A. Resist trapping and killing coyotes in your area

Facts prove that coyotes are not dangerous to humans: they avoid humans. Pets can easily be protected by following simple guidelines. Please #resist those instigating trap and kill policies. Please help get educational materials out to everyone — we all have a stake in this. Call your supervisors, homeowner associations, social media and neighbors: let them know what you think about outmoded trap/kill policies and give them current educational materials.

The letter written below has information for people who don’t know that trapping has only negative consequences. Even those people who love coyotes often believe relocation is best for the coyote and the humane thing to do — they are innocent of the truth. We need to let them know the truth, and at the same time let them know that precautions to make coexistence work are indeed simple.

B. Simple, Effective Guidelines:

1) Keep your distance always from all wildlife and don’t approach — the more distance, the better.

2) Allowing cats to roam free puts them in danger from dogs, cars, raccoons, coyotes and more. Coyotes don’t know who is a pet and who isn’t: how would they know the difference between a cat and any other prey?

3) Always remain vigilant while walking your pet. If you see a coyote, at any distance, while out with your dog: leash right away, shorten your leash, and walk the other way. See “How to Handle A Coyote Encounter”, below.

C. Focused, Factual Resources:

1) “Coyotes as Neighbors, what to know and do”, an introductory video presentation:  https://youtu.be/euG7R11aXq0

[Also in Spanish:  http://youtu.be/FjVGKwLiYG4; in Mandarin (readable in Cantonese): http://youtu.be/aFWyegSrNHw; and a shortened English version: https://youtu.be/1Kxl31nX0rc]

2) “How to Handle A Coyote Encounter”, a downloadable, concise and informative flyer: https://yipps.files.wordpress.com/2017/11/encounter-guidelines-2016-1117.pdf. More coexistence guides can be found on the coyotecoexistence.com website.

3) Inside A Coyote Family: https://yipps.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/inside-a-coyote-family.pdf, an article which appeared in WildCare Magazine about coyote family life. More about coyote behavior and family life can be found on coyoteyipps.com.

For a flyer version, press here: FACTSMATTER#resist

D. Why Trapping is Inhumane and Doesn’t Work:

This entire posting was written in response to a lady who contacted us from Florida. She wanted easy and concise ammunition to stop her neighbors’ plan to trap. The information above, along with the letter below serves as a resource for her and others.

This is the neighborhood posting the lady wanted to respond to:

“Found a place that will trap these animals and release them elsewhere. They charge $200.00 per Coyote. If we get enough people to help pay them it would not cost each family very much. You can contact me at ———. The agency is called Country/City nuisance control. Web site is http://www.countrycitywc.com Ph: 727-902-5843. Hope we can get enough people to help keep our small animals safe.”

Does this idea have any merit? Seems like they would just come back! We have squirrels & bunnies & a lake with ducks. Maybe if we get rid of them too!

For us, her wondering if the idea had any merit, and that the solution might possibly be a good one for the coyotes, was a wakeup call to us: CARING PEOPLE OFTEN DON’T KNOW the horrors that trapping entails. Please use information from the posting and this letter to fight trapping in your area.

Hello!

I am responding to your post about wanting to trap coyotes.

Please know that trapping and removing coyotes will hurt the situation rather than help it. Right now you have a stable group of coyotes. They are territorial, which means that they drive all other coyotes out, thus keeping the population low: there is only one family in your area, there is only one family on any territory. If you kill them, even some of them, the population will explode to make up the difference and then some. In addition, with “vacancies in the area”, outsider coyotes will come and fill the niches vacated by the killed coyotes. [See Robert Crabtree]

Regarding the “humanity” of trapping, this is what happens:
First of all, it is illegal to relocate coyotes. If trapped, THEY MUST BE KILLED. Sometimes the trapper cheats (to make more money) and sells his caught coyotes to penning areas, where dogs are allowed to hunt them down — they are hunted until they are exhausted and then they are mauled by a pack of dogs. See the video presentation, “Coyotes As Neighbors”. There are various reasons they can’t be relocated by law: people don’t want other people’s problems dumped on them — usually only “supposed problem” coyotes are targeted for trapping. Another reason is that few coyotes survive the move: territories are taken by other coyotes and the coyotes in the area will be hostile — they fight ferociously among themselves: so it’s actually cruel and inhumane to relocate them. Another reason is that the coyotes will try to come back, and they will most likely die doing so. Eleven coyotes were radio collared and relocated in the Chicago area. Not one survived. If they make it back, well, then they are back.

Please know how easy it is to coexist with coyotes: many cities have instituted coexistence policies, including San Francisco. It just takes a little bit of education to learn how to keep your pet safe. For a beginning, see: FACTS MATTER #resist on the coyotecoexistence.com blog. Then peruse the blog for more information: Coyotecoexistence.com.

Please do not allow a trapper to come in. A trapper will deceive you to get your business (or just not mention that coyotes must be killed, which is a white fib). The easiest (out of mind) option is to pay someone to get rid of them — the best option will take a little more effort: education.

If you have any questions, or would like to discuss more of your concerns, we’re here to help you understand the situation and coyote behaviors.

Sincerely,