It’s unfortunate when any injury occurs to anyone, but did you know that most injuries and accidents can be avoided? How it could have been prevented usually isn’t considered until after the fact. It might help to read about the myriad of accidents, sometimes leading to death, which people experience every year: life is risky, and even in your house risks are tremendous. Because of the few coyote incidents in the city, some people have thought of drastic measures to get rid of them. A *perspective* is a particular attitude towards something; a way of thinking about something. Maybe a new perspective is needed.
We know what coyote behavior, and especially denning behavior entails. We need to get this out to the public through better signage and education. I’ve urgently tried giving input to RPD/ACC for signage which was immediately squelched by them [“we can’t have Janet telling us what to put in our signs”], and my scheduled educational talk was outright cancelled by RPD/ACC based pretty much on personal animosity possibly based on my superior knowledge and understanding of coyotes. So they see me as a threat to their organization rather than an asset.
In the case of coyotes, scapegoating also occurs, not only of the coyotes themselves, but of me and my efforts, and the effort of others. It’s so much easier to blame and tear someone down rather than look at reality and deal with that.
I’ve assembled this page as a reference for when needed, to address the *amplification of fear* generated by many people about coyotes, especially on NextDoor. Note that much of what is reported on NextDoor is baseless sensationalized opinion, and it’s spread like wildfire. The fear of coyotes is similar to the fear of flying: the risks are minimal, but there indeed have been accidents which for many, justifies their fear of flying. [images are from the internet].
- more people die in bathtubs than in terrorism, CPSC study, CDC, Bathtub vs. terrorism:
- guns kill close to 50,000 a year with suicides being the highest and murders next. Accidental deaths amounted to about 550, USA facts.
- unintentional poisoning kills over 100,000 people a year including from drugs: CDC.
- bees, wasps and hornets kill 62 a year in North America: During 2000–2017, a total of 1,109 deaths from hornet, wasp, and bee stings occurred, for an annual average of 62 deaths. 62 a year from hornets, wasps and bees, CDC.
- drowning deaths mount to 4,500 a year in the USA
- falls cause many injuries and kill about 30,000 a year, mostly older adults, CDC.
- mosquitos: are the biggest killer, SmithsonianMagazine
- venomous snake bites: to humans amount to about 7,000 a year and about five of those die.
- dogs send 1000 people to emergency rooms every single day of the year and deaths to humans from dogs amount to about 43 a year. We’ve had several right here in San Francisco
- choking: causes 5500 deaths a year, Statista.com
- disease comes on suddenly and unexpectedly, Statista.com
- boating accidents: cause 3,000 injuries and 500 deaths a year in the USA, CoastGuard.
- bicycles: of the 1,230 bicycle deaths in 2021, 853 were in motor-vehicle crashes, and 377 on other accidents. InjuryFacts.
- trees: OSHA reports that over 100 people are killed by trees every year in the USA, Reifflawfirm.
- cars: 38,824 deaths in 2020: Transportation.gov.
- wolf deaths have amounted to a total of 8. Dog attacks, drowning, and hunting and boating accidents claim far more lives than wolves have or ever will. Yet I don’t hear anyone demanding that we eradicate all dogs or ban hunting, swimming, or boating so that we can protect ourselves from such dangers. TheDodo.
- coyote bites to humans amount to 17 a year for all of North America, mostly from interfering in a dog/coyote altercation, hand feeding, or to a small child. There have been only two deaths to humans from a coyote ever recorded in all time.
- Sharks kill about 10 humans a year, whereas humans kill about 100 million sharks per year.
- Falling television sets kill about 29 people a year.
- Champagne corks kill about 24 people a year, and often cause permanent eye injuries.
- Golf balls injure about 100 people a year, of these about 10 are fatal.
- According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, of the 888,220 workplace injuries that were recorded in 2019 that resulted in time away from work, 244,000 were from falls, slips, and trips, resulting in 75,420 sprains, strains, and tears, 46,800 fractures, and 6,740 cuts, lacerations, and punctures.
- As of Mar 10, 2021 · The number of people struck and killed while walking has gone up 45 percent in a decade
On and on including roller-blading, making a bed, cooking, painting.
