A clever idea borrowed from Canada is turning heads—and raising a few heart rates—in Menlo Park, California. To stop crows and geese from covering a school playground in droppings, educators turned to a surprisingly effective solution: a pair of lifelike “coyotes.”
The ruse has been so convincing that not only have the birds been frightened away, but several local residents have also been startled by the fake predators.
According to the local outlet InMenlo, the Menlo Park City School District confirmed that the decoy coyotes were installed at Encinal and Laurel Lower Campus. District spokesperson Parke Treadway explained that the idea came from Encinal Principal Sharon Burns’ father, who lives in Canada.
“When Sharon told him about the geese leaving messes on the school field, he mentioned that Canadian parks use faux coyotes to discourage them,” said Treadway. “She decided to test the method here, hoping it might also deter crows—and it did.”
Before the statues appeared, custodial staff spent hours scrubbing crow droppings from tables and pavement. Since adding the coyotes, the playgrounds have stayed cleaner, and water use for cleanup has dropped noticeably.
Encouraged by Encinal’s success, nearby Laurel School adopted the same tactic, purchasing two replica coyotes now affectionately known as Oak and Sequoia. The decoys have proven equally effective against both geese and crows.
Principal Linda Creighton of Laurel Lower Campus said the lifelike statues have drawn plenty of attention—not all of it from birds. “We’ve had more than a dozen people call in to report coyotes on campus,” she said. “Once we explain they’re just our friendly decoys, everyone laughs and feels relieved.”
The idea isn’t new—mock coyotes have long been used to keep birds away from airports and public spaces. In Alaska, for instance, even robotic dogs disguised as coyotes have been deployed to keep birds off airport runways.
For Menlo Park’s schools, though, it seems a simple set of plastic predators is all it takes to reclaim the playground.