PETA to Defend L.A. County Coyotes at State Level With Protest and News Conference

For Immediate Release:
June 14, 2024

Contact:
Sara Groves 202-483-7382

In response to the cruel and ineffective trapping and gassing of coyotes in Los Angeles County, PETA representatives—flanked by a pack of supporters wearing coyote masks—will hold a news conference outside the headquarters of the California Fish and Game Commission in Sacramento on Tuesday to call for statewide regulations that would ban gassing coyotes to death and prohibit cities from contracting with private trappers who trap and kill the “song dogs” on public land. Photos will be available via Dropbox after the event.

PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange, PETA Foundation General Counsel Jared Goodman, and PETA Foundation Wildlife Veterinarian Dr. Mason Payne will all speak at the news conference on Tuesday.

The news conference will highlight PETA’s petition for rulemaking, which the Fish and Game Commission will consider at its June 19–20 meeting, filed in response to Rancho Palos Verdes’ and Torrance’s contracts with a private trapper—Jimmie Rizzo of Coyote, Wildlife & Pest Solutions Inc.—who uses a gas chamber in the back of his truck to kill coyotes and has repeatedly self-reported setting snare traps near dozens of homes in possible violation of state law.

According to contracts between Rizzo’s company and Rancho Palos Verdes and Torrance—as well as Anaheim in Orange County—each city has spent between $105,000 and $215,000 in taxpayer money on coyote-trapping programs despite extensive research demonstrating that lethal removal doesn’t control the animals’ populations or minimize conflicts with humans. None of the cities could produce a single public record showing that they exercise any oversight of Rizzo’s use of a gas chamber, which Californians historically have opposed.

“It’s time to put trappers on notice for cruelly killing California’s wildlife, who should be respected, not slowly strangled in snares and gassed in the back of a truck,” says PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. “PETA is urging state lawmakers to ban Rancho Palos Verdes, Torrance, and every other city in California from senselessly exterminating animals who are simply trying to survive.”

At Tuesday’s news conference, members of PETA will speak about the legal ramifications of the trappings and killings and show footage of coyotes caught in snare traps and coyote-sized dogs sent to gas chambers to highlight the immense suffering and terror caused by these lethal methods.

To encourage coyotes to leave residential neighborhoods, PETA and California state authorities recommend that homeowners remove food sources and keep companion animals indoors and garbage tightly sealed.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to abuse in any way”—points out thatEvery Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow the group on X, Facebook, or Instagram.