Los Angeles’ offbeat Venice has already adapted to skaters, tourists, tech money, RV fights, influencers, and the occasional guy explaining crypto near the beach. Now the canals have coyotes.
The Venice Canals Association hosted a workshop with wildlife specialist Rebecca Deitrich, who recommended non-lethal coexistence tactics: report sightings, remove food attractants, watch pets, organize block captains, and use “coyote scare sticks,” which are basically two-foot bamboo stakes with Mylar streamers. The coyotes, for their part, appear to be doing normal coyote things: following dogs, protecting pups, hunting rats, and discovering that Venice’s narrow walkways are packed with delicious garbage.
Key recommendations included:
– Continuing to report sightings, encounters, attractants like overflowing trash or pet food left outside, and potential harborage sites such as vacant lots.
– Organizing block captains to distribute and use “coyote scare sticks” — 2-foot bamboo stakes with Mylar ribbon streamers — as a hazing tool and for added reach.
– Training dogs to the sight and sound of scare sticks in controlled settings.
– Conducting yard or neighborhood assessments as needed after initial community efforts.
Deitrich stressed that coyote attacks on humans are extremely rare. There has been only one confirmed fatal coyote attack on a human in the U.S. since 1981, and bites across the U.S. and Canada average about 10 per year, often linked to people feeding coyotes. She contrasted this with far higher numbers of serious dog bites.
Residents also noted the obvious upside: fewer rats. That is the urban wildlife bargain in one sentence. The coyotes are not here for Venice’s aesthetic. Likely drawn up the canals from the Ballona wetlands, LA’s laxidaisical attitude towards garbage in Venice, the buffet is open.
Coyotes are just another Venice resident with boundary issues.
AH-OHHH, Coyotes of Venice, AH-OHHH!