URBAN WILDLIFE:  City moves to a “more aggressive” coyote plan 

by Mark McDermott 

The Manhattan Beach City Council last week moved closer to launching a coyote trapping program, unanimously approving an environmental study legally required before coyotes can be trapped and euthanized. 

The City has for the last year grappled with how to address an increasing coyote population and the predation of pet dogs and especially cats reported by residents. The study will cost approximately $36,000 and will enable the City to eventually hire a trapper as part of its coyote management plan. 

While wildlife biologists and activists have argued that trapping is an ineffective tool, residents whose pets have been victimized by coyotes have pleaded with the Council to take more aggressive measures. The main thrust of the management plan is a public education campaign aimed at reducing easy coyote food sources, or “attractants,” such as unsecured trash containers and feral cat colonies. 

“This is just another step in the steps that we already approved,” said Councilperson Steve Napolitano. “We know we need to do the environmental [study] to be able to trap and become more aggressive in dealing with these [coyototes].” 

George Gabriel, assistant to the city manager, told the council that trapping would only be utilized for coyotes that exhibited unusual or dangerous behavior. 

“Coyote behavior that is aggressive and that is abnormal, that is where a trapping consideration will be considered,” Gabriel said. 

Resident Shawna Sinay said that two pet cats in her neighborhood had recently been killed by coyotes, a “beautiful cat named Dexter” who lived two doors down from her and a black cat at the corner.  She urged that that the City take stronge action both in terms of public education and culling the coyote population. 

“I can tell you this, we never had this problem before. This is a new problem,” she said. “So something has changed in our neighborhood. I don’t know that it’s necessarily feeding feral cats because that’s been going on forever. We have a lot of cat lovers, a lot of small pet lovers. The fact that we’ve seen [coyotes] on Pacific [elementary] playground —  the next thing, according to Cal State. is that the coyotes’ behavior becomes more aggressive and it next could be a small child….I think it’s important that we get aggressive.” 

Councilperson David Lesser said he supported adding trapping to the coyote management plan but also stressed remaining proactive in public education. He urged that the City follow the advice of the biologist they retained last year, Rebecca Dmytryk of Humane Wildlife Control, who advised that the only way to change coyote behavior was to change human behavior. 

“I want to ensure that staff does all of what was recommended by its outside advisor, who I know some questioned,” Lesser said. “And that at a minimum, we are proactive and seeking to educate the community about removing food sources as well as habitat, and really being vigilant on that, and retain [trapping] as a last resort. But we have this tool so we can, just as the speaker just indicated, get more aggressive.” ER