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CC SR 20251007 01 - Coyote Management Plan Update CITY COUNCIL MEETING DATE: 10/07/2025 AGENDA REPORT AGENDA HEADING: Regular Business AGENDA TITLE: Consider receiving a status report on the City’s Coyote Management Plan. RECOMMENDED COUNCIL ACTION: (1) Receive and file a status report on the implementation of the City’s Coyote Management Plan. FISCAL IMPACT: None. Amount Budgeted: N/A Additional Appropriation: N/A Account Number(s): N/A ORIGINATED BY: Octavio Silva, Deputy Director of Community Development REVIEWED BY: Brandy Forbes, AICP, Director of Community Development APPROVED BY: Ara Mihranian, AICP, City Manager ATTACHED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS: A. January – September 22, 2025 Coyote Activity Map and Data (Page A-1) B. Coyote Management Plan, September 2018 (Linked) BACKGROUND: Coyotes are native to Southern California and have been part of the City of Rancho Palos Verdes well before its development and incorporation. Within the South Bay, the City has been at the forefront in engaging its residents in educational campaigns about what to do when encountering coyotes and what measures to take to keep coyotes out of neighborhoods. • 2013 - City implemented the first Coyote Management Plan (“Plan”) in the South Bay. • 2017 – City launches web-based Coyote Tracking Application and Dashboard • 2018 - Updated the Plan to reflect best practices from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) Wildlife Watch Program and to coincide with the coyote management plans of Palos Verdes Estates and Rolling Hills Estates. 1 • Since implementing the Plan, the City has also been active in disseminating public information and brochures on living with urban coyotes, as well as methods to deter coyotes from entering properties and to report coyote activities via the City’s web-based platform. DISCUSSION: This report is intended to describe the City’s current Coyote Management Plan and ongoing implementation measures, which include: • Coyote related community services • Yard audits • Coyote trapping • Public education and outreach • Coyote sighting application and dashboard Coyote Management Plan The goal of the Plan is to encourage and “support coexistence with urban coyotes using education, behavior modification, and development of a tiered response to aggressive coyote behavior.” The tiered response requires active participation on the part of the entire community, including residents, homeowners associations (HOAs), volunteers, and City personnel. This plan is based on research and best-known practices and includes a full spectrum of management tools outlined below. Deterrence: Basic practices to deter coyotes include the following: • Do not leave pet food outside. • Do not leave small pets or children outside unattended. • If you compost, use enclosed bins and never compost meat or fish scraps. • Install motion-sensitive lighting around the house. • Make sure your fences are 6 feet high with no gaps at ground level – coyotes are good diggers and climbers. • Put bird feeders away at night to avoid attracting rodents and other coyote prey. • Remove fallen fruit from the ground. • Remove sources of water. • Talk to your neighbors to make sure they’re following the same procedures. • Trim ground-level shrubbery to reduce hiding places. Although pet food, bird seeds, fallen fruit, bird feeders, and other water sources may not directly attract coyote to a yard, they will attract the prey that then attracts coyote. Therefore, the actions noted above are encouraged to create an environment that will not draw coyote to the property. 2 Hazing The Plan (and Staff in its public outreach) also recommends hazing as a deterrent method to move a coyote out of an area or discourage an undesirable behavior or activity , because some coyotes have become too comfortable in the close proximity of people. Hazing, also known as “fear conditioning,” is the process that facilitates a change in behavior and is effective when a community responds consistently to negative encounters with coyotes. The more often an individual animal is hazed, the more effective ha zing is in changing coyote behavior. To safely coexist, it’s important to modify the behavior and attitude in resident-coyote populations through hazing. Hazing practices include making loud noises, throwing rocks or spraying coyotes with a garden hose. Hazing itself will not remove coyotes from an area for a sustained period of time. It is just one tool of many to use when encountering a coyote. Hazing should be conducted in a manner that allows the coyote to return to its normal habitat (i.e., canyons and open space areas). City-Level Tiered Response to Coyote Actions The Plan describes the following City-level tiered response to specific coyote actions or behaviors. • Level 1 (coyotes are either heard or seen) - The City’s response to the sighting is to provide informational material to educate the resident on typical coyote behavior and ways to respond including deterrence and hazing. • Level 2 (coyote encounters a person or pet) – The City’s response to the encounter is to conduct yard audits to identify ways to deter coyote entry and to improve pet management. • Level 3 (coyote enters yard or pet is injured or killed) – The City’s response to the incident is to gather information and report it to the appropriate agencies, conduct a yard audit, develop a hazing team for the neighborhood implement the Wildlife Watch program. • Level 4 (coyote shows teeth, back fur is raised, lunges towards a person, bites or injures a person) – The City’s response to the characteristics of an aggressive coyote is to initiate a trapping assessment and to coordinate with the Los Angeles County Department of Agricultural Commissioner/Weights and Measures (Agricultural Commissioner). Biting must be reported to