Environmental Commission Agenda Report

ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISSION AGENDA REPORT DATE: AUGUST 25, 2011 TO: HONORABLE CHAIR AND MEMBERS OF THE ENVIRONMENTAL COMMISISON FROM: ALEX FARASSATI, PH.D., ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES SUPERVISOR SUBJECT: COYOTE MANAGEMENT IN CALABASAS MEETING DATE: SEPTEMBER 6, 2011 SUMMARY RECOMMENDATION: That the Environmental Commission review and discuss this report and recommend a course of action to the City Council for consideration. BACKGROUND: During the public comment section of a City Council meeting held on July 13, 2011, several Calabasas residents and wildlife activists came out in opposition of the cities policy on trapping coyotes. Since this meeting all coyote trappings have been suspended and all homeowners associations have been notified of the suspension, until the Environmental Commission had the opportunity to discuss the issue and make a recommendation to the City Council. Meanwhile an on-line petition was initiated by Project Coyote that was signed by 1,981 individuals throughout the world requesting permanent suspension of coyote trapping within the city. Prior to suspension, the Calabasas coyote management procedure has followed Los Angeles County protocol described below: Environmental Commission Agenda Report September 6, 2011 1. A Calabasas homeowner contacts Public Works Landscape Division staff with a request for coyote abatement; 2. During the conversation with the homeowner, by utilizing GIS software imaging, Public Works Landscape Division staff determines if there is public open space or common area land adjacent to the homeowner’s parcel, where a County trapper might be able to safely place a trap; 3. If there is, Public Works Landscape Division staff contacts the Los Angeles County, Agricultural Commissioner/Weights and Measures, Pest Management Division and gives them permission to have one of their trappers contact the homeowner, visit the site, and determine if a trap can safely be placed; 4. If the trapper does place a trap, on the County invoice is recorded the address of the resident requesting service, length of time the trap was placed, and, if a coyote was trapped, the gender and size. Since October 2003 there have been 36 recorded requests for coyote information or abatement. For additional background information, please see attachment No. 1 “Los Angeles County Coyote Management Program” and attachment No. 2 “Spreadsheet on Calabasas Coyote Call/Complaint”. DISCUSSION: Coyotes are wild animals and their behavior, by many accounts, are becoming bolder as they become more accustomed to living near humans. Along with the benefits of living in a semi-rural area, the residents of the City of Calabasas are also subject to the dangers of encountering native wildlife. The possibility of these animals coming out of the adjacent open space and into the City proper will always exist. This is particularly true because in addition to lushly landscaped homes and parks, our community is bordered by Malibu Creek State 2 Environmental Commission Agenda Report September 6, 2011 Park to the South, Las Virgenes Open Space to the North and Topanga State Park to East. Coyote’s Diet Coyotes are opportunistic, versatile carnivores with a 90% mammalian diet, depending on the season. They primarily eat small mammals, such as voles, rabbits, ground squirrels, and mice, though they will eat birds, snakes, lizards, deer, and livestock, as well as large insects and other large invertebrates. The coyote will also target any species of bird that nests on the ground. Though they will consume large amounts of carrion, they tend to prefer fresh meat. Fruits and vegetables are a significant part of the coyote's diet in the autumn and winter months. Part of the coyote's success as a species is its dietary adaptability. As such, coyotes have been known to eat human garbage, pet food and domestic pets. They catch cats and dogs when they come too close to the pack. Urban populations of coyotes have been known to actively hunt cats, and to leap fences to take pets. In particularly bold urban coyote packs, coyotes have also been reported to shadow human joggers or larger dogs, and even to take small dogs while the dog is still on a leash. However, this behavior is often reported when normal urban prey, such as brown rats, black rats and rabbits, have become scarce. While extremely rare, confirmed reports of coyotes killing a human have been documented. Coyotes thrive in suburban settings and even some urban ones. A study by wildlife ecologists at Ohio State University yielded some surprising findings in this regard. Researchers studied coyote populations in Chicago over a seven-year period (2000–2007), proposing that coyotes have adapted well to living in densely populated urban environments while avoiding contact with humans. They found, among other things, that urban coyotes tend to live longer than their rural counterparts, kill rodents and small pets, and live