Jul 14, 2024 @ 19:37:40
What an excellent, usable set of statistics! Thank you!
Jul 14, 2024 @ 22:32:49
Thanks for posting this. As you saw on your instagram post, for whatever reason I was singled out as the person who doesn’t care about kids LOL Apparently, this stranger has decided that I am incapable of caring about more than one creature at a time.
Jul 14, 2024 @ 22:59:16
Hi Lisa — Several commentators are loyal defenders of RPD and ACC, so they are striking back with invalid accusations. They’ve put it in terms of: if you are for the coyotes, then you aren’t for the children. It’s simply kickback: I think they were trying to attack me, not you. Thank you for commenting!! Hope you are well. Hugs! Janet
Jul 16, 2024 @ 13:32:26
Re: the recent coyote conflicts in SF, I think some important facts are missing from this conversation. First, I have worked with both SFACC and RPD on coyote issues for several years now and found both agencies go above and beyond to help coyotes and the citizens of SF. In my experience both agencies have been compassionate, caring, knowledgeable and hard working.
Certainly no one at these agencies ever wants to see a coyote harmed. However if a wild animal bites a human in CA and it can be found it must be removed and tested for rabies per CADFW & state health authority protocol.
Also, despite some accounts to the contrary, there was signage posted in this area. Sadly, despite everyone’s best efforts, sometimes conflicts do occur.
However, as shown in the bite statistics you listed, coyote attacks on human are extraordinarily rare.
Thank you for your time and continuing to educate the public on the coyotes of SF.
Jul 16, 2024 @ 16:47:25
Thank you for your input, Keli —
It’s really too bad that ACC and RPD tarnished their reputations with how they handled this incident, in effect *hanging themselves*. Let’s remember that actions speak louder than words, and all of their rhetoric came down to nothing with this incident. Your comment defending their *reputations* skirts the issue: it was a very preventable bite and the aftermath involved overkill of innocent animals.
I had URGENTLY tried helping them with signs in the past, and recently I tried getting information out at a presentation. In both cases, I was slammed and threatened for my efforts. If they had listened, this incident might not have happened, but *I told you so* after the fact is not constructive.
There were six awareness signs in the garden — no denning signs. If you know coyote behavior, you know that denning behavior entails much more intense, insistent and persistent protective behavior.
ACC and RPD knew there were coyotes there, and they knew there was a camp there. Nothing was done to avert this encounter. The coyote was in the bushes which no one checked. A child entered the bushes. Of course a coyote is going to act defensively if approached by a dog or a child. It’s not the child’s fault, it’s not the counselor’s fault. It’s the fault of ACC/RPD for not getting this information out to those folks.
So, first of all, adequate preventable precautions were not taken. The signage there was minimalist at best; and there was no education.
But secondly, the aftermath involved killing — slaughtering — THREE coyotes from this coyote family. ACC and RPD could help clean up the tarnish they’ve brought upon themselves by crying out against what was done. They have not. They are the agencies handling the coyotes in the city.
It pains me that these organizations are now saying that the coyote bit because it was aggressive. Speaking off-the-cuff like this further diminishes their credibility. This misinformation has to cease. The language is used to justify what these agencies were a part of, but it won’t help prevent such incidents in the future. Since you say you’ve been working with them, maybe they’ll listen to you.
Janet
Jul 16, 2024 @ 22:07:04
Again neither SFACC nor RPD can control what happens to a coyote after a bite. At that point CDFW makes the call. Neither SFACC nor RPD has any say in the matter.
It’s easy to armchair quarterback a situation after the fact and tell everyone where they failed, but it neither productive nor accurate. I can’t and won’t speak for either of these agencies. I can only speak to what I know, which is the quality of the people I have worked with from both SFACC and RPD, who I have found to be compassionate, empathetic individuals who work hard to prevent conflicts with coyotes before they occur.
Jul 16, 2024 @ 22:16:48
These organizations indeed could have done something to prevent the bite and they could indeed condemn the mass killing that followed. You and I have very different experiences with these organizations. I’m intensely involved — much more than they are — and not armchairing the situations. As I said, I gave them information when situations were urgently out of hand. They chose their course.