The City of Spanish Fort, Alabama just renewed a $16,000 contract with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to trap and kill coyotes, beavers, raccoons, muskrats, and nutria within city limits through June 2027. We're asking the Spanish Fort City Council to end this contract and replace it with a community-based coexistence plan that actually works.

The science is clear: killing coyotes doesn't solve the problem. When individual animals are removed from a territory, more move in to replace them. Tracey Glover, director of Sweet Peeps Micro-Sanctuary, put it plainly: "You kill these individual animals, but more move in. And you never address the root issues." Berry College biology professor Chris Mowry agrees: "Trying to kill your way out of the problem is not going to work."

That means Spanish Fort residents will keep paying $16,000 every year for a contract that doesn't make neighborhoods safer and doesn't make wildlife go away. The money spent on this cycle of lethal removal could instead fund public education programs teaching residents exactly what the experts recommend: securing garbage cans, not leaving pet food outside, keeping small pets on leashes and indoors at night, and reducing the food sources that attract coyotes and other animals in the first place. These are proven, lasting solutions.

There's also a broader concern here. APHIS is a federal agency operating inside city neighborhoods on the public's dime. Residents deserve to know whether their local government explored every humane alternative before signing over authority to federal contractors to kill urban wildlife year after year.

Spanish Fort prides itself on being a community where families can thrive close to nature. That's worth protecting. But protecting it means investing in coexistence, not a revolving door of killing that experts say is both ineffective and unnecessary. Sign this petition to urge the Spanish Fort City Council to end the APHIS contract and commit to a humane, science-based approach that keeps families, pets, and wildlife safe for the long term.