What the city's coyote program says about rodents
Azusa sits at the mouth of the San Gabriel Canyon, and the city runs a coyote management program with the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments. Its advice to residents is really a food-chain lesson: keep trash in bins with tight lids, pick up fallen fruit, and bring bird feeders in at night, because spilled seed attracts rodents and rodents attract coyotes.
We follow the same logic. Before setting a single trap, we walk the yard for the things that feed rodents — seed under feeders, fruit on the ground, pet food left out, open compost — because removing food is what keeps a trapped-out property from refilling.