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Coyote & Wildlife Reporting
Coyote Reporting
If there is an emergency coyote related situation, where your life or any citizen’s life is in immediate danger, please call 911 immediately.
During business hours any calls concerning coyotes, please contact Animal Care & Control at 817-276-4799. After hours calls, contact the Mansfield Police Department Non-Emergency at 817-473-0211.
To report a seen coyote or coyote incident, please use the form below.
Basic Facts
Mansfield Animal Care & Control are primarily trained and equipped to handle domestic pet issues, ordinance enforcement of animal related ordinances, and loose pets or livestock. Wildlife are not domesticated animals and are a vital part of the ecosystem, even in heavily populated areas. Wildlife, particularly Coyotes, cannot be safely trapped in most cases and if they are trapped cannot be successfully relocated. As a general rule, it is not good practice to remove wildlife, even from urban areas. The most common practice used by the majority of cities is to implement a Wildlife Management Plan and ensure residents are aware of the behavioral patterns and natural lifestyle practices of wildlife in order to coexist with all forms of wildlife.
Additional Information
There is currently information available on our website and in print available at the Mansfield Animal Care & Control Shelter, located at 407 Industrial Blvd, Mansfield TX 76063, and at the Public Safety Building and at the reception counter at City Hall. The material should answer the majority of questions most residents have regarding wildlife. We ask that you please be patient and allow us time to address this issue once we are able to thoroughly investigate and research every plan of action to ensure the best possible solutions for our city.
Human Contact
Until a Wildlife Management Plan program can be established it is important for residents to understand that coyotes are not normally comfortable around humans. In most cases, coyotes will only approach humans that the have previously encountered and have determined not to be a threat. Coyotes will normally only be in close proximity to humans if there is a viable food source close by. As a general rule, the only thing necessary for a human to do in order to ensure their encounter with a coyote, or a coyote pack, is brief is to make a lot of noise and movement in order to scare the coyote. This almost always works and is considered the industry standard preventative method.
Should this not work, a citizen should call Animal Care & Control or if in imminent danger, call 911.
In most cases a coyote will not approach a human unless that human has a food source. Pets are definitely considered a source of food for urban coyotes, as their natural food soruces are limited in populated areas. Citizens who live close to parks, fields, golf courses or any other area with open, uninhabited areas close by, should be aware that wildlife does exist in those areas and pets should not be unattended, even in fences yards.
Pet Contact
All pets are required to be on a leash, including cats, unless they are contained in a fenced yard and residents should be aware that when walking a pet on a leash in a wooded area, or close to any possible wildlife habitat, there is a danger of being approached by various forms of wildlife seeking food. Normally humans are not in danger when this occurs and should therefore be animated and vocal in trying to scare the predator away. Keep in mind that your pet you are holding is what the predator considers to be a food source and an attack on the food source is possible. There is nothing that Animal Care & Control can do to eliminate this threat. There are unfortunately no perfect solutions to coexisting with wildlife, so each resident should be aware of the potential threat of wildlife. Should a citizen have a wildlife sighting and have questions about what they should do, Mansfield Animal Care & Control should be able to answer any questions.