Ban Sought : Feeding of Coyotes May Elicit a Law

The mysterious person who is luring coyotes into a Sherman Oaks neighborhood with bags of food may prompt a new Los Angeles city law against feeding wildlife.

City Councilman Zev Yaroslavsky is considering introducing an ordinance that would make it a misdemeanor to feed coyotes and other “non-domesticated mammalian predators,” aides said Tuesday.

Such a law could be used by city wildlife officers, who have been searching a Sherman Oaks residential area for the person who has placed hundreds of small bags of dog food next to hillside roads during the past month, luring coyotes into streets and backyards.

The city Animal Regulation Department on Tuesday night assigned special patrols to the area, about a mile south of Ventura Boulevard and just east of Beverly Glen Boulevard.

Cites Penal Code

Animal control officers said they have been advised by the city attorney’s office to cite the feeder under provisions of the state Penal Code’s public nuisance section if they can catch him.

But the situation has led California Wildlife Defenders, a Hollywood-based animal activist group, to call for an anti-feeding law similar to ordinances enacted by several small cities and by Los Angeles County for unincorporated areas.

The city Animal Regulation Commission balked at approving the law in 1982, according to Lila Brooks, director of California Wildlife Defenders and chief architect of the feeding ban.

Was Turned Down

“The commission seemed in favor of it at the time, but the general manager of the Animal Regulation Department turned it down,” Brooks said.

City animal regulation chief Robert I. Rush opposes an anti-feeding ordinance, said Michelle Krotinger, an aide to Yaroslavsky who met with Rush last week to discuss Brooks’ proposal.

Rush said Tuesday that he fears such an ordinance would force animal feeders underground.

“People won’t turn in a neighbor for feeding wildlife if it’s going to result in a criminal rap,” Rush said. “We want to be told about people who are feeding so we can get to them and educate them. A heavy badge isn’t the best way to go.”

Rush said his department relies heavily on such information from citizens because it has only four wildlife officers to patrol all the city’s hilly areas.

Pet Food Left Outdoors

In the unincorporated county area, intentional coyote feeding is unheard of, although residents sometimes forget to keep pets’ food indoors, said Lt. George Enriquez, a supervisor at the Los Angeles County animal shelter in Castaic.

Enriquez said Tuesday that he cannot recall anyone being cited under the 5 1/2-year-old county ordinance.

In Pasadena, complaints about coyotes were reduced substantially after an anti-feeding ordinance was enacted and heavily publicized in 1980, city officials said.