Lake Havasu City, AZ Animal Ordinances: Coyote Management (2026)

Coyotes are a fact of life in Lake Havasu City's Sonoran Desert setting, and the code's response to human-coyote conflict is narrow but specific: § 6.20.040, part of Chapter 6.20's miscellaneous animal provisions, makes it unlawful for any person to intentionally feed or in any manner provide food to coyotes anywhere in the city. The section does not create a separate culling program, a hazing protocol, or a licensed trapping regime; its only substantive command is the feeding ban. Because § 6.20.040 sets its own penalty, division B fixes a civil offense punishable by a fine the Court sets not to exceed $1,000 per violation, which displaces the Title 6 default Class 2 misdemeanor that § 6.24.070 otherwise applies when a chapter is silent.

That puts coyote feeding in the same civil-fine bracket as the code's other Chapter 6.20 nuisances: swine keeping under § 6.20.030, unconfined livestock and poultry under § 6.20.020, and uncollected pet waste under § 6.20.050 all cap out at the same $1,000 civil penalty rather than criminal charges. Enforcement runs through Lake Havasu City Animal Control, which under Chapter 6.24 has the right of entry and citation authority to investigate a complaint, most often triggered by a neighbor reporting bowls of food, table scraps, or pet food left outside for coyotes drawn toward residential yards near the desert edge.

There is no exception written into the section for wildlife rehabilitators or researchers, so anyone feeding coyotes for any reason is exposed to the fine. The ordinance does not reach incidental food sources such as unsecured trash, since the text requires an intentional act of feeding or providing food to the animal.