
Coyote-resistant fences should be 8 feet tall with rollers on top for extra measure.


Hurdles: cost, neighbors and building codes For a large backyard, that can add up quickly. The cost can be high, he said, adding his company typically charges $15 to $17 a foot. A lot of people are just learning about the product.” The demand, he said, has been “pretty steady over the last few years. “The demand in Orange County is very high,” he said, adding that coyote rollers also can keep other unwanted wildlife - from opossums to raccoons - from coming into yards. Voigt said he stays busy these days installing the rollers, which he said are currently the go-to choice. “A physical barrier is the best way to keep animals out in general,” said Eric Voigt, owner of Wildlife Removal Services in Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties.Īnd the best option these days, he said, are the coyote rollers.įences must be at least 6 feet tall - coyotes can completely clear anything shorter, he said - and a galvanized mesh skirt buried underneath the fence should also be part of the system. Many claim the animals can get over 8-foot-tall fences with little effort.Ĭoyote rollers are currently dominating the market for residents who want to do more to protect their pets inside their own yards. … They can jump and get over a 6-7 foot fence barely touching it with their paws.” “Most can clear-jump without touching a 5-foot fence. “Coyotes are amazing athletes and very smart,” the Adoptapet blog post states. Extending and burying the fence line at the bottom, using hardware cloth, by at least 2 feet, facing outward along the perimeter because coyotes prefer to enter a yard by digging under fence lines.Installing a coyote roller on the top of the fence, a spinning bar that makes it hard for coyotes to get a grip and sends them backward in their failed attempt to climb over a sufficiently high barrier.Adding 15- to 20-inch-long extenders to the top of your fence that face outward at a 45-degree angle.Tips from the Adoptapet blog and other sources suggest that fences should be a solid and smooth surface with no toe-holds and at least 6-8 feet tall, if city law allows. While no fence is absolutely foolproof, some do offer more protection than others. Hoang Dinh, wildlife officer for the city of Los Angeles, cautions that walls and fences may provide a “false sense of security.” Hazelrig also has rescue donkeys on her property, animals that are supposed to be coyote deterrents, but weren’t of much help either.Ī better solution to protecting small dogs, including from owls, hawks and other birds of prey, is a six-sided (including roof and floor) pet enclosure or kennel, Dinh said.

“If they want something in your yard bad enough, they will likely get it.” “Coyotes are just so adaptable and clever,” said Niahm Quinn, who is researching coyotes and wildlife conflicts in Southern California for the UC Cooperative Extension. With increasingly frequent reports of coyotes attacking pets in their own backyards in the past few years, some homeowners are turning their attention to finding a coyote-proof fence or other options, including enclosed patios and dog kennels.īut when it comes to stopping a coyote, no perimeter fencing or barrier is truly infallible. But it is also impractical for many busy pet owners who must leave their homes (and animals) for long hours every day.įor Hazelrig and other owners who rescue animals with the goal of providing them with a good quality of life, the new reality has been jarring, to say the least. The oft-repeated official mantra - never allow pets into a fenced backyard without supervision - might be the best sure-fire defense. They found her days later … not much left of her.” “His neighbor saw it running down the street with the little dog in his mouth. “The coyote went right into the backyard and snatched my client’s dog,” she posted on a South Bay coyote Facebook page. The latest occurred on Amapola Avenue about 6:30 p.m. “I can only imagine the stress my dogs were in,” said Hazelrig, an advocate of cities stepping up trapping efforts. A fourth dog died the following day at the vet’s, where it was confirmed the injuries were from a coyote attack. One dog was partially eaten, another had its back and cheek ripped open. She returned to her home in the early evening of April 21 to find three of her small dogs - the largest was a Jack Russell terrier - mauled and dead in a bloody and entrail-strewn scene in her backyard. In Rolling Hills, Mary Hazelrig wasn’t so lucky. So she purchased a spiked coyote “vest” for her pup and installed what’s known as a coyote roller - a round, metal spinning bar - along the top of her fence. “I have a 7-pound dog and had a coyote lying in my next-door neighbor’s yard early one morning,” the San Pedro homeowner said. For Penny Sprague, the wake-up call arrived last summer.
