Coyotes reclaiming San Francisco spaces as residents contemplate how to coexist
Coyotes have made a steady comeback in San Francisco after once being nearly wiped out, renewing a debate between those who want to protect coyotes and others who see them as a growing threat.
Three years ago, Alison Lufkin was walking her dog Oliver in the city's Presidio when something happened that she said she'll remember the rest of her life. A coyote slipped out of the brush, and, in an instant, Oliver was gone.
"I tore back toward him, screaming, and he turned around and looked at me with my dog in his mouth," said Lufkin. "My dog's eyes met my eyes, and it was just so heartbreaking. Then he ran off with my dog."
Lufkin still visits the site with her two current dogs, leaving flowers in Oliver's memory. She doesn't blame the coyotes. Oliver wasn't on a leash - a choice she said she still regrets.
"That day was probably the worst day of my life," she said.
Lufkin is part of a growing number of people calling for something, anything, to prevent this from happening again. According to San Francisco Animal Care and Control, in 2024, over 1,000 coyote sightings were reported in the city, a 40% jump from the year before, though that may be due to better reporting.
There was also one case near the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park where a 5-year-old girl was bitten.
Decades ago, coyotes were nearly wiped out by hunting and widespread poisoning. But in the early 2000s, they returned from a few bold strays to about 100, staking their claim in a city still unsure about how to handle them.
For 18 years, Janet Kessler has been tracking and photographing coyotes, saying the real problem isn't the coyotes, it's us. Around here, she's simply known as the Coyote Lady.
"I feel protective because they are the most persecuted animal in America," said Kessler. "They have been shot on sight just for being coyotes."
Doctors Tali Caspi and Christine Wilkinson have studied how coyotes and people cross paths - and not just here in San Francisco.
"It sort of captivated people around the world is the fact that these animals are here in big cities and not just in San Francisco where you can see them in Golden Gate Park where we are right now, but they're in New York City and they're in Chicago and they're in Los Angeles," Caspi said.
And that raises the question: what, if anything, can be done?
"Even if we wanted to remove every coyote in here and you were able to do it somehow, they would come right back," Wilkinson said.
Relocating them doesn't work either. Not only is it illegal, but many of them may not survive it.
The good news, experts said, is that coyote numbers have likely stabilized.
The Coyote Lady believes coexistence isn't just possible, it's practical. Don't feed them. Keep dogs tethered. And remember: serious incidents are rare.
"I'm hoping that enough people can come to a respectable understanding of them," she said, "and if they don't learn to like the coyotes, at least learn how to live with them."
