2. The Conflict of Urban Human and Coyote
2.1. State and National Policy around Coyotes
Because of their liminal status, coyotes have limited protections in the US. Coyote hunting in rural environments is common, as is euthanizing “problem” animals in urban environments
[38][33]. While other predators like bears have limits on how many individuals can be killed in a season, there are no limits on coyote hunting. State hunting laws vary, but in most states, such as Washington, the Department of Fish and Wildlife do not classify coyotes as game animals, which means a state license
is required to hunt and trap them. However, license enforcement for coyote removal is challenging, because individuals can kill or trap coyotes without a license if they pose a threat to the property owner’s immediate family, employee, tenant, crops, or domestic animals
[39][34].
Researchers estimate that approximately half a million coyotes are trapped, poisoned, or shot each year by federal agencies, with most killed by the USDA Wildlife Services division with the stated purpose of protecting livestock
[38][33]. Although urban coyotes are not killed at the same rate as those in rural or agricultural areas, calls for eradication have mounted in towns and cities, like Nahant and Belvedere, where residents believe the coyote population poses a significant threat. Importantly though, evolving research suggests that all methods of eradicating coyotes have largely failed, with many having unintended consequences, such as the disruption of hierarchies within packs leading to increased reproduction rates
[40][35].
2.2. Urban Coyotes
Over the last several hundred years coyotes have expanded their traditional range from the central US and Mexican prairies to the entire continental United States, Alaska, Canada, and into Central America; today, they have a presence in virtually every US city
[41,42][36][37]. Although seeing signs of coyotes can be unnerving for urban populations, the species is considered a nuisance primarily because of the perceived risk of attack rather than infestation, disease, or property damage that lead other species to be considered pests. Yet, despite their dramatically increased range, coyote attacks on humans and pets remain rare
[34,43][38][39]. In part, this is because coyotes are considered synanthropic animals that adapt to coexist with humans. For example, research shows that rural coyotes are active both day and night but urban coyotes dramatically reduce their daytime activity to avoid humans
[44][40]. Because of this adaptation, as coyote populations increase, human–coyote encounters and attacks remain relatively low. Despite this, perhaps the single greatest reason that attacks still occur is that even in urban environments, coyotes need natural or semi-natural spaces where they can live without human interference; when these areas decrease, such as when cities expand into previously wild areas, communities experience more encounters and attacks. For example, when building density increased and forested areas decreased in Charlotte, North Carolina, human–coyote encounters increased
[45][41]. In general, coyote attacks on humans are more common in areas with higher rates of development and less forest cover, with highly developed areas in the Western US experiencing more attacks than other areas
[46][42].
Importantly, given the fact that coyotes continue to expand their range and have largely been immune to eradication efforts, many ecologists now believe the greatest deterrent urban populations have to coyote encounters and attacks is behavioral change among humans
[5]. Human actions, like taking dogs on off-leash walks at dusk or leaving food out for wildlife, often precipitate attacks. In fact, in one study, in one-third of cases where coyotes attacked, humans had previously been feeding them in the area
[47][43]. As a result, there are increasing pressures to develop human-centered management plans that focus on things like keeping trash in closed containers, avoiding coyote habitats at dawn and dusk, and ensuring that pets are supervised and/or on leash. Plans focused on coexistence are emerging in cities throughout the United States and Canada but often require extensive work to address negative public perceptions and fear. A study out of Cape Town, South Africa, demonstrates that as much as 60 percent of the public’s tolerance of a species in an urban environment reflects their estimation of the risks and benefits the species brings
[48][44]; as a result, municipal education efforts are often focused on highlighting coyotes’ potential benefits—like reducing the rodent population—while educating the public on how to reduce the risks and even transferring some of the causal story about the risk’s existence to human action. For example, when Toronto launched the Coyote Response Strategy, which focuses on coexistence and human behavioral change, it held community meetings, developed park signage, and created a website to educate the public about coyotes and the plan
[41][36] while also making clear that the public was responsible for protecting their families and pets from their coyote cohabitants in common spaces
[49][45].
2.3. Perceptions of Urban Coyotes
Although studies assessing the public’s view of coyotes are limited, recent research emphasizes how important beliefs and affective feelings are in shaping perspectives of the species. In their study of Newfoundlanders, Frank and colleagues
[50][46] identified several key beliefs that drive negative views of coyotes, namely, that coyotes do not have a right to exist, are unimportant for future generations, and significantly impact daily life. Similarly, Drake and colleagues
[33][47] analyzed public views of coyotes across four North Carolina cities to assess how place and personal characteristics influenced perceptions of danger, views on living near coyotes, and support for lethal removal. The strongest predictor of support for coyotes and opposition to lethal removal were respondents’ affective connections, which are positive emotional bonds with nature and a broad understanding of the self within the context of nature
[51][48]. One of Drake and colleagues’
[33][47] most important findings was that whether respondents’ were knowledgeable about coyotes biological traits or not made virtually no difference in their support of coexistence or extermination, emphasizing the central place of feelings and beliefs about the species. This work echoes that conducted by Worcester and Boelens
[52][49], who found that people who believe that urban wildlife is beneficial are less likely to see coyotes as problems and support coexistence. Finally, in a small survey study in Madison, Wisconsin, researchers found only approximately one-third of respondents had positive views of coyotes, with most identifying more risks than benefits from the species’ presence. These views were strongly correlated to respondents’ underlying ecological beliefs and, for some respondents, were also connected to the amount of attention they gave to wildlife news
[53][50]. Together, these findings suggest that when urban residents have positive affective views of coyotes and believe they belong in the environment, they are more willing to support coexistence. While beliefs about coyotes come from a variety of places, ranging from underlying environmental views
[53][50] to the type of community one lives in
[54][51], one of the most well-established drivers of public perceptions of urban carnivores is the media
[18,19,55,56][18][19][52][53].
