Opposition to Agenda Item 4 – Potential Recommendations for Changes to Regulations Regarding Take of Coyotes
Fish and Game Commission / Wildlife Resources Committee
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May 12, 2025
RE: Opposition to Agenda Item 4 – Potential Recommendations for Changes to Regulations Regarding Take of Coyotes
Dear President Zavaleta and Commissioner Anderson:
Under item 4 on the Wildlife Resources Committee (WRC) May 15, 2025, meeting agenda, the WRC will discuss potential recommendations for changes to regulations regarding the take of coyotes. The undersigned wildlife conservation organizations must strongly oppose this recommendation due to the following reasons:
I. Lack of Credible Science
There is no credible scientific evidence warranting the extension of game species-level protections to coyotes. Current coyote management practices are consistent with the best available science and follow well-established regulatory frameworks that aim to balance wildlife conservation with public interests.
Coyotes (Canis latrans) are not considered endangered or threatened. In fact, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) classifies them as a species of “Least Concern.” In 2013, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (Department) and other agencies estimated the statewide coyote population to be at around 250,000. Today, assessments by the same agencies suggest their populations may be as high as 750,000.
Coyotes are found in two distinct population groups – wild versus habituated. Wild coyotes are naturally afraid of humans and, according to the Department, respond to the various hazing methods. By comparison, habituated coyotes found in urban areas are desensitized from birth not to fear humans. They are taught by their parents how to navigate and hunt within an urban setting. In addition, they are fed, medicated, housed, and protected – often illegally – by individuals and organizations. This behavior has led to growing problems including significantly increased human-wildlife conflicts, livestock and pet losses, threats to food security, and the decline of other sensitive species.
Over a decade ago, the defining concern in the coyote debate was their potential threat to human safety. Since then, that concern has become a stark reality. Every week, new videos emerge showing coyotes walking city streets and entering suburban backyards – often in neighborhoods far removed from wilderness areas where coyotes have not been seen for generations. Today, attacks are happening at all times of day across the state – including children at the beach, hikers and joggers on trails, individuals on urban streets, and even those inside their own homes have been targeted.
Considering recent documented fatal encounters with predatory wildlife in California, it is distinctly clear that public safety must be treated as a core priority in wildlife management policy. Conservation must remain a vital goal, but it must not override the fundamental duty to protect human life and community well-being. Ensuring that effective, science-based management strategies are in place is essential to preventing future tragedies involving people, as well as their domestic pets, and livestock. Imposing unreasonable or unnecessary restrictions on coyote management would only heighten an already unacceptable public safety risk.
- Additional Department Staff/Expense to Issue Depredation PermitsAlthough Commission outreach on this topic states that “WRC is not proposing new regulations related to coyote depredation…,” they are, in fact, doing just that.Under the existing 14 C.C.R. §472, coyotes can be taken at any time with a hunting license, to protect public safety, or under depredation – should they be threatening one’s pets, livestock or agricultural crops. Most will agree that coyotes are a threat to human safety and domestic animals. However, because current regulations allow for the take of coyotes – in any number, and at any time – with a hunting license, the Department currently does not issue depredation permits for their removal.Should the Commission move forward with changes to regulations regarding the take of coyotes, the Department would have to commence issuing large numbers of depredation permits for the removal of problem coyotes. Without staff doing so currently, this change would require the addition of staff and come at considerable expense to the Department.
- Significant Additional Workload on Commission and Department StaffFish and Game Commission staff have already engaged with several stakeholders to seek input on which priorities should guide the Commission’s efforts, given that the current workload far exceeds the available staff capacity. Unlike most issues that come before the Commission, coyote management affects a broad cross-section of Californians, including city governments, farmers, ranchers, hunters, and animal-interest groups. The merits of arguments presented by those who support, and those who oppose, possible changes to regulations regarding take of coyotes aside – it is crucial WRC carefully consider the significant time, resources, and effort this highly controversial issue would demand from the Commission and staff, prior to advancing any recommendation to the full Commission.
IV. Lack of Urgency
There is no impending natural resource calamity or even an isolated high-profile incident that has necessitated that the topic of possible changes to coyote take recommendations be brought forward for consideration. Nearly all matters brought before the Commission demand urgent action to protect vulnerable resources or are time-sensitive due to approaching harvest seasons. Introducing an unnecessary rulemaking process on such a contentious issue would only divert limited time and capacity from far more pressing priorities—those with immediate consequences for California’s natural resources and the public interest.
