A woman is wanted for feeding wild coyotes in the Bernal Hill area of San Francisco.
At issue is that this threatens the safety of people and coyotes, Animal Care and Control officials have said, which is why the unidentified woman who was caught on camera by a local hiker feeding three coyotes raw meat is being sought.
"Feeding coyotes and any wildlife, makes the wildlife lose their natural wariness. They begin to see people as a source of food," said Virginia Donohue, executive director at San Francisco Animal Care & Control, according to KTVU.
Donohue believes that the same woman could also be feeding coyotes in McLaren Park, San Francisco Chronicle reported.
"This is 100% a human problem," she continued. "We have too many people feeding coyotes or trying to befriend them. Ultimately it ends badly for the wildlife."
As of Thursday, the woman has not been found however, Animal Care and Control officials said that, after inspecting the area she was seen feeding the animals, they found three coyotes waiting for food.
"The person has trained the animal to think, 'If I come here at 7:30 there will be a plate of food for me," she said. "Wild animals do what works. They don’t know that they will approach the wrong person or end up hurting somebody and then they have to be eliminated."
The situation is similar to another that took place earlier in the summer when a coyote that had been fed by humans for years grew aggressive when approaching toddlers at the Botanical Gardens at Golden Gate Park. It had to be shot.
"We were certainly very alarmed to see them approaching children. That’s not natural behavior," Donahue said, according to KTVU.
"A coyote should not be walking up to a child in any circumstance. I don’t know what the coyote’s intent was, but it’s certainly a dangerous situation," she continued. "We people can change our behavior. By just not feeding them is probably going to take care of a lot of the problems we have."
Donahue explained that, as coyotes were not a protected species, the only answer in these instances was euthanasia. She added that she hoped the animals would not become a problem in the surrounding areas.
"The woman is a problem. We need to reach her to put a stop to this behavior."
Related Stories:
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.