Atlantic Beach residents learning how to live peacefully with coyotes

In 2017, residents of Atlantic Beach started reporting problems with a four-legged predator.
“At first, they were blaming red foxes,” Atlantic Beach Police Commander Victor Gualillo said, “but by mid-2018, we were seeing photos of coyotes.” Social media contributed both helpful and not-so-helpful messages to the general concern at that time. Some individuals fanned the fire with false information.
“Coyotes have gotten a bad rap through the years, but they have lived in our region for many years.”
Concern grew that year with missing pets and feral cats.
Atlantic Beach was proactive with help from the Humane Society. Borrowed trail cameras were set up and a gathering of data began.
“The cameras confirmed that there was a low number of coyotes,” Gualillo said. “A family group of four was the largest we saw. It was not an explosion or proliferation.”
Information was gathered from scientific and peer-reviewed articles, from experts in the field of human-coyote conflict resolution and from successful coyote management plans, including Colorado, California, British Columbia, Illinois and Rhode Island.
Very helpful was the Narragansett Bay Coyote Study. That study reported: “We have continually found that the most important food resources to our study coyotes are provided by people. That means they are within our control. If we remove anthopogenic resource (human subsidies), coyotes will lower their population to the level sustainable by natural resource.”
A Coyote Management and Education Plan for Atlantic Beach was developed in partnership with the Humane Society of the United States and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and was adopted in 2019. Its goals were to assist in humanely and effectively preventing and solving conflicts among coyotes, people and companion animals. This plan in its entirety can be found on the Atlantic Beach Web site, coab.us.
Florida Fish and Wildlife (FWC) was a great resource for community meetings to educate and allay fears, Gualillo said.
Loren Rellah, accreditation manager for Atlantic Beach Police Department, leads the coyote information team.
“Coyotes mate for life with one litter per year,” she said. “A couple protects a five square mile of territory. We can recondition their behavior to fear humans – something we can’t do with alligators.”
Coyotes are curious, smart and adaptable creatures, and urban areas, such as Atlantic Beach, provide the perfect balance of food, shelter and water.
Certain basic principles are outlined in the plan. Human safety is a priority in managing human-coyote interactions. Coyotes serve an important role in ecosystems by helping to control the population of rodents, Canada geese, rabbits and other urban mammals. Preventive practices such as reduction and removal of food attractants, habitat modification and responding appropriately when interacting with wildlife are key to minimizing potential interactions with coyotes. Non-selective coyote removal programs are ineffective for reducing coyote population sizes.
People can live among coyotes yet never see them as coyotes are now found in every state except Hawaii. Coyotes are naturally very skittish and afraid of humans.
Yard audits were offered to residents, and continue to be a service of the Atlantic Beach Police. These audits help residents understand those things that attract coyotes. Coyotes generally hunt small mammals but will also eat fruit and berries. In urban areas, they eat pet food, unsecured garbage and compost. They may also prey on domestic pets if given the opportunity.
Programs that put food out randomly for feral cats had to be modified.
“If we can eliminate attractions, we can alleviate fear,” Gualillo said.
The city of Atlantic Beach has the following local resources available to its residents: Coyote education and training presentations; brochures and pamphlets; yard audits to help residents identify potential attractants and make their yards less attractive to coyotes; hazing training to train coyotes to stay away from people and areas they are not wanted; and a team of resident volunteers trained by the Fish & Wildlife Commission to assist residents in the community.
Rellah said, “We have a whole team to educate the population. We offer all science-based, successful information. It is calming and leads to better decisions. Science supports the practice.”
Atlantic Beach Police Department personnel and volunteers are specially trained to assist with the yard audit and hazing training.
In this situation, “hazing” is an intervention technique. It is described as “directly facing the coyote and being big and loud by waving your arms over your head, making loud noises or squirting the coyote with water until the coyote chooses to leave.” Also important, “make sure to provide an escape route for the coyote. Do not corner or chase the animal in the direction of traffic or other people.”
Rellah said, “99 percent of the time, the coyote retreated from human exposure.”
“We get very few calls for service now,” Rellah said. “We are not seeing the social media blaming. The success of the Atlantic Beach effort is now offered as a template for other cities.”
“We appreciate the population’s cooperation,” Gualillo said. “We are happy that so many residents have been a part of the solution.”
For information, go to wildlife@coab or call 247-5859.
“We welcome your calls and any concerns,”  Rellah said.