By Ani GASPARYAN

La Crescenta residents debated whether coyotes are welcome members of the community at a meeting Tuesday night, as reports of the animals killing pets and disturbing people’s homes have increased through the years.

The Crescenta Valley Sierra Club, an environmental organization, organized the event, “Ken Pellman’s COYOTES,” to discuss how to coexist with coyotes living in the community. Ken Pellman, a public information officer at the County of Los Angeles Department of Agricultural Commissioner, led the meeting by presenting ways people can live alongside the animals peacefully.

Bob Thompson, a board member of Crescenta Valley Sierra Club, said that this event was meant to educate people on how to protect themselves and their pets.

“When people get educated about how to handle the coyotes here, there are going to  be less problems with it,” he said.

According to Native Animal Rescue, coyotes are beneficial to the ecosystem because they eat rodents and insects. Coyotes are also typically afraid of humans, but might become more aggressive if they begin to associate them with food – which can happen if people feed them.

“The coyotes are always going to be around. They do beneficial things and we want to keep it that way,” Pellman said. “(But) we don’t want them attacking our pets, we don’t want them attacking people.”

Pellman said that feeding coyotes is illegal in Los Angeles, but people should also be careful they aren’t doing it by accident. This means securing trash cans, picking up fallen fruit from trees and not leaving pet food outside.

“You don’t want the coyote to think of your property as a place to find food,” he said.

The discussion was controversial among community members present at the event. While some shared how they agree with coexisting among coyotes, many others shared how the animals have been harmful to their neighborhoods and eaten people’s pets.

Mary-Lynne Fisher, a community member, said that she’s become increasingly concerned over the past several years about the threat coyotes pose to people and dogs.

“In Dunsmore Park I think there are many more coyotes than there were several years ago. They’re larger, they’re more aggressive,” she said. “They’re simply a threat and I don’t think the various government agencies are taking the threat seriously enough.”

According to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, there were 50 instances where a person was bitten by a coyote in Southern California between August 2012 and 2016. According to National Geographic, scientists have said that it is possible coyotes are growing to be more aggressive and less afraid of humans.

Community members also shared their interest in Torrance City Council’s decision to begin trapping coyotes. The trapping program was approved by Torrance City Council on September 10 and will cost $70,000 annually. It began in October and will carry on for five months.

Fisher said that the government agencies responsible for protecting the community are failing to acknowledge the growing threat coyotes pose.

“I would like them to at least explore whether the Torrance program has had any success in abating the coyote threat,” Fisher said.

Pellman said that this is a situation when there’s no pleasing everybody, because there’s going to be people who do not want any coyote harmed and those who want all the coyotes eradicated.

“Neither situation is possible, we are going to protect human life,” he said. “So if a coyote is abnormally aggressive, and it’s a threat to people, we are going to seek to trap that coyote.”

He added that once coyotes are trapped, its illegal to relocate them and they have to be put down.

  Ani GASPARYAN