Edina Moving Forward with Coyote Response Plan

Edina's coyote population could soon be whittled down, as city officials move forward with plans to manage some of the city's "problem" coyotes. 

The Edina City Council discussed the issue during its May 17 meeting, only two weeks after was first broached. Police Chief Jeff Long calling the department's follow-up plan "as comprehensive as any other in the entire country," following communications with experts throughout the U.S.

"Due to the intense media coverage of the last council meeting, we literally received dozens of calls from municipalities, police chiefs, city managers and residents all offering advice," Long said. 

Animal Control Officer Tim Hunter presented the plan, which would include a combination of education, management of the coyote population and a couple of ordinance changes will help eliminate the problem. 

"I don't think there's any dispute that we have individual coyotes who have gotten to the point where they are a problem," Hunter said. "If you can remove those key individuals who are creating a problem, the rest of the population pretty much falls in line." 

Hunter proposed the City Council alter city ordinances to both prohibit the feeding of coyotes—similar to code already in place regarding deer—and allow a variance for wildlife management companies who will be coming into the city to use methods currently prohibited.  

"Coyotes … are so unique in terms of what's effective against them and what's not effective in terms of their management," Hunter said. "We should have some sort of process by which these private companies can propose to the city the methods which they think will be the most effective … and we should be able to issue them an ordinance variance to be able to execute that plan." 

Hunter said only cases where coyotes have "crossed a threshold" in terms of their interactions with humans would be handled by the city, but residents would be free to contract with companies independently for coyotes who don't appear to be posing an immediate threat. By altering city code, he said those independent contractors would have more tools available to them in dealing with the wily coyotes. 

Rather than attempting to reduce the coyote population as a whole, which Hunter said generally causes "more coyotes than you start out with," he said it's more effective to target the "problem coyotes." 

"Problem coyotes are developed because of habituation to human proximity and activity," he said. "Once they become too comfortable around humans is when the problems occur." 

Mayor Jim Hovland said he doesn't mind starting out with a "somewhat conservative approach," but made it clear he sees the issue as more of a "city problem" than the responsibility of property owners. 

"I think this is our problem and I think we need to deal with this entire matter with a response plan that we execute, that we pay for as a city," Hovland said. 

City Manager Scott Neal said it is difficult to predict any sort of cost associated with a program of this nature, as the number of coyotes within the city remains unknown. 

After the bolder members of the coyote population have been dealt with, Hunter said the program would shift toward educating residents about how to best deal with the suburban predators, including introducing hazing techniques. That could include yelling, spraying water, throwing rocks or waiving arms—anything that would scare the animals away. 

It remains to be seen when a coyote management plan could be implemented, but Hunter made it clear the Edina Police Department is taking a hard stance with the furry fiends. 

"Once they see that 'Habituated Coyote A' got a rough treatment in the first place, they might get a clue that they need to back off and go after the rabbits instead of the Shih Tzus," Hunter said.