Coyote Yipps

Pupping season is approaching — It’s time for another talk!! Here’s the blip they put out:

Janet Kessler, known as “The Coyote Lady”, is a self-taught naturalist who has spent nearly two decades documenting urban coyote behavior and family life in San Francisco with her camera, where she has come to know and identify most of the coyotes and their families. She has also identified and mapped their family territories, and more recently has been working on bringing to light the mange issue. In this presentation, Janet will share not only her first-hand information, but also her compassion and love for the animals.

Although Janet works exclusively in San Francisco, the generalities about coyotes can be applied anywhere: their population dynamics,*who* they are as defined by their family life, and finally, how to get along with them, especially with dogs: these are the topics she will cover in her hour-long presentation loaded with slides.

Janet has also collaborated with Dr. Benjamin Sacks’ genetic lab at UC Davis, and her work is included in a recent textbook: “Animal Welfare Science: An Interdisciplinary Guide” by Emily Patterson-Kane and Tina Rich.

Janet maintains and regularly updates her Instagram account with photos and detailed descriptions of coyotes and their behaviors: https://www.instagram.com/coyoteyipps/. She also maintains a blog by the same name. Be sure to visit these to learn more about her extensive work. 

For the library notice, see: https://sanbruno.ca.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=5170&month=3&year=2026&day=7&calType=0

Hi Janet,

I hope you are well and you and “your” regional coyote are moving into summer mode well.

This time of year I study every coyote scat seen especially in ranch or Farm areas. This is part of confirming who or what is preying on sheep, goats etc.

Vast majority of coyote packs again and again have rodents as major food source. They are singularly skilled coyote that sometimes get deer. They get deer that are hit by cars but die in woods. They seek injured or old or compromised deer. And seasonal fawns also are a short term source of food. 

I have found more dogs that prey on livestock than coyote this year, like past 10 years.

Also a 1st which I’ll send. An old male coyote has been feeding entirely on Crayfish. The property owner has seen him on trail cams. He goes to river and appears to fish for the crustaceans. I have a Lab who does this. But obviously he’s more successful. He might be old and tattered. But he’s eating the equivalent of daily Lobster for weeks now. 

Rodents and Crayfish seem to work well for this coyote. I wished him well. 

Lou

Hi Janet,

Some pics of my Lab fishing for crayfish. It’s a seasonal catch..but so far hasn’t caught one 2025.

Of better skills is an old Male Coyote who has been feeding on them several weeks now. I’ve never seen this before. But it’s a great source of food!

Coyote Crayfish Specialist.

Who Knew!

Lou

I think this article sums up the brilliance of coyotes as a species on a very broad scale, which compliments what I’ve been trying to convey about them on a very intimate scale: their everyday individual social and family lives and interactions: what individual lives are like. And, hey, they aren’t much different from our own when it comes to depth of thinking and feeling without our technology!

To read the entire article in Psychology Today, click here: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/tipping-sacred-cows/202505/learning-to-cope-like-a-coyote

For some reason, I am unable to embed the original NYT article by Heather Knight with excellent photos by Loren Elliot, but am able to embed this version, which reproduces the text of the article but not the photos. Coyotes have been a source of controversy for a long time among residents of San Francisco: “we have passionate defenders and furious critics” as reported by SFiST.

Please note: too much space in this article was devoted to the very few preventable negative incidents (specifically the Crissy Field incident and then hunting for that coyote to kill it) and fear that a few dog-owners harbor instead of how coexistence is working, how people are coming to understand them and appreciate them, something about their family structure and family life, and some basic guidelines. Hopefully an article along these lines will be coming out at some point soon!

The article AND Loren’s photos can be seen in the Seattle Times: [https://www.seattletimes.com/nation-world/the-coyotes-of-san-francisco/]

This article was printed in Ytali: Mondo, Cultura, Politica – Magazine Online diretto da Guido Moltedo. Basato a Venezia, città del mondo. Haruna Kamei became intrigued by our urban coyotes here in San Francisco, so she attended one of my talks and then contacted me. Her very complimentary letter to me, which she graciously has allowed me to reprint, is below, and her article is imbedded here.

Congratulations, Haruna, for spreading this information and the idea of easy coexistence globally!

Dear Janet,

My name is Haruna Kamei. I attended your presentation on Citizen Coyotes at the North Beach Library and found it incredibly informative and educational. Thank you once again for generously sharing your knowledge and research to help us better understand coyotes and how we can coexist with them. They are such beautiful beings, and thanks to you, I’m no longer afraid of them and feel better prepared for any unexpected encounters.

As I am a student studying Environmental Humanities and have been reflecting on multi-species worldviews beyond our traditionally human-centric perspective–on the balance between development and preservation, human comfort and the well-being of other species, and how technological advancements can support more inclusive futures–I find the reappearance of coyotes in urban environments particularly fascinating.

Could you help me better understand how coyotes, once extinct in the city of San Francisco, have made a comeback? If I remember correctly, you mentioned that the current population originated from a single pack and that all the coyotes within the city are essentially from the same family. Where did they come from, how did they get here, and is it even possible that siblings mated and expanded the population? In human terms, close inbreeding is associated with genetic issues–is this also a concern for coyotes?

Your presentation truly opened my eyes and deepened my appreciation for these animals. Thank you again for your dedication to educating local residents like myself, and I look forward to hearing back from you soon!

Best regards,

Haruna Kamei

“’To dream the impossible dream’ is a fitting sentiment to the bravery and trust you must have in your heart, artistry, and self, to achieve anything.”

Grace VanderWaal, a young, 20-year old singer and songwriter, has delivered a beautiful and moving rendition AND presentation of the song, with its powerful message to all of us, to fight for the right, without question or pause, to dream the impossible dream, and to reach for the impossible star.

Let’s make the world right for our animals. It might seem like an impossible fight, but we’ll win if we keep at it!

The buck ends there. Our city needs to terminate its contract with USDA WS.
Again, denning signage and education could have prevented the bite in the first place, but these were not in place. The aftermath of the bite could have been handled much more efficiently and professionally than the bloodbath that ensued involving WS.

Here are the texts I obtained through FOIA. I’ve copied and pasted the relevant ones here. They sent me many pages, but these are the important ones screenshot from their text messages:

FOR FOIA DOCUMENTS, PRESS HERE

ADDENDUM EDIT after receiving CAWF FOIA documents: The records obtained through FOIA from USDA Wildlife Services state that they (USDA WS) shot “total count 3 adults, 1 pup” and that one of those got away and would be found dead.

But CAWF documents state that three coyotes were shot: 1 male, 1 pup, and a female who got away. Were there 3 or 4 shot?

See: Senseless Killings, and Aftermath of the Slaughter