In a season of contentious California wildlife proposals, the coyote is the latest predator to take the spotlight.
A public meeting of the state’s Wildlife Resources Committee on Thursday, May 15, will solicit comments on proposed regulations concerning the killing of coyotes.
The issue made headlines in February, when the committee recommended removing coyotes from the “broad take provisions” — the list of birds and animals that “may be taken at any time of the year and in any number.”
The immediate reaction from rural residents prompted the California Fish and Game Commission to instruct the committee to seek “more dialogue.”
Joining ranchers and livestock groups in opposing the change are sheriffs of several rural counties, who have raised concerns about an increase in “predator-human interactions” if more restrictions are enacted. Their statements assume that the new rules would bar killing of coyotes without evidence of property or agricultural damage.
On the other side of the issue, the carnivore-protection group Project Coyote has backed the proposal as a path to “a regulated, restricted hunting season and restrictions on when coyotes may be subject to lethal control.”
In the runup to the public meeting, the Fish and Game Commission released a statement emphasing that the committee is “not proposing new regulations related to coyote depredation … [and] not proposing to reclassify coyotes as a game species.”
The goal, the commission said, is “creative problem-solving to improve coyote management.”
Californians’ dealings with predator animals were also at the heart of two high-profile bills in this legislative season:
— AB 1038, by Assemblymember Heather Hadwick (R-Alturas), proposed a “pursuit season” during which people would be allowed to use dogs to chase bears without the intent of killing them. The bill was rejected in a committee vote.
— SB 818, by Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil (R-Modesto), proposed allowing the use of dogs to pursue, or “haze,” mountain lions. It passed its committee vote but with major changes — including removal of the hazing option — that angered Alvarado-Gil and its initial supporters.
Supporters of both bills contended that increased interactions between humans and predators indicated a need for more legal ways to drive the animals away from inhabited areas.
The meeting about coyote regulations starts at 10 a.m. Thursday and can be attended live, by Zoom or by phone.