Fourth in a series.
The city of Seal Beach has encouraged the public to haze (frighten) coyotes since at least late 2013. (See “Coyote panel says ‘hazing’ is answer” at sunnews.org.) The SBPD currently gives away free blue cowbells for members of the public to use to scare them off. The cowbells are only available at SBPD headquarters on Seal Beach Boulevard.
But it’s illegal to harass animals.
The goal of hazing appears to be to make coyotes afraid of human beings.
“Potential conflict with coyotes may occur due to property damage, loss of pets or small livestock, or human-health and safety concerns if a coyote loses its natural fear of human,” according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The city’s Coyote Management Plan specifically encourages hazing. The Coyote Management Plan available on the city website was last updated in 2025.
“Hazing—also known as ‘fear conditioning’—is the process that facilitates this change and is by necessity a community response to negative encounters with coyotes. The more often an individual animal is hazed, the more effective hazing is in changing coyote behavior,” according to the document.
“Basic hazing consists of standing your ground, never ignoring or turning your back to a coyote(s), yelling and making unpleasant and frightening noises until the animal(s) choose to leave,” according to the plan.
“More aggressive hazing consists of approaching an animal quickly and aggressively, throwing projectiles, spraying with a hose or water gun, or creating fear of contact so the animal leaves the situation,” according to the plan.
Note that Capt. Nicholas expressed concern about throwing objects. (See below.)
“A common concern with hazing involves potential danger to the hazer. A coyote’s basic nature is very skittish and the nature of the species is what makes this technique successful. A normal, healthy coyote will not escalate a situation with an aggressive person. Hazing is NOT successful with every species of wild animal because different types of animals have different traits,” according to the plan.
In early August, Third Street residents Annelle Baum and Elizabeth Knego came to the Sun to express their concerns about coyote activity on their street. Neither Baum nor Knego were sure they knew how to haze coyotes. Knego said she didn’t think hazing worked.
There’s also a question of what is legal “hazing” and what is illegal “harassment” of coyotes.
“The distinction between hazing and harassment is also important,” wrote Seal Beach Police Capt. Nick Nicholas on Aug. 10.
“Hazing is intended to reinforce a coyote’s natural wariness of people and encourage it to leave an area. It should be purposeful, brief, and directed at a coyote that is approaching people, lingering too close to occupied areas, showing an unusual lack of fear of humans, or otherwise behaving in a way that suggests it is becoming too comfortable around people,” Nicholas wrote.
“For example, if a coyote is approaching you, standing its ground at close range, repeatedly entering an occupied yard, or remaining near people despite their presence, appropriate hazing could include standing tall, making yourself appear larger, yelling, clapping, making noise, or spraying water in its direction. The goal is to make the coyote decide that being close to people is unpleasant and that it should move away,” Nicholas wrote.
The Seal Beach Coyote Management Plan is 23 pages long, too long to quote word-for-word in a news article. However, some basic concepts are important.
“A human-provoked attack or incident where the human involved encourages the coyote to engage. Examples include dog off-leash in an on-leash area; dog on leash longer than 6’ in length, or a human intentionally approaches or feeds the coyote,” according to the plan.
“An unprovoked attack or incident where the human involved does not encourage the coyote to engage,” according to the plan.
A pet attack defined: “When a person is within 6’ of the pet and the pet is on leash and is attacked and injured by a coyote,” according to the plan.
Domestic animal loss or injury is defined as “A coyote injures or kills a pet. Also includes ‘depredation’—predation on domestic pets. Unattended animal loss or injury is normal behavior for a coyote,” according to the plan.
The plan has color coded levels of coyote threats: Green, yellow, orange, or red. A coyote biting or injuring a person would be an example of a “level red” threat. “Lethal removal recommended,” according to the plan.
The Seal Beach Coyote Management Plan specifically calls for “lethal removal” in a coyote that bites someone. Fortunately, there have been zero known reports of people being bitten by a coyote in Seal Beach.
More on coyotes next week.