LOS ANGELES : Emotions Run High in Debate on Coyote Trapping

A meeting of the Los Angeles Board of Animal Regulation Commissioners turned into an emotional two-hour debate Monday about the pros and cons of a 6-month-old ban on coyote trapping.

The hearing attracted about 40 residents and animal rights activists, mostly from the San Fernando Valley, and became so highly charged that several speakers came close to tears. One man was escorted away by security officers after he accused an animal regulation officer of wrongdoing for shooting a coyote last month.

In June, the commissioners voted to ban coyote trapping by city employees, partly in response to pressure from animal rights activists but also because of the $100,000 annual cost of the trapping program.

But since then, increased coyote sightings, particularly in the hillside neighborhood, have prompted the board to review that decision. Animal regulation officers attribute the increase in sightings to the abundance of food and small wildlife, the trapping ban and the recent wildfires that drove coyotes into urban areas.

One speaker, who lives in the Studio City hills, choked back tears Monday, saying: “My 3-year-old baby was murdered by a coyote.� But as some audience members gasped, Marilyn Grasshoff explained that her “baby� was her pet poodle that was killed several months ago by a coyote near her home.

Although the board took no action during the meeting, it announced a follow-up meeting on Jan. 24 in Reseda, when it is likely to decide whether to continue the ban.