Coyote clan becoming a nuisance at airport

Thursday, Aug. 19, 1999 | 3:48 a.m.

line THE ASSOCIATED PRESS>

SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif. - A clueless clan of coyotes is making a dangerous nuisance of itself at the South Lake Tahoe Airport.

At least a dozen adults and six pups are undeterred by an 8-foot security fence that they nimbly dig under, according to airport spokeswoman Janis Brand.

"They have no fear and seem to be playing dodge ball," she said. "A Learjet had to come to a screeching halt and several single-engine planes had to abort takeoffs. We've even had to delay commercial flights, which is expensive."

The city-owned airport is under orders by the Federal Aviation Administration to have all coyotes off the runways by the end of summer.

"It would be inexcusable to have an accident that could kill a pilot or passengers," Brand said.

Barbed wire in the fence holes and regular patrols are no longer deterrents, she said.

The plan now, she said, is to have Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care take the puppies and release them outside the airport, then block the culverts where they're denning.

A final resort if that doesn't work as summer draws to a close is to call in the California Department of Fish and Game to relocate or destroy the animals, she said.

Nineteen coyotes were destroyed after seven people were bitten between March 14 and May 28 in the casino area on the Nevada side of the south shore, said Tom Hall, assistant director of Nevada Animal Damage Control.

Since a public education campaign stressed not feeding wild animals, there have been no more bites, Hall said.

"We don't have a coyote problem; it's a people problem," said Cheryl Millham, executive director of Lake Tahoe Wildlife Care.