March 20, 2026
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Learning to coexist with coyotes
A coyote in Calabasas
Thank you for publishing the recent article “Coyote Crossing” and for including practical safety tips.
I have attended all the Wildlife Resources Committee meetings, a subcommittee of the California Fish and Game Commission, where California’s coyote policy is being discussed. At these meetings, I have spoken in support of a statewide reclassification and the creation of a comprehensive Coyote Management Plan to establish a uniform policy across the state.
In 2011, I worked with the City of Calabasas to ban the use of city funds for trapping coyotes, an important step toward humane wildlife management.
Four years later, in 2014, I supported similar reforms in the City of Los Angeles that banned body-gripping traps. Both cities set a strong example by choosing non-lethal approaches and emphasizing education and coexistence.
The Calabasas Coyote Management Plan replaced indiscriminate lethal trapping with public education, removing attractants, and hazing habituated coyotes. That model has been adapted by hundreds of communities nationwide. Scientific research shows killing coyotes does not solve populations long-term; it can prompt earlier breeding and larger litters, ultimately increasing the coyote population.
Like mountain lions, coyotes deserve thoughtful consideration for the role they play in our ecosystems, especially controlling rodents. They are simply trying to survive in landscapes that humans have altered.
California is learning that coexistence— not eradication—is the most responsible path forward. Residents should safeguard pets and children while following practical precautions, just as your article outlined.
Los Angeles Animal Services offers free public webinars on safely coexisting with wildlife. Their next Zoom session is March 17.
Exposing the Big Game 
