Data from: coexistence across space and time: social-ecological patterns within a decade of human-coyote interactions in San Francisco

Global change is increasing the frequency and severity of human-wildlife
interactions by pushing people and wildlife into increasingly
resource-limited shared spaces. To understand the dynamics of
human-wildlife interactions, and what may constitute human-wildlife
coexistence in the Anthropocene, there is a critical need to explore the
spatial, temporal, sociocultural, and ecological variables that contribute
to human-wildlife conflicts in urban areas. Due to their opportunistic
foraging and behavioral flexibility, coyotes (Canis latrans) frequently
interact with people in urban environments. San Francisco, California, USA
hosts a very high density of coyotes, making it an excellent region for
analyzing urban human-coyote interactions and attitudes toward coyotes
over time and space. We used a community-curated long-term data source
from San Francisco Animal Care and Control to summarize a decade of coyote
sightings and human-coyote interactions in San Francisco and to
characterize spatiotemporal patterns of attitudes and interaction types in
relation to housing density, socioeconomics, pollution and human
vulnerability metrics, and green space availability. We found that
human-coyote conflict reports have been significantly increasing over the
past 5 years and that there were more conflicts during the coyote
pup-rearing season (April-June), the dry season (June-September), and the
COVID-19 pandemic. Conflict reports were also more likely to involve dogs
and occur inside of parks, despite more overall sightings occurring
outside of parks. Generalized linear mixed models revealed that conflicts
were more likely to occur in places with higher vegetation greenness and
median income. Meanwhile reported coyote boldness, hazing, and human
attitudes toward coyotes were also correlated with pollution burden and
human population vulnerability indices. Synthesis and applications: Our
results provide compelling evidence suggesting that human-coyote conflicts
are intimately associated with social-ecological heterogeneities and time,
emphasizing that the road to coexistence will require socially-informed
strategies. Additional long-term research articulating how the
social-ecological drivers of conflict (e.g., human food subsidies,
interactions with domestic species, climate-induced droughts,
socioeconomic disparities, etc.) change over time will be essential in
building adaptive management efforts that effectively mitigate future
conflicts from occurring.