WOODLAND HILLS : Panel to Review Trapping of Coyotes

The Los Angeles Board of Animal Regulation Commissioners is scheduled to review a decision to stop trapping coyotes approved by the previous board.

At the urging of animal rights activists, the board in June eliminated coyote trapping by city workers. Since then, animal regulation workers have received a surge of complaints from hillside homeowners, who say they are losing pets to a booming coyote population.

At the request of Commissioner Lynne Exe, the commission scheduled a discussion of the city’s coyote policy at its regular meeting Jan. 3.

Although there is no proposal on the table to reverse the ban, the commission could take action on the matter.

Exe, who opposes the ban, said she doesn’t expect the other four members to side with her on the issue.

“I’m pretty sure they’re not going to lift the ban,” Exe said. “But I think the whole thing needs an airing. The public needs to be able to respond to what is happening.”

“I’ve lived here since 1971 and, until this past August or September, I never saw a coyote,” said Woodland Hills resident Malvin Sumner.

“I’m afraid that if they don’t lift the ban on trapping coyotes, we’re going to have a tragedy where someone gets hurt.”

Commission President Mimi Robins said it would cost about $100,000 to start trapping and destroying coyotes again--an expenditure that she is not prepared to support. Homeowners, she said, may apply for permits and hire private trappers to rid their neighborhoods of coyotes.

“The people who live in those areas do so for a reason: to get away from the rest of the city, the crime and the crowds,” Robins said. “But they have to take responsibility for choosing to live there.”

By state law, coyotes cannot be trapped and moved to another area. Before June, trapped coyotes were destroyed.

The commission’s decision to look at the issue again comes on the heels of a meeting last month between West San Fernando Valley residents and animal control experts on ways to protect pets and children and discourage coyotes from entering private yards.