City Toughens Stance on Coyotes, OKs Trapping

Fearing that coyotes are becoming more aggressive, the City Council has decided to go on the offensive.

The council voted Tuesday to begin trapping the animals in Villa Park after hearing a resident’s report of two coyote attacks on domestic dogs, including a Great Dane, in as many days.

Villa Park residents took the news as evidence that coyotes had become bolder and that the city should respond in kind.

Mayor Barry L. Denes, who has always favored trapping coyotes in Villa Park, said the council majority agreed with residents that the “urban coyotes” are clearly less afraid of people than “country coyotes.”

“We are concerned that if a coyote would take on a Great Dane, what would stop them from taking on an infant?” he said.

Trapping and killing coyotes has been discussed several times as residents and city officials search for ways to deal with a problem that has worsened as development in the hills surrounding the county’s smallest city has progressed.

Despite frequent coyote sightings and the killings of numerous household pets, the council has voted against similar measures in the past, believing that attempts to control coyotes would be a waste of time and money.

Councilman Bob Bell, the only council member who voted against the $6,500 contract with Animal Pest Management Services in Chino, said there is no evidence such efforts will reduce the coyote population.

“I don’t like it that domestic animals are being killed,” said Bell, who has lost three cats to coyotes, “but I don’t think this is going to help.”