Santa Monica residents are getting a crash course in urban wildlife. A new nationwide study finds that city coyotes are more willing to take risks than their rural cousins, and locals say they are seeing that boldness up close after the Jan. 7, 2025, Palisades Fire pushed wildlife out of the hills and into the neighborhoods. Animal control crews report stepping up hazing patrols and are urging residents to lock down anything that might attract coyotes and to keep small pets inside. The fresh research is landing right as city officials are asking whether their current tools are enough.
Study: Urban coyotes take more risks
The paper, published Dec. 17, 2025, compared how coyotes reacted to unfamiliar objects at paired urban and rural sites across the U.S. Researchers found that coyotes generally shy away from new things, yet those living in cities tended to edge closer to food attractants than rural animals did, according to Scientific Reports. The authors wrote that "solutions developed in one area could be universally useful," arguing that coyote behavior was surprisingly consistent across regions.
How researchers tested risk-taking
To get those results, teams set out attractants and unfamiliar objects at camera stations and then recorded coyotes on video. The study used 623 camera trap stations spread across 16 paired urban and rural field sites, as reported by the Santa Monica Daily Press. At control stations, coyotes spent about 29% of their time in relaxed, "comfortable" behaviors such as eating or rolling. That dropped to roughly 12.5% when a novel object appeared, evidence the researchers described as a broad pattern of neophobia, or fear of new things.
Post-fire sightings climb in Santa Monica
Closer to home, the city overhauled its "How to Live Safely with Urban Coyotes" guidance in May 2025 to reflect a rise in sightings and to give residents clearer advice on hazing techniques and removing attractants, according to the City of Santa Monica. Experts and officials have tied the recent spike in encounters to displacement linked to the Palisades Fire, which burned through parts of the Santa Monica Mountains on Jan. 7, 2025, and pushed wildlife toward residential streets, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
Incidents, numbers, and neighborhood anxiety
Regional numbers have not exactly calmed nerves. Local coverage has tallied dozens of reported coyote bite incidents in recent years and cited state estimates that put California's coyote population in the hundreds of thousands. One of the more visible cases involved a 6-year-old who was bitten by a coyote at Del Amo Park in Carson on Aug. 4, 2025, an attack that required about 20 stitches and drew widespread attention, as reported by NBC Los Angeles and local outlets.
Why urban coyotes may be bolder
Researchers point to differences in human pressure to explain why city coyotes act differently. In rural areas, coyotes are more likely to face direct threats such as recreational hunting. In cities, they tend to find plentiful food, reliable shelter, and less direct persecution, which can make riskier behavior more rewarding, the study's authors argue. That same boldness has a cost: habituated coyotes are more likely to be hit by cars, poisoned, or lethally removed after conflicts with people or pets.
Legal context
State and local rules also limit how aggressively officials can respond. Municipalities note that trapping and relocating wild coyotes is constrained by California law and agency policies, so management strategies typically emphasize prevention and hazing rather than moving animals elsewhere. Local government guidance steers residents toward prevention, reporting, and hazing as the main tools to reduce conflicts.
What residents can do
City and state guidelines focus on straightforward steps that households can control: secure garbage and compost, bring pet food indoors, keep small pets supervised or inside at night, and use hazing techniques such as loud noise, air horns, or water to keep coyotes wary of people, according to the City of Santa Monica. Aggressive behavior or bites should be reported to the city animal control at (310) 458-8595, and incidents should also be filed through the state system for follow-up, per the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
