By Khalida Sarwari
Santa Clara County Vector Control officials recently began a program to trap the coyotes they believe are threatening people and animals in Saratoga’s rural areas.
After receiving approval from the county executive office, vector control specialists placed a single box trap in the area on the morning of June 29. The traps are typically about four feet long and two feet deep.
“It’s basically a cage-type trap,” Russ Parman, acting district manager for vector control, said. “In our protocol that’s the first phase we go through.”
As part of this trapping program, dog food is used as bait to lure the coyotes. If the method proves unsuccessful after one week, specialists will use a snare to trap the animals by their leg or collarum, a device designed to throw a loop of cable over a coyote’s head and neck. None had been captured within the first three days of the program, according to Parman.
“Coyotes are just very, very difficult to trap,” he said. “They’re very intelligent animals.”
Parman urged residents to continue to report sightings, as doing so helps vector control assess the success of the trapping program. He advised providing as much information as possible when giving a report. Factors such as the time of day when the coyote was sighted, the coyote’s behavior toward other animals and humans, its proximity to others and what exactly it was doing are key, said Parman.
“We need as many eyes and ears in the community as we can get,” he said.
Occasionally, the coyotes will go away on their own. But, thus far that doesn’t appear to be the case as sighting reports have remained steady over the past month. There have not been reports of injuries or deaths to either animals or humans, but the coyotes are still believed to pose a risk to the public.
“We wouldn’t be doing this program if we didn’t have concerns about how the coyotes are behaving,” Parman said.
The coyote issue was brought up by several Saratoga residents last month, including Michael Metz, who lives in a residential neighborhood between West Valley College and Highway 9, and who has been spearheading efforts to address what he deems is a “population explosion of coyotes.” He believes their presence is “a real danger to the general livelihood around here.”
The city released a memo last month explaining that a female coyote had given birth to a litter of pups and was hunting for food to feed them. According to the city, urban sprawl and habitat encroachment are the reasons behind increased wild animal sightings. The loss of open space and natural habitat has also decreased territories for wild animals to live and has disrupted predator-prey cycles. Parman theorized that as coyotes in rural areas become acclimated to urban life, they become bolder in their behavior.
“Once they lose their fear of humans, they start taking cats. This is the kind of behavior that has been a precursor to human attacks,” he said. “We know if left unchallenged that’s what will happen.”
Because state fish and game laws do not permit the relocation of the animals, once the coyotes are captured, they will be euthanized, according to Parman. He acknowledged that this may not be popular with residents who may not view the coyotes as a danger to the same extent as others.
“That’s one of the reasons our program is so conservative,” he said. “It’s always a balance between various concerns.”
In the event of a coyote encounter, Parman advised residents to make the experience as unpleasant as possible for the animal. He recommended making loud noises, throwing rocks and “being scary.” Coyotes are not considered a disease threat, as outbreaks of rabies in coyotes are rare.
To report sightings, call vector control at 408.918.4700.
