Sherman, TX Animal Ordinances: Coyote Management (2026)

The operative sentence is § 2.02.016(c) of the Sherman Code of Ordinances: it is permissible to humanely trap, relocate, or humanely dispose of nuisance animals provided that doing so is not prohibited by other law. It works as the exception to subsection (a), which makes it unlawful for any person to wound, trap, maim, cripple, or inhumanely kill any animal. Chapter 2 defines a nuisance animal as any wild or feral animal found on a person's property that reasonably could be a threat to personal property, safety, or health. The trapping provision does not name coyotes; coyotes enter the chapter through the definitions. The chapter lists coyote and coyote hybrids among dangerous, wild animals, and Category IV of the prohibited-animal list names the family Canidae, such as wolves, dingos, coyotes, and jackals, except domestic dogs.

Those listings control ownership, not wildlife control. Section 2.04.001 makes harboring a prohibited animal unlawful within the city limits and within 5,000 feet of them, and § 2.04.005 requires a certificate of registration, with a one hundred dollar ($100.00) fee for each animal registered, to own or have custody of a dangerous, wild animal. The definition of harbor says it does not include feeding wildlife or providing assistance in an emergency to an injured or ill animal, so feeding wildlife is not itself treated as harboring a domestic animal.

Use of force is separately addressed in § 2.01.002(f). The animal services supervisor, their authorized representatives, and any licensed peace officer can destroy an animal that poses an imminent danger to a person or property or where a real or apparent immediate necessity exists, and can destroy an animal suspected of having rabies when it is found at-large after a reasonable but unsuccessful effort to capture it. Under § 2.02.016(f) through (i), animal services can seize an animal with probable cause that it has bitten or scratched a human, and an animal seized for rabies exposure must be impounded and quarantined. Sherman Animal Services, within the Police Department, enforces Chapter 2.