The Brief

If you feel like there’s been more coyotes around your neighborhood, acting more aggressively, you may be right.

Coyotes have wrapped up their infamous mating season — and now it’s time to cue the cute factor: Coyote pup season is in full swing. And that means some behavioral changes.

What you should know about the season

Coyotes have three biological seasons, said Niamh Quinn, a human-wildlife interactions advisor with the University of California’s Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

There’s breeding season, pup season, and then what she calls the dispersal season, where the young coyotes go off on their own. But during pup season, the coyotes are focused on raising and caring for the babies.

“They're starting to den down, and it’s been shown in certain areas that coyotes can be very aggressive around the den itself at that time,” Quinn said.

In California, coyotes breed primarily between January and March, according to the U.S. Forest Service. Their litters, which can be about five to six pups each, are born between March and May. Some packs may start earlier in the year, she said. For example, her team saw dens being dug out as early as December in Orange County.

But what most coyotes are doing now is beginning to raise those babies. That typically lasts until September.

During this time, the adult coyotes have more mouths to feed.

Understanding coyote behavior

Coyotes are cooperative breeders, meaning that the pack gets involved to help raise the young. That creates a lot of activity around the dens.

“The thing about a coyote den is that you could be stood right on top of one and not even know it's there,” Quinn said. “Like they're quite small openings.”

All a coyote needs is to be able to go in, turn around and come back out. They’re often found in the open spaces around us, like nature reserves, nurseries, railway lines and on Southern California Edison’s easement land.

But they can show up around parks and even under homes. So while you may not see ones for months, they are almost always nearby in L.A. County. While these animals aren’t strictly nocturnal, they’re most active between dusk and dawn.

Coyote behavior does change in L.A. County’s pup season, Quinn said, but not always. Members of the pack leave the den, but data is mixed on whether it’s a true increase in activity compared to other seasons.

“I would say that probably in L.A., you get a lot of encounters during the pup rearing season,” Quinn said. “Then you probably get like a small peak as well during dispersal when the juveniles are starting to move on.”

While many Southern Californians get rightfully concerned about seeing coyotes — they can and do attack animals and people — others feel we need to learn to co-exist.

Tujunga resident Jason Holmes grew up in the country, which he says gave him a perspective on nature that he’s trying to pass on to his very young daughter.

“We grew up around coyotes, mountain lions … I just think it's really important that people get out in nature. We have a lot of fear where fear doesn’t have to necessarily be,” Holmes said. “[But] now that I have a child, yeah, they’re more of my concern.”

Meanwhile Jerome Agee says the different seasons of their life cycle reminds him of how close L.A. is to the wild. He sees coyotes as just like any other animal.

“We're in their neighborhood. This is their home,” Agee said. “So we got to learn how to get along. Cause you know, they got the right to survive just like we.”

A coyote in Elysian Park.

(

Samanta Helou Hernandez

/

LAist

)

Ways to stay safe

There are steps you can take to keep you, your small children and your animals safe.

Coyote encounters can just be a sighting, or an animal or human attack. But it’s less common for coyotes to bite humans — usually they go after small animals, like cats and dogs.

“If you don't want your cat eaten by a coyote, you don’t let your cat outside,” Quinn said.

Dogs are a little different because they can be attacked on leashes too. It’s a smart idea to minimize the length of your leash, and of course, don’t take your dog off the leash in public.

If you do encounter a coyote, one option is to scare them off with a loud noise. Some well-used dog walking areas have home-made shakers on hand, like this one in East Pasadena.

A home-made shaker to warn away coyotes

(

Ashley Alvarado/LAist

)

You can learn more in our guide to living safely with our coyote neighbors.

See where coyotes are near you

If you’re curious where coyotes have been reported near you, check out locations below, updated with the University of California’s Coyote Cacher data as of April 24.

A few caveats to keep in mind: Reports don’t represent the total amount of coyote sightings this year. The service relies on people submitting individual reports, which can only be done in English.

People can always elect to report coyotes to other places, like a county service, or not report them at all. So an empty spot on the map does not necessarily mean there are no coyotes near you.

For the last three years, the record store and music venue Healing Force of the Universe has been operating on a sleepy street corner not far from Pasadena City College. Nearby businesses include a shoe repair store, a nail salon and several auto shops.

“We're kind of in a dead corner,” owner Austin Manuel said. “No offense if anybody lives here, but not a very foot-trafficked area, kind of a hard place to have a store.”

In spite of the location, Manuel said Healing Force has become a home away from home for musicians and music fans. One of them is Bobby Bradford, a jazz trumpet legend who lost his house and personal archive in the Eaton Fire. He performs regularly at the venue. (Healing Force has also partnered with LAist on fire recovery events.)

