Report to Mayor and City Council
Tuesday, September 03, 2019
Consent
SUBJECT:
Title
CONSIDER A PROACTIVE PROGRAM TO ADDRESS COYOTE COMPLAINTS CITYWIDE (CITY COUNCIL)
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I. SUMMARY
The coyote is a member of the dog family, and is native to California. It closely resembles a small German Shepard dog with the exception of the long snout and bushy, black-tipped tail. The coyote's high-pitched, yodel-like yapping can frequently be heard at night. Coyotes are extremely adaptable and can survive on whatever food is available and are an important part of the ecosystem, helping to keep the rodent populations under control. Their normal hunting prey consists of rabbits, mice, birds, and other small animals. Coyotes are by nature fearful of humans. If coyotes are given access to human food, pet food, or garbage, their behavior changes. They will quickly lose their natural fear of people and may become bold, even aggressive and pets are often attacked, injured, or killed by coyotes because of this behavior change.
II. RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
TAKE the following actions:
1. DIRECT staff to monitor and track locations in the City related calls for service related to coyotes.
2. DIRECT Staff to proactively address those areas through the use of signage, education and prevention.
3. DIRECT staff to prepare a budget resolution to add $5,000 to the FY19-20 budget after it has been adopted. The funding source will be the undesignated, unreserved General Fund balance.
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III. ALTERNATIVES
TAKE any other action the City Council deems appropriate that is consistent with the requirements of law.
IV. BACKGROUND
In many cities across California, urban coyote conflicts appear to rising. Recent analysis of coyote reports from several entities in Southern California has shown that coyote conflicts are general much higher in the pup-rearing seasons (may- August) and the dispersal seasons (September - December) as compared with the breedi...
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