'Coyotes' Spotted Guarding School Playgrounds

A California news outlet got a tip from a reader who reported that she’d seen coyote statues at a local school. What was going on?

Credit: MPCSD

News outlet InMenlo reached out to a school district spokesman, who explained what all the fuss was about. “There are coyote statues at Encinal and Laurel Lower Campus. They were an idea that came from Encinal Principal Sharon Burns’ father, who lives in Canada. She was talking to him about Encinal’s population of Canadian geese on the field and the droppings they leave behind. He mentioned that in Canada they use fake coyotes in parks to deter geese (and relieve the goose poop issue)."

“Principal Burns thought it might work for crows, too, and it does! The coyotes have been a brilliant solution as other crow deterrents haven’t worked and [the school’s] custodial teams were constantly washing crow droppings off the lunch tables and surrounding ground. Now with the coyote statues our play areas are cleaner and water use is down."

Meanwhile, another school in the district heard about the idea and decided to follow suit - not because of crows, but because of geese. The spokesman went on to say: “Laurel School was facing a similar dilemma with its geese, so they also purchased two coyote statues. The fact that the coyote statues deter both geese and crows is wonderful."

But it seems that it wasn't just the crows and geese that were concerned about the coyotes, as Principal Linda Creighton of Laurel Lower Campus explained: "We have had over a dozen worried passersby call to warn us about the ‘coyotes’ on campus and they all get a good chuckle and breathe a sigh of relief when they learn that they are just Oak and Sequoia, our coyote statues.”