Perceived risks and coyote management in an urban setting

We used risk perceptions to understand the acceptability of nonlethal and lethal management of coyotes in an urban setting. We conducted a self-administered mail survey (n1⁄41624) of residents of the Greater Chicago Metropolitan Region during 2012 and examined the relationship between perceptions of risk and acceptance of different management strategies. Using cluster analysis we segmented respondents into three groups: (1) those who were not concerned about coyotes (n1⁄4536), (2) those who were slightly to moderately concerned (n1⁄4424) and (3) those who were extremely concerned (n1⁄4342). Nonlethal management was the preferred response when a human or pet–coyote interaction happened once or more than once. There were significant differences among the risk perception clusters and management responses but all three favored nonlethal management regardless of the number of occurrences.