Fernando Valley. Homeowners demanded a new policy. What they got from the city’s Animal Regulation Commission is more gobbledygook.

The city now will set a trap only after five steps. No. 1: A visit must be made by an animal regulation official, whenever that might be; the official must explain coyote habits and how to protect against attacks. No. 2: The city official must recommend steps such as installing a fence, and the homeowner must take those steps. But coyotes can scale barriers up to six feet high, and some experts suggest that the needed fence would be eight feet high and angled outward at 45 degrees. That’s OK, if you want your yard to look like Alcatraz. No. 4: The homeowner must notify every resident within a 300-yard radius that trapping will occur. No. 5: The homeowner must sign a statement absolving the city of liability (they’re still not listening to those lawyers). Then, for a $200 fee, the city sets a trap.

All this could be used in an introductory urban planning class at a college somewhere, in the lecture on bureaucratic obfuscation.