Its current location is set to close this month, but Manuel and his team are already raising funds to cover a move to another space: G-Son Studios in Atwater Village. The repurposed ballroom was the Beastie Boys' home base when they recorded their classic albums Check Your Head and Ill Communication. Run-DMC and Biz Markie stopped by at one point, and Beck also laid down tracks for his album Odelay there.

Inside Healing Force's space in Pasadena.

(

Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

)

The vibe

Healing Force sells records, of course, but these days it’s more of a nighttime performance space. Manuel said he wants people to feel comfortable striking up conversations after a show.

“I grew up in the church in the South, and I was like, ‘How do I design this so that it feels like a Southern church lady could come in here and feel welcome?’" Manuel said. “ I didn't want it to be too cool.  I wanted it to feel kind of suburban in a way.”

(

Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

)

(

Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

)

(

Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

)

Though the name might call to mind a cult slogan — and Manuel said they lean into that aesthetic on purpose — it’s actually a reference to the 1970 album Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe by saxophonist Albert Ayler.

At the venue, “people can kind of get … into a meditative zone,” Manuel said. “After the [January 2025] fires, it felt so good to come back together in this room and feel the healing of community.”

Healing Force's stage setup.

(

Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

)

The performances

The shows Healing Force puts on share a common thread: They’re meant to promote peace and relaxation, as well as deep, careful listening on the hi-fi sound system. But they’re an eclectic mix of genres. On one night, you might see L.A. spiritual jazz band Phi-Psonics, who turned a residency at the venue into a live album, Expanding to One.

On another night, you might catch a spaced-out electronic set, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter or a group of session musicians who’ve played with the likes of Paul Simon, Elton John and Lucinda Williams.

About the fundraiser

With the new space on Glendale Boulevard, Manuel said, Healing Force would triple its capacity for concerts, get a bar space and be closer to other venues in Northeast L.A.

“If 1,000 people gave $25, we would get there,” Manuel said – though he also said most people have been giving more.

You can read more about the fundraiser and donate at Healing Force’s GoFundMe.

See the Pasadena space before it closes

The venue is still open at 1200 E. Walnut Street and is holding events through this Halloween weekend. You can see their events calendar on their website.

The racist DNA of Jim Crow discrimination may be embedded in your housing documents.

The language in housing documents that restricts sale or use of a property only to a person of the white race is called a “restrictive covenant,” and in California the practice goes back to the 19th century and continued into the mid-20th century. While housing discrimination persists, the practice was found unconstitutional in 1948.

California counties are reporting mixed progress in meeting the demands of a 2021 law to excise the language from property records.

According to Sylvia Manzo, deputy recorder in the Orange County Clerk-Recorder’s office, the county finished the job in March of this year, removing racist language from more than 27,000 property documents with the help of computer software.

This 1924 property document from Bakersfield includes racist language limiting use of the property in question to people of "the white or Caucasian race."

(

Screenshot from CSU Bakersfield

)

L.A. County is far from done. It says that with the help of an outside company hired in 2024, 50 million pages will be examined yearly, which would take about 10 years to finish the job.

Public agencies could use the public’s help.

Language examples

Here’s a 1924 example from a property in Bakersfield. The text reads, “That the lands herein conveyed shall never, at any time, be sold to or rented to or occupied by any person not of the white or Caucasian race.”

Or this language from a 1936 document relating to a Costa Mesa property: “That said premises shall not be sold, conveyed, rented, or leased to, or occupied by any person of African, Mexican, or Asiatic descent.”

How to get it taken out

The Restrictive Covenant Modification Form is at the heart of the effort to remove the racist language from housing documents. Each county has its own process. Some charge a fee; others don’t. Some require a notary certification for the signature; others don’t.

L.A. County:

Registrar-Recorder officials recommend these steps:

• Highlight or underline the unlawful provision on the recorded document
• Complete the Restrictive Covenant Modification Form
• Submit the form and the recorded document by email: RCM@rrcc.lacounty.gov or in person at the Norwalk headquarters at 12400 Imperial Highway in Norwalk
• Mail instructions are here.

Orange County:

The Orange County spokesperson says there may be some properties not caught by its software and urges the public to report them. Here’s the form

Riverside County:

Here’s the Riverside County form

San Bernardino County:

Here’s the San Bernardino County form

San Diego County:

Here’s the San Diego County form

Santa Barbara County:

Here’s the Santa Barbara County form

Ignoring the racist language in property documents, some say, reinforces the legacy of segregation, while taking steps to remove restrictive covenant language is a way individuals and organizations can repudiate policies that sought to discriminate.