Ban on Coyote Trapping Under Review

After a surge in complaints about coyotes prowling residential neighborhoods, the Los Angeles Animal Regulation Commission is expected to decide Tuesday whether to drop or modify the city’s ban on trapping the animals.

A city staff report recommends that the commission continue the trapping ban and hire two additional animal control officers to teach homeowners how to discourage coyotes from coming into yards and neighborhoods.

“The emphasis is going to be to go out in the community and help people help themselves,” said Jerry Greenwalt, general manager of the Department of Animal Regulation. “Trapping coyotes is going to be the very last resort.”

The new animal control officers would boost an education program that is already part of city policy but is difficult to carry out because the department is short-handed, Greenwalt said. The policy calls for officers to visit homes to see if anything might be attracting coyotes--outdoor pet dishes, uncovered garbage cans, dense brush, fruit fallen from trees--and suggest removal.

That approach doesn’t sit well with Patrick Kennedy, a West Hills resident whose dog survived a nighttime mauling last winter only because Kennedy charged into his backyard and wrestled the miniature pinscher away from the coyote. He wants the animals trapped.

“They tell you it’s a wild animal and they don’t go after wild animals,” said Kennedy, a grounds supervisor for the city Recreation and Parks Department. “Coyotes in a residential neighborhood should be trapped and removed, just like they do for any other wild dog.”

A coyote with a dead cat in its mouth recently acted aggressively toward his son, who is 6 feet tall, he said.

City and state officials say months of dry weather have driven food sources--rodents and other small mammals--out of the foothills to find water, and the coyotes have followed. The hungry animals see pets as easy meals.

Although attacks on humans are rare, the California Department of Fish and Game says the number reported in Southern California increased from three in 2000 to 17 in 2001. Fatal attacks are nearly unheard of, and officials believe the last one in the Los Angeles area occurred in about 1980.

Defenders of coyotes, including a group called Citizens for a Humane Los Angeles, say trapping is ineffective and people must learn to coexist with the animals. They also say the additional $75,000 requested for two new animal control officers would be better spent on programs to prevent animal cruelty or spay and neuter pets. About 70,000 unwanted dogs and cats are euthanized yearly by Los Angeles shelters.

“I can certainly understand the concern of homeowners,” said Sherrie Woodbury, a member of the group. But many of the people complaining about the animals live very close to wilderness areas and can’t realistically expect wildlife to disappear, she said.

Michael Bell, an Encino resident, said the burden should be on homeowners to protect their pets. “Pets are personal property. I don’t see why my tax money should go to protecting someone else’s property. They should properly fence their properties and cover their garbage” to deter coyotes, he said.

City policy bars animal control officers from trapping coyotes unless the animals are sick, injured or have bitten someone and must be tested for rabies. A “really aggressive” coyote can be trapped by animal control officers, Greenwalt said, but an animal roaming around is not considered aggressive. Captured animals are euthanized.

The Department of Animal Regulation agrees with coyote defenders that trapping does no good. “There are places all over the country where these programs have been tried, and they’ve killed off hundreds of them, and the next year they’re back in the same numbers,” Greenwalt said.

He sympathizes with people who fear for the safety of kids.

“If I had small children, I’d be concerned about leaving them in my backyard. But if they’re that small, maybe they shouldn’t be left unsupervised,” he said.

Attacks on people by domesticated dogs are far more common than coyote attacks, officials say. In Los Angeles, about 70,000 dog bites are reported annually, an average of about 190 a day, according to Department of Animal Regulation spokeswoman Jackie David. Of those, 55,000 are attacks on children under age 12.

OnWednesday, David said, a 4-year-old girl was badly mauled by a loose dog while crossing a street in the North Hills area with a caregiver.