Implementing Community-based Human-Coyote Conflict Management Plans: A Case Study

The increasing presence of coyotes (Canis latrans) in urban and suburban areas across the United States poses a challenge for community leaders that must respond to an often panicked public. While urban areas typically do not... [ view full abstract ]

The increasing presence of coyotes (Canis latrans) in urban and suburban areas across the United States poses a challenge for community leaders that must respond to an often panicked public. While urban areas typically do not provide suitable habitat for large predators such as bears, wolves, or mountain lions, coyotes adapt quite well to human-dominated landscapes, making them the largest resident predator in most urban and suburban areas. While most coyotes avoid people and pets, sightings of coyotes in neighborhoods and occasional attacks on domestic pets can alarm and frighten residents, who turn to their community leaders for a solution. Typically, this results in a community-wide lethal removal program, but research and experience has shown that this approach rarely works to address the root causes of human-coyote conflicts. More and more communities are now implementing comprehensive community-based coyote management plans, subscribing and involving the public in interventions that reduce human-coyote conflicts through education, habitat and cultural modifications and, importantly, directly confronting problematic coyotes and hazing them to reshape behavior. (Coyote hazing involves the immediate use of deterrents to decondition habituated coyotes). This presentation will detail the case study of Riverside, Illinois, the first community to implement a model human-coyote conflict management plan developed by The Humane Society of the United States. Since implementation of the plan in 2014, coyote complaints from residents have decreased by 82% in the village. Details of the model plan, how it was implemented, and lessons learned will be shared, as well as how this process can be used in developing plans and programs to reduce community-wide human-wildlife conflicts for other urban predators globally.