A town in Contra Costa County has begun educating its residents on coyote awareness following multiple attacks in the past year and a half.
Moraga officials have pledged to improve the relationship between wildlife and people in their town, appointing volunteers from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to act as "Conservation Coaches" to teach residents about safe behavior. The program is called Wildlife Watch, modeled after the popular Neighborhood Watch.
"Seeing wildlife in your neighborhood can be a positive and rewarding experience, but we want to make sure people are aware of education to make sure it is a positive and safe experience," said Alex Heeren, a research scientist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The first step of Wildlife Watch is to remove all attractants in the Moraga Commons park where the previous attacks occurred. This includes making sure trash cans are secure and no food is left lying around.
"We have a collaboration with about a dozen cities in Southern California and people are pretty receptive," said Heeren. "People who feed wildlife usually want to help, so again, it is giving them the knowledge and information that they aren't helping wildlife. Feeding wildlife actually conflicts with the people and the wildlife."
In a seven month period from July 2020 to March 2021, the same coyote attacked five people, two of which were children. The victims suffered bites but were not seriously injured.
Moraga Police in partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife hope to eventually hold community meetings where volunteers are trained to become Conservation Coaches, continuing the education of how to co-exist safely with wild animals.
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