2.4. News Coverage of Urban Coyotes
Coverage of coyotes as a social problem in urban environments is widespread
[19]. Coyote attacks, in particular, prompt short-term increases in media coverage that not only describe the human trauma and individual problem animal but often present coyotes more broadly as pests and problems
[17]. This short-term coverage negatively influences perceptions of coyotes, especially when they attack children
[17]. Importantly, while extreme negative events like attacks on children are likely to spark justifiable concern or fear, the media often distorts neutral events in ways that amplify negative views. In their assessment of new stories about coyotes from the late 1990s and early 2000s, Alexander and Quinn
[19] found that simple sightings and interactions were often described as attacks and that coyotes were frequently depicted as unnatural and invasive in urban environments. At that time, they and other scholars began calling for greater media literacy in the coverage of coyotes, pushing for a move away from unfriendly narratives to discussions of space sharing and coexistence
[19]. This call was important because misinformation about coyotes is a significant barrier to effective and sustainable coyote management. When communities view coyotes as problematic or invasive, public attitudes often encourage their removal or extermination
[17], and negative media attention about coyotes is a leading driver of fear and disinterest in coexistence in urban environments
[57][54]. A decade after scholars began calling for the media to alter its narrative, there is some evidence of progress
[58][55]. While the media still depicts coyotes as a risk in many areas, there is also a growing acknowledgment that coyotes belong in human environments. Looking at the media coverage of coyotes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Chino, California, Hunold and Lloro
[58][55] found that, while people are not readily excited about coyotes in their communities, they recognize that habitat disruption has led to an increase in urban coyotes and that these animals belong. Changing coverage from pest and problem to coexistence has a real impact on public perceptions
[58][55] and positively impacts support for urban coexistence efforts. As people think about urban environments’ long-term sustainability and ability to adapt and coexist in an ever-changing landscape, it is particularly important to evaluate whether there are more widespread changes in the media that transition framing away from the “coyote problem” and instead adopt language that is not entirely unfriendly.
2.5. Survival of the Friendliest and Coexistence with Urban Wildlife
Among evolutionary anthropologists and biologists, the theory of friendliness emerged
[30,31,32][30][31][32] as an extension of the human self-domestication hypothesis
[32]. The base concepts can be traced to Aristotle and his theory of friendship, which distinguishes friendship from goodness, pleasure, and utility
[59,60][56][57]. The theory of friendliness focuses on the third component, utility, and specifically considers it in relation to human evolution. The argument is that humans evolved through cooperative networks that were utility driven. Hare and Woods
[32] argue that, while much of evolutionary theory has been centered on Darwin’s survival of the fittest
[61][58], the connotation of what fitness is has remained connected to physicality, suggesting that strength is the leading feature in survival, when, in actuality, Darwin was talking about the ability to reproduce. Hostility and chaos are not conducive to reproduction and, therefore, friendliness and cooperation may be more beneficial for survival than mere strength. In this context, friendliness refers to the demonstration of goodwill, showing warmth, and being kind. Hare and Woods
[32] argue that people need to rethink human evolution to move away from a physical and combative perspective, instead centering cooperation and friendship as key mechanisms of our ability to meet both basic and complex needs. In this revision of evolution, Hare and Woods
[32] assert that those who could cooperate for utility were more inclined to survival. Although this is a theory based on human evolution, they extend the idea to human–animal relationships, and the theory can be applied to evaluate some of the most important attitudinal shifts necessary to reduce cross-species conflict in urban environments.
Hare and Woods
[32], themselves, began working on a cross-species theoretical application, starting their work with a description of the cognitive abilities of Hare’s dog Oreo. The vignette showcases how cross-species interactions around friendliness, even without a shared verbal language, dictate access and utility across species. They then use the domestication of the wolf as a central component of their theoretical presentation, explaining that the evolution of dogs demonstrates how survival of the friendliest equates to domestication and coexistence among species. They argue that when wolves decided to engage human settlements approximately 15,000 to 25,000 years ago, the friendliest among them bred and increasingly interacted with humans, who then set about changing their physiology and composition through breeding. Today, people know that friendliness on both sides has led to an unmatched, mutually beneficial relationship, and while people do not share verbal language with domesticated dogs, people each understand the others’ communicative gestures, something Hare and Woods
[32] identify as a friendly strategy.
In terms of human and coyote encounters, friendliness between species is essential for both species’ safety and wellbeing. Negative depictions of coyotes and eradication methods have negative implications for human wellbeing—for example, their removal can lead to large increases in rodent populations—whereas sustainable management practices that promote coexistence and altered human behavior have been shown to decrease negative interactions and promote a unification between humans and animals. As noted previously, the single greatest predictor of support for human–coyote coexistence was individual affectual connection or perception of coyotes as friendly or part of the community
[54][51]. If friendliness is such an important factor in human survival and coexistence among species, then how people depict species has implications for human and animal wellbeing.