California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW). Coyote-Related Community Services The Agricultural Commissioner contracts with the cities of Rancho Palos Verdes, Rolling Hills, and Rolling Hills Estates for coyote -related community services, and the City of Palos Verdes Estates contracts with a private company for their coyote response 3 activities. The Agricultural Commissioner has provided its Peninsula contract cities animal-related support with outreach, education, audits and trapping since 2017, in part due to the support and discretionary funding by L.A. County Fourth District Board of Supervisor Janice Hahn’s office. The Agricultural Commissioner is currently onboarding staff to ensure that a full-time dedicated deputy from the Agricultural Commissioner for coyote management services on the Peninsula is available Monday through Thursday, and occasionally on Fridays, between approximately 6 a.m. and 3 p.m. However, in Rancho Palos Verdes, when residents have concerns about coyotes, they are asked to contact the City’s Code Enforcement Division first (310-544-5281 or CodeEnforcement@rpvca.gov). Code Enforcement will assess the situation and determine if the problem is one that can be handled by the use of deterrence and hazing measures, or if the situation needs to be escalated to the Agricultural Commissioner for further review. Many times, informing residents about what they can do to secure their yard against coyotes is all that is needed. However, in some instances that rise to Level 4 encounters, City Staff may determine that a visit from the Agricultural Commissioner is warranted. In those cases, City Staff and an Agricultural Commissioner officer will conduct a yard audit to assess what can be done to deter coyote activity further . Since the beginning of the year, the City’s Code Enforcement Division has conducted 14 yard audits of private properties in an effort to address coyote activity. Yard audits involve working closely with residents to identify and eliminate coyote attractants on their properties, such as fallen fruit, overgrown brush, inadequate fencing , and sources of water. As part of the yard audit, residents are provided with resource information including a copy of the City’s Coyote Management Plan, a Keep Me Wild brochure , and a Home & Yard Checklist for Wildlife. Through yard audits, if the Agricultural Commissioner identifies signs of aggressive coyote behavior, traps may be placed in the vicinity. Coyote Trapping The Agricultural Commissioner provides trapping services only when its staff and the City determine that an aggressive coyote exists. As it is well known that trapping and euthanizing coyotes is not as effective as other methods of hazing contact, the City will be the one to determine, based on field observations and assessing incidents, if a case needs to be brought to the County’s attention or if simply additional education is needed. If the County is contacted by the City because the City feels that a coyote may be “aggressive” and cause concern for public safety, the County will still cond uct its own assessment to determine if trapping should occur. The City follows a tiered response plan that emphasizes selective, humane, and legally compliant trapping only in limited circumstances. In addition to services provided by the Agricultural Commissioner, the City also contracts private wildlife management services as an added but last resort resource. Last year, two traps were placed by the City’s private wildlife management service resulting in two coyotes being caught. This year, no traps have been placed. According to state laws, coyotes are considered “non -game wildlife;” therefore any resident can initiate, at their own expense, action to protect themselves and their property 4 from coyote attacks, including trapping. No private individual is authorized to discharge a firearm within the City of Rancho Palos Verdes to deter or kill a coyote. Section 9.08.010 of the Rancho Palos Verdes Municipal Code states: Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, it shall be unlawful within the boundaries of the city for any person to fire, discharge, shoot or operate or to assist or participate in firing, discharging, shooting or operating any gun, revolver, pistol, firearm, spring gun, air gun, sling, slingshot or device designed or intended to discharge or capable of discharging any dangerous missile or any cartridge, shell, ammunition or device containing any explosive substance designed or intended to be used in or fired from any gun, revolver, pistol or firearm. Although residents have the ability to initiate, at their own expense, trapping and removal of coyotes, a private trapper must be certified/licensed by the State of California. Public Education and Outreach Historically, the City’s Code Enforcement Division has taken a proactive approach to public education and outreach on coyote management issues. Code Enforcement Officers have met with local homeowner association leaders to disseminate information, canvassed neighborhoods to provide residents with copies of the City’s Plan and related informational brochures, as well as hosted informational townhall meetings in coordination with other Peninsula cities. Due to staff turnover in the City’s Code Enforcement Division, public education and outreach efforts have more recently focused on raising awareness through on-line resources including the City’s website and City Manager’s Weekly Administrative Report. Moving forward, the City’s Code Enforcement Division will be re-engaging HOA leaders to establish single point-of-contacts to address coyote-related issues, as well as to serve as the conduit between City Staff and the various neighborhoods throughout the City. The City’s Code Enforcement Division will also coordinate with Neighborhood Block Watch members in relation to the Wildlife Watch