Date of Award

8-1-2022

Language

English

Document Type

Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

College/School/Department

Department of Geography and Planning

Content Description

1 online resource (vii, 73 pages) : illustrations (some color), color maps

Dissertation/Thesis Chair

Jared R Enriquez

Committee Members

Patricia Strach, Kent Smirl

Keywords

Coexistence, Coyotes, Human-wildlife coexistence, Coyote, Urban wildlife management, Human-animal relationships, Animals and civilization

Subject Categories

Environmental Sciences | Public Policy

Abstract

The expansion of coyotes (Canis latrans) into urban and suburban areas where human concentration is high has led to human-coyote conflicts often leading to increased management actions against coyotes. Recently in Los Angeles and Cook Counties, municipalities have developed coyote management plans to foster human-wildlife coexistence in an effort to reduce conflict, an emerging concept that promotes the cohabitation of humans and animals in shared landscapes. The thesis investigates coyote management plans and policies concerning human-coyote interactions in Los Angeles and Cook Counties to address human-wildlife. Using a case study analysis of Los Angeles and Cook Counties, this study analyzed the coexistence in both counties. A policy analysis using John Kingdon’s Multiple Streams Framework was used to analyze the coexistence policy for Los Angeles and Chicago. Using both education and enforcement, Los Angeles and Chicago enforced coexistence to couple or bring together the problems of human-coyote conflict, and the conversion of natural to urbanized land to enforce coexistence. However, despite the enforcement of coexistence policies, there were still instances of human-coyote conflict as a result of the abundance of anthropogenic food items and intentional or unintentional feeding of wildlife. This study finds that Los Angeles and Chicago were able to educate and enforce coyote management policies to partially achieve coexistence, other efforts need to be made to address actions that cause coyotes to be habituated to humans, use urban landscapes, and persuade other municipalities in Los Angeles, and Cook Counties to adopt coexistence

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