Huntington Beach Eyes Plan To Euthanize Coyotes As Pet Deaths Soar
HUNTINGTON BEACH (CBSLA.com) — A growing coyote presence in Orange County will be among the issues discussed by the Huntington Beach City Council on Monday.
KNX 1070's Mike Landa reports a proposal to hire trappers to round up and euthanize coyotes has left residents sharply divided.
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City Councilman Devin Dwyer is expected to call upon his colleagues for support in his effort to address more than 200 reported coyote sightings and 26 coyote-related pet deaths in the area over the last year.
"Licensed trappers have experience in setting traps in such a way as to trap the coyotes without posing a threat to the safety of the general public or their pets," Dwyer wrote in a Nov. 5 memorandum (PDF).
Several Southland cities including Carson and Long Beach have considered similar plans after experiencing an increased number of coyote attacks in their communities.
But Lynsey White Dasher of the U.S. Humane Society argues the wild animals need to be taught how to adapt to residential neighborhoods - and not euthanized.
"That coyote is dead, he hasn't learned anything, and his family members and coyote friends haven't learned anything," said Dasher.
"On the contrary, if we see a coyote and we scare them away by acting big or loud or throwing things, we're teaching coyotes to be afraid of people - as they naturally are - and to stay out of our yards and neighborhoods," she added.
The City Council will begin meeting in closed session at 4:30 p.m. before opening it up to the public at 6 p.m.