anywhere from parks to industrial areas. Attacks on Humans Coyote attacks on humans are uncommon and rarely cause serious injuries to adults, due to the relatively small size of the coyote. However, coyote attacks on humans have increased since 1998 in the state of California. Data from USDA Wildlife Services, the California Department of Fish & Game, and other sources show that while 41 attacks occurred during the period of 1988–1997, 48 attacks were verified from 1998 through 2003. The majority of these incidents occurred in Southern California near the suburban-wildland interface. Due to an absence of harassment by residents, urban coyotes lose their natural fear of humans, which is further worsened by people intentionally feeding coyotes. In 3 Environmental Commission Agenda Report September 6, 2011 such situations, some coyotes have begun to act aggressively toward humans, chasing joggers and bicyclists, confronting people walking their dogs, and stalking small children. Non-rabid coyotes in these areas will sometimes target small children, mostly under the age of 10, though some adults have been bitten. In June 2010 a 3-year-old girl and a 6-year-old girl were attacked and seriously injured in separate attacks by coyotes in Rye, New York, a suburb of New York City. The 6-year-old was attacked by two coyotes on June 25 and the 3-year-old was attacked by one coyote on June 29. There was no indication the animals were rabid, but the girls were given treatment as a precaution. In June 2011 an unattended toddler on a trampoline was attacked by a coyote who attempted to drag her into the woods in North Carolina. There are only two recorded fatalities in North America from coyote attacks. In 1981 in Glendale, California, a coyote attacked toddler Kelly Keen, who was rescued by her father, but died in surgery due to blood loss and a broken neck. In October 2009, Taylor Mitchell, a 19-year-old folk singer on tour, died from injuries sustained in an attack by a pair of coyotes while hiking in the Skyline Trail of the Cape Breton Highlands National Park in Nova Scotia, Canada. It should be noted that the northern variety of coyote involved with this attack is much larger than its southern cousin and may be a coyote-wolf hybrid. Officials with the California Department of Fish and Game estimate that roughly one person gets bitten by a coyote per year in California. For comparison, over 300 people have been killed by domestic dogs in the U.S. between 1979 and the late 1990s. Please see Appendix D of Attachment No. 1 for additional information. Livestock and Pet Predation Coyotes are presently the most abundant livestock predators in western North America, causing the majority of sheep, goat and cattle losses. For example, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, coyotes were responsible for 60.5% of the 224,000 sheep deaths that were attributed to predation in 2004. Coyotes will typically bite the throat just behind the jaw and below the ear when attacking adult sheep or goats, with death commonly resulting from suffocation. Coyotes are often attracted to dog food and animals that are small enough to appear as prey. Items like garbage, pet food, and sometimes feeding stations for birds and squirrels will attract coyotes into backyards. 4 Environmental Commission Agenda Report September 6, 2011 Coyote with a typical throat hold on domestic sheep Approximately 3 to 5 pets attacked by coyotes are brought into the Animal Urgent Care hospital of south Orange County each week, the majority of which are dogs, since cats typically do not survive the attacks. Scat analysis collected near Claremont, California revealed that coyotes relied heavily on pets as a food source in winter and spring. At one location in Southern California, coyotes began relying on a colony of feral cats as a food source. Over time, the coyotes killed most of the cats, and then continued to eat the cat food placed daily at the colony site by citizens who were maintaining the cat colony. Coyotes usually attack smaller sized dogs, but they have been known to attack even large, powerful breeds like the Rottweiler in exceptional cases. Dogs larger than coyotes are generally able to drive them off, and have been known to kill coyotes. Smaller breeds are more likely to suffer injury or death. ANALYSIS: There are two schools of thought on the issue of coyote management: 5 Environmental Commission Agenda Report September 6, 2011 A. The first being those that feel it would be best to destroy coyotes that kill small animals in order to survive, particularly those small animals that are pets. Although this may be an option for addressing especially bold or aggressive coyotes this is not a permanent solution. Once a coyote pack senses the depletion of its population one of two things can happen; the other coyotes in the vicinity will take over the destroyed coyote’s territory or the coyote population can actually grow from increased breeding.

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