San Francisco officials are reminding residents not to feed coyotes as they seek an unidentified woman who was photographed with a platter of meat near a coyote around Bernal Hill.
Animal Care and Control said in a release Wednesday that illegal feeding has continued, despite the city last month euthanizing a coyote that charged toddlers in Golden Gate Park. They're looking for a woman, whom they said is "a particularly egregious coyote feeder" and has purportedly fed coyotes throughout the city.
The department released a photo of the woman sitting next to a plate of meat and feet from a nearby coyote.
The San Francisco Park Code prohibits feeding wild animals, which can carry a fine of up to $1,000 and, potentially, jail time.
"People need to stop feeding wild animals," Virginia Donohue, Executive Director of San Francisco Animal Care and Control, said in a statement. "Continuing to defy the law – and common sense – will lead to a person getting hurt and an animal being destroyed."
Officials said feeding wild animals, including coyotes, can lower their fear of humans. When coyotes are less wary, they can become much more aggressive when looking for food.
That, the animal control department said, is what happened to the Golden Gate Park coyote. The coyote "had been consistently, illegally (and) overwhelmingly fed by people."
Anyone with information on the woman is asked to call San Francisco Animal Care and Control at (415) 554-9400.
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