DISCUSSION
The State of California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) recommends a number of best management practices to help keep coyotes out of neighborhoods and ensure public safety. These practices are as follows:
- Never feed or attempt to tame coyotes. The result may be deadly conflicts with pets or livestock, or serious injuries to small children.
- Do not leave small children or pets outside unattended.
- Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house.
- Trim ground-level shrubbery to reduce hiding places.
- Be aware that coyotes are more active in the spring, when feeding and protecting their young.
- If followed by a coyote, make loud noises. If this fails, throw rocks in the animal’s direction.
- If a coyote attacks a person, immediately contact the nearest Department of Fish and Wildlife or law enforcement office.
Coyotes primarily hunt small animals such as rodents and rabbits for food but will take advantage of whatever is available including garbage and pet food. Therefore, the following additional guidance is recommended by the CDFW:
- Put garbage in tightly closed containers that cannot be tipped over.
- Remove sources of water, especially in dry climates.
- Bring pets in at night, and do not leave pet food outside.
- Avoid using bird feeders as they attract rodents and other coyote prey.
- Provide secure enclosures for rabbits, poultry and other livestock.
- Pick up fallen fruit and cover compost piles.
- Ask your neighbors to follow these tips.
The City maintains a proactive public education campaign to promote safety and help keep coyotes out of neighborhoods. This includes an informational web page, safety and prevention information in water bills and other City publications, periodic coyote awareness community meetings, and maintenance of a coyote reporting hotline and mobile app. The hotline and mobile app are important because they allow animal care staff to monitor and react to coyote activity and locations within the City.
Effective monitoring relies on the efforts of the community to report the location and types of coyote activity. This is best accomplished with input from both residents and city staff. Coyote sightings or incidents can be reported by using the Garden Grove City App or by calling the City’s coyote reporting hotline at 714-741-5286. Reports on Facebook, Nextdoor, Instagram and other social media sites are not always monitored and picked up by City staff. When reporting, it is most effective if the reporting party can provide locations or areas of increased activity, the number of coyotes observed, and the type of incident. Nevertheless, even when residents substantially comply with the best management practices and report coyote activity, various rodents, rabbits and other wild animals will still remain, which support coyotes living in the community.
In response to the rise of more aggressive coyote activity in Garden Grove neighborhoods, City staff researched responses from surrounding communities, reviewed existing Coyote Management Plans, and researched coyote ecology to better understand and to create a proposed plan for Garden Grove. The attached proposed Plan enables the City to manage the increased presence of coyotes with an emphasis on education, hazing, and lastly consideration of lethal means of removal only when the safety of the public is at risk.
The intent of the plan is to have a document that can be used to help inform the public and to provide guidance for residents and City staff in dealing with coyotes in Garden Grove. Guidelines and provisions of this plan do not supersede federal, state and county regulations and policies.