Coyotes are highly adaptable predators that have successfully integrated into many urban and suburban environments across North America. Their presence is driven by a search for readily available resources, including food, water, and shelter. When coyotes lose their natural wariness of people, often due to finding these easy resources, conflict can increase. Effective deterrence relies on teaching coyotes that human proximity is undesirable and that the environment offers no easy rewards. This requires a combination of active, immediate conditioning and long-term environmental modification.
Immediate Deterrence Through Hazing
Hazing is the process of using aversive stimuli to re-establish a coyote’s fear of people, which is necessary when an animal is too bold or lingers in a populated area. The goal is to make the experience of encountering a human startling and unpleasant, reinforcing the instinct to flee. This direct confrontation should be consistent and aggressive to effectively modify the coyote’s behavior.
When encountering a coyote, immediately make yourself appear larger by raising your arms, waving a jacket, or holding a broom above your head. Simultaneously, use loud, startling noises like shouting, stomping your feet, or employing noisemakers such as an air horn or a can filled with coins and small rocks. Using varied stimuli prevents the coyote from habituating to a single sound or action.
Throw objects like sticks, tennis balls, or small rocks near the coyote, but never directly at the animal, as the intent is to frighten, not injure. A garden hose or water gun can be used to spray the animal, as an unexpected jet of water causes a quick retreat. Continue the hazing, maintaining eye contact and intensity, until the coyote completely leaves the area.
Removing Food and Shelter Attractants
The most successful long-term strategy involves eliminating the incentives that draw coyotes to a location. Coyotes are opportunistic foragers, and a reliable food source is the primary reason they tolerate human presence. Removing these attractants is a form of passive deterrence that makes the area less hospitable.
All outdoor food sources must be eliminated, including pet food and water bowls, which should be brought inside immediately after use. Unsecured garbage is a major attractant, so trash bins require tight-fitting, locking lids. Bins should only be placed outside on the morning of collection, not the night before. Compost piles should be secured or only contain materials unlikely to attract scavengers.
Removing natural food sources like fallen fruit and spilled birdseed beneath feeders also reduces local coyote activity. Coyotes may also be drawn to areas offering suitable den sites and cover, especially during the spring birthing season. Eliminating dense brush piles and sealing off spaces beneath porches, sheds, and decks prevents coyotes from establishing shelter close to homes.
Structural and Sensory Repellents
Physical barriers and select sensory devices offer passive, continuous deterrence, distinguishing them from active hazing. When constructing fences, a minimum height of six feet is recommended, but coyotes can still jump or climb many barriers. To prevent them from getting a foothold on the top edge, devices called coyote rollers can be installed along the top rail, causing the animal to lose its grip and roll off the fence.
Since coyotes may try to dig under fences, a barrier should extend at least a foot below the ground, or wire mesh can be buried horizontally outward from the fence base. For sensory deterrence, motion-activated lights and sprinklers are useful. They create a sudden, surprising disturbance when the animal enters a yard, disrupting the animal’s sense of security.
Chemical repellents, such as those relying on strong odors like ammonia, vinegar, or predator urine, are not reliable for long-term deterrence. A coyote motivated by hunger will often ignore or quickly habituate to such smells. Ultrasonic sound devices offer little evidence of effectiveness, as animals often adapt to a single, continuous stimulus.