Suitable and Effective Coyote Control Tools for the Urban/Suburban Setting

Increases in the incidence of human conflict with coyotes in urban/suburban environments fuel a need for suitable coyote tools and methods to reduce these conflicts. Traditional tools, such as foothold traps and snares, face continued problems of acceptability in urban/suburban situations because of public anxiety about the risks to non-targets as well as other animal welfare concerns. We review the major categories of methods and tools used to prevent or reduce urban coyote-human conflicts, including exclusion (fencing), environmental and habitat modification, capture devices (traps, snares, and related devices), and shooting. We briefly discuss future technologies current under development: fertility control, toxicants, and electronic trap monitoring. Among capture devices, we describe recent advances in technology as exemplified by three devices: the KB Compound 5.5TM, the BélisleTM footsnare, and the CollarumTM, which have gone a long way to address both capture efficiency and animal welfare concerns. We caution those involved in advising legislators, or in drafting legislation, to be aware of developing technologies, so as to avoid writing laws that are so broad as to ban future capture devices that improve on current devices in terms of humaneness and animal welfare