Above: A family of coyotes gathers on the hillside behind the home of Larkspur planning commissioner Monte Deignan. Deignan said seeing the coyotes has helped him and his neighbors understand that the community can coexist with the wild animals. Photo by Monte Deignan
Seeing coyotes on Marin’s hillsides is a sign that the wild canines are happily coexisting with their human neighbors, wildlife experts say.
However, with the commonplace yipping that echoes across the county, members of the Marin Coyote Coalition agree it’s best for residents to stay informed on how to deter coyotes from residential areas, what to do in an encounter and who to call in case of emergency.
That’s why coalition members — who include the Marin Humane Society, Marin County Parks and Project Coyote — have been busy educating residents on how to live with coyotes. An informational meeting is at 6:30 p.m. Monday at Corte Madera Town Hall at 300 Tamalpais Drive.
“I’m happy to say that we have seen a tremendous change for the better,” said Capt. Cindy Machado of the humane society. And that’s because, “we understand them so much better,” and “we don’t seem to have people that are as fearful as they were 10-plus years ago.”
Hundreds of the animals used to roam the county freely. But as agriculture developed in West Marin the county paid to trap and kill coyotes in the area. Paired with the urbanization of the east side of the county, numbers dropped.
Killing coyotes is a thing of the past, and now, Marin County has established a “Strategic Plan for Protection of Livestock and Wildlife.” The program encourages the use of electric fences, strobes, radio devices, guard dogs and even llamas to protect livestock in West Marin.
Experts aren’t sure how many coyotes there are in Marin now, but since 2000, sightings have increased.
Coyotes have been reported in populated areas of Novato, San Rafael — particularly China Camp, Peacock Gap and Terra Linda — the Ross Valley, Mill Valley and Tennessee Valley, among other places. They are turning up more often in San Francisco, with park officials theorizing they may have crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to get there.
Coyotes are becoming a common sight in Larkspur, where Monte Deignan, a city planning commissioner, said that every day he sees a family basking on the hillside behind his home under the mid-morning sun, or playing and trotting about.
“They figured out pretty quickly where it warms up,” he said. “Watching them, you realize they aren’t as sinister or as much of a problem as they’ve been made out to be.”
That’s the message the coyote coalition hopes to get out. But wildlife experts don’t want the animals getting too comfortable, either.
Coyotes, which are highly adaptable animals, weigh about 40 pounds and reach the size of a medium dog. They generally pose little threat to humans and are skittish.
But coyotes are still predators. Although rare, there have been documented attacks on adults and children. Coyotes have also been known to kill cats and small dogs, as reported in San Rafael and Mill Valley.
Camilla Fox, founder and executive director of Project Coyote, said the coalition has “succeeded in keeping people informed on how to mitigate negative encounters,” and because coyotes are predators, “they have a valuable ecological role.”
“In part coyotes offer free rodent control,” she said, noting that they keep gopher, rat and squirrel populations in check.
To deter coyotes in urban areas, there should be no outdoor food or water sources, and pet food and water bowls should be brought inside. Officials also recommend removing ripe and fallen fruit from yards and maintaining bird feeders.
Garbage, recyclables and compost should be in secure containers and taken out in the morning of pickup, rather than the night before. When encountering a coyote, residents are encouraged to use a loud voice, produce unusual noises and wave large objects.
“They are wild animals and we need to keep them wild,” Fox said.