The San Francisco Animal Care and Control is asking the public to help identify a woman who is allegedly feeding coyotes.
Someone who seemed to be feeding the coyotes was captured in a photo by the animal care. She did the prohibited act at Bernal Heights Park in San Francisco.
“You are looking at a woman bringing a tray of meat to coyotes. On days when she is not there, the coyotes wait for her. They know somebody is coming with a tray of meat. We need someone to tell us who she is,” Virginia Donohue, San Francisco Animal Care and Control executive director, said.
It was a recent photo.
The same woman has appeared in multiple reports lodged to animal control, Donohue said.
“This is the first really good photo that we have gotten. We have heard she also goes to other parks.”
According to the executive director, people believe that feeding coyotes is a form of help.
“The coyotes don’t need help. There is plenty of food around. They don’t need you to serve dinner.”
The law prohibits humans from feeding a coyote. Anyone who is caught in the act will face a fine that can reach $1, 000.
Donohue said feeding coyotes will do the animals no good.
“When you feed wildlife, wildlife eventually loses its fear of people. We just had a horrible outcome for that in July. We had a coyote that approached, on five different occasions, toddlers in the botanic garden, getting way too close. So, ultimately we had to eliminate the coyote. The situation was completely preventable because it had been fed, very often by very many people over the course of five years, and eventually it is the coyote that pays the price.”
“If you know this woman tell us who she is. The number is 415-554-9400. We want to reach out. We want to talk to her. We have to get her not to feed coyotes,” she said, as reported by KRON4.
