Police Chief: Coyotes Are Here to Stay

There’s no doubt Police Chief Jeff Long has heard the frustration of Edina residents who are uncomfortable with coyotes living nearby.

In a Friday blog post, he wrote: I have spent endless hours with residents in person and on the phone. However, what is making me uncomfortable is that lately I have been sworn at, hung up on, sent nasty e-mails and threatened by people who are upset about coyotes.

But Long said residents need to understand something very clearly: Coyotes are here to stay, so residents better learn to live with them instead of letting them “continue to hold us hostage.” Long advises residents who encounter coyotes to practice “hazing”—a controlled harassing of coyotes that teaches them that humans are a threat and creates a population of coyotes that knows to avoid humans.

Simply killing local coyotes isn’t a safe option in a community that’s packed with homes, families and children, Long said. Edina has already had one home shot by someone aiming at a coyote, he noted. Experts also say killing coyotes only replaces the local population with roaming coyotes that don’t know the rules.
Long offered tips on hazing in an earlier blog post. The city’s Animal Control Division also has tips on how to manage coyotes.

“Coyotes are in every community around us,” Long wrote. “The sooner we accept that they are here to stay and begin consistently hazing, the sooner we can reestablish the coyotes natural fear of humans.”