Program, which is a CDFW Program that enlists the participation of citizens to bring neighbors together and helps train them to recognize and distinguish wildlife sightings, wildlife threats to public safety, and natural versus unnatural wildlife behavior with an emphasis on coyotes. It also helps wit h the implementation of basic wildlife conflict prevention techniques, such as h azing. This program requires the participation of an entire neighborhood to keep coyotes out of neighborhoods. In addition, City Staff in coordination with the Agriculture Commissioner plans to conduct a community-wide coyote/wildlife townhall meeting to further inform members of the public of resources and response procedures. Coyote Sighting Application and Dashboard In 2017, the City’s Information Technology (IT) Staff launched a web -based coyote sighting application that the public can use on mobile and desktop devices, which is available at rpvca.gov/reportcoyotes. The application benefits all the Peninsula cities, and although its development was led by Rancho Palos Verdes Staff, it was a collaborative 5 effort with the cities of Rolling Hills Estates and Palos Verdes Estates, whose residents and staff utilize this application as well. The application provides information on coyote population and sighting trends. Residents report a coyote sighting and describe the coyote’s behavior or incident on this application. The reported information is documented and forwarded to City Staff. Additi onally, a map of the Peninsula is available on the website that identifies the location of the reported coyote and its activity. Attached to tonight’s report is data collected between January and September 2025, and a corresponding map for Rancho Palos Verdes (Attachment A). Key information collected during this time period identified a total of 907 reported coyote sightings with 38% of those sightings involving coyotes seen moving and resting. The data collected also noted a total of 14% of sightings involving aggressive coyote behavior and activity involving pets with no reports of attacks on humans. To improve the public’s ability to review the data collected via the coyote sighting application, the application includes a dashboard to view real-time coyote sighting information. The MyRPV mobile app includes a coyote reporting feature that allows residents to review information and report sightings from anywhere, via their smartphone or tablet. The data on the dashboard is displayed using charts, widgets, maps and other visual elements so as to assist in the interpretation of the information. The dashboard can be viewed on the City’s website rpvca.gov/CoyoteSightingDashboard. The public is encouraged to report coyote sightings and behavior using the coyote application to allow the City to monitor, among other things, population and behavior trends. ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Regional Coordination Over the past few years, there has been a significant increase in the reporting of coyote sightings and incidents with residents and pets, not only in Rancho Palos Verdes but in the surrounding Peninsula cities and throughout the South Bay area. Recognizin g that coyotes are a regional issue, the City of Rancho Palos Verdes participates in inter-agency coordination meetings and efforts. On September 11, 2025, Code Enforcement Division staff participated in the South Bay Regional Coyote Management Meeting in the City of Torrance, which included a discussion with Agricultural Commissioner regarding coyote management best practices and public outreach opportunities. On September 25, Staff from all four Peninsula cities met with representatives from Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hann’s Office, inspection staff from the Agricultural Commissioner’s office, and other Peninsula cities staff members to discuss available wildlife resources including yard audits, neighborhood canvassing and trapping services. The Agricultural Commissioner also provided an update on response procedures, which involve notification by City Staff and joint property inspections. City Staff will continue to engage with regional partners and resources to manage service requests and to conduct 6 public outreach. Additional updates regarding regional collaboration and coordination efforts will be shared via the City Manager’s Administrative Weekly Report. CONCLUSION: With the City’s semi-rural topography, coyote sightings are not uncommon throughout Rancho Palos Verdes. Informing residents about typical coyote behavior and what can be done to deter coyotes from entering yards and neighborhoods is an important step in coyote management. Residents are encouraged to report coyote sightings and incidents using the City’s tracking applications and to report aggressive coyote behavior to the City’s Code Enforcement Division for further investigation. ALTERNATIVES: In addition to the Staff recommendation, the following alternative actions are available for the City Council’s consideration: 1. Do not receive and file this report; direct Staff to develop additional measures to address the City’s coyote issues for the City Council’s future consideration. 2. Take other measures as deemed necessary. 7 Coyote Sightings in Rancho Palos Verdes January 1, 2025 - September 22, 2025 Coyote Activity Coyote seen moving or resting (348) Coyote following or approaching a person (0) Coyote entered yard without pets (372) Coyote entered yard with pets (95) Coyote showing aggressive behavior (13) Coyote biting or injuring a pet on leash (0) Coyote entered yard & injured a pet (6) Coyote entered yard & killed a pet (12) Coyote biting or injuring a person (0) Other (35) Rancho Palos Verdes Esri, NASA, NGA, USGS, Sources: Esri, TomTom, Garmin, FAO, NOAA, USGS, © OpenStreetMap contributors, and the GIS User Community Total Sightings Reported: 907 0 1 20.5 Miles ± A-1