Long Beach resident Peggy Wright remembers a particularly frightening encounter with a coyote in her neighborhood years ago. She was just getting into her car around 9pm when she spotted the animal resting between her neighbor’s yard and her own. The 65-year-old acknowledged that the coyote was not acting aggressively.
“We both scared each other,” she said in a telephone interview.
It wasn’t going to be the only time she would see a wild animal in Long Beach. In another instance, she discovered another coyote leaving an elementary school area not far from Bellflower Boulevard. It was summertime, she said, and it was after hours. No children were present. Wright said she had called 9-1-1, but she was told there was nothing they could do.
She said that she’s hearing more about coyote sightings these days, and she’s not shy about what should be done with them.
“I’m one of the few that’s been very outspoken,” Wright stated, “and I say, coyotes do not belong in this environment.” She favors wholesale removal of coyotes from the area through professional trappers, and if the animals are found near parks, playgrounds or schools, Wright said they should be killed immediately.
Long Beach Animal Care Services Manager Ted Stevens acknowledged in a phone interview last month that the policy surrounding coyotes has changed in the last couple of months, but he did stress the need to educate residents on how to deal with coyotes through hazing and eliminating elements in the area that would attract the animals.
“Even if you were [to] go into an area and remove every coyote from that area,” he said, “eventually new coyotes are going to move back in.”
Stevens said that the policy changed in November. Encounters with coyotes that are reported to Animal Care Services are classified into various categories and coded by color. A blue-level incident describes a coyote sighting. A yellow-level incident describes encounters in which coyotes are seen in areas that are frequented by people. An orange-level incident indicates encounters where there is an “attended domestic-animal loss, where [the coyote] enters a dwelling or yard in which people are present, or where it acts aggressively toward people,” according to the coyote policy posted on the City’s Animal Care Services website. If there are three confirmed incidents that have been reported within a span of two weeks, the policy states that “targeted lethal action can be recommended” and “lethal removal may be employed at the discretion of the Director of Animal Care.” The department labels a red-level incident when humans are attacked, whether or not it was provoked, and they will contact the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which will assume the lead agency role to find and eliminate the coyote.
Stevens explained that the new policy now has a lower threshold for an incident to qualify as an orange-level incident.
“We put in there a trigger mechanism where trapping can be instituted when a certain threshold is met,” he said.
The policy encourages residents to actively haze coyotes to discourage their staying in the area. Making loud noises, banging together pots and pans, spraying coyotes with pepper spray or throwing tennis balls at them are among the recommendations on the City’s website. Residents are encouraged to keep their pets indoors and feed them indoors or limit the amount of time they are fed outdoors. They are also encouraged to remove fruit that has fallen from trees in the yard, to bag food and keep trash in a container with a tight-fitting lid.
The policy itself has drawn critics ranging from those who advocate for the protection of coyotes to others who think the policy doesn’t have enough teeth to be effective. A Facebook group with a closed membership has been reported by other media outlets to actively promote killing coyotes. The contents of their posts is closed to outsiders.
The danger of coyotes has certainly changed Wright’s behavior. She no longer feels safe walking her 45-pound dog in her neighborhood and does keep it inside these days. She does share the posts on social media and email messages that warn of a coyote in the area and offers pictures of someone else’s beloved pet hurt very badly, presumably by a coyote.
Stevens acknowledged in his interview that the last couple of months had less activity during the winter, but spring and summer represent a new season of challenges. It will be breeding time for the coyotes.
To report coyote sightings, call Long Beach Animal Care Services at (562) 570-7387 or visit longbeach.gov/acs/wildlife .
