What Urban Coyotes Eat

This is general information, not veterinary, medical or legal advice. For an injured or aggressive animal, a bite, a pet attack or a suspected rabies exposure, call your doctor, your vet, local animal control, or the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AZGFD).

Reviewed by the editorial desk against the cited sources. The desk claims no wildlife-biology, veterinary or medical credential; see our editorial policy.

What a coyote eats explains why it shows up in a yard. This page summarizes what AZGFD and University of Arizona Cooperative Extension say about coyote diet and what that means for homes. It belongs to our coyote information cluster, and the practical steps are in the yard and home management guide.

Opportunists

AZGFD calls coyotes opportunists, meaning they eat a wide variety of foods, but says their preferred diet consists primarily of small mammals (AZGFD, Coyote). AZGFD’s Living with Coyotes page calls them opportunistic omnivores that eat rabbits, rodents, birds, snakes, insects, fish, fruit, carrion and livestock, and in cities garbage and ornamental fruit (AZGFD, accessed 2026-11-14).

Natural foods in Arizona

Food	Source
Small mammals (the preferred diet)	AZGFD
Mice, rats, ground squirrels, gophers, rabbits and carrion	UA Extension
Carrion, birds and eggs	AZGFD
Reptiles and insects	AZGFD; UA Extension (also amphibians)
Acorns, mesquite and palo verde beans, juniper and manzanita berries	AZGFD
Young pronghorn and deer when available	AZGFD
Snakes, fish and fruit	AZGFD, Living with Coyotes

University of Arizona Extension adds that coyotes are proficient predators with the speed, strength and endurance to tackle prey as large as adult deer (UA Extension, Coyotes).

What changes in towns and suburbs

AZGFD says that in urban areas coyotes “may become reliant on human-related food sources, including garbage, pet food, domestic cats and small dogs.” University of Arizona Extension says garbage, domestic cats and dogs, other pets, hobby animals and pet food can be important food sources in urban and suburban areas. UC IPM lists garbage, pet food and garden fruit (UC IPM). AZGFD also lists unattended pets, garbage and fallen fruit as things that draw coyotes to a home.

So pets are part of the picture. AZGFD advises keeping small pets indoors or in a roofed enclosure, supervising them at dawn and night, and always leashing them, and says bold coyotes have attacked small dogs on retractable leashes (AZGFD, Living with Coyotes). See protect pets and children from coyotes.

Why food matters for neighbors

AZGFD says that if there is a regular coyote food source in one yard on your block, coyotes will be active throughout the neighborhood, and that all potential food sources must be removed (AZGFD, Living with Coyotes). AZGFD also says coyotes can lose their fear of people when fed, and notes that feeding is a cause of bold behavior; see how to spot aggressive behavior.

University of Arizona Extension lists these steps:

• Secure garbage can lids at all times or store garbage indoors.
• Feed and water pets indoors.
• Cover ripe fruit and vegetables at night, or enclose the garden or fruit trees with a coyote-proof fence.
• Pick up windfall fruit and vegetables daily.
• Never intentionally leave food out for wild animals (birds excepted), because it alters their preference for native foods and habituates them to human activity.

More detail: remove food and water attractants and coyote-proof yard checklist.

Is it legal to feed coyotes?

Checked on 2026-11-14. Under A.R.S. 13-2927, intentionally, knowingly or recklessly feeding, attracting or enticing wildlife into an area is a petty offense, in counties with a population above 280,000, with exceptions that include feeding birds and tree squirrels (A.R.S. 13-2927). AZGFD says it is unlawful to feed wildlife, other than birds and tree squirrels, in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties under that statute, and that some cities and counties have their own ordinances (AZGFD, April 7, 2023). Confirm with AZGFD. See Arizona coyote rules for residents.

Why coyotes are in your area at all

AZGFD says coyotes are common in rural and suburban Arizona and are most often seen around sunrise and at night. AZGFD lists three things that draw them to a home: food (rabbits, birds, rodents, livestock, pet food, unattended pets, garbage, fallen fruit), water (pet bowls, fountains, pools) and shelter (dense shrubs, storm drains, space under sheds or porches). Its prevention list adds not spreading seed outside, because seed attracts the prey coyotes follow, feeding pets indoors, securing garbage and putting it out the morning of pickup, and trimming ground-level shrubs (AZGFD, Living with Coyotes).

AZGFD also says feeding wildlife makes animals lose their fear of people, and that removing a coyote does not help if attractants remain (AZGFD, April 7, 2023).

Poultry and livestock

University of Arizona Extension says coyotes in some cases prey heavily on sheep, calves and poultry. See coyotes and backyard poultry or livestock.

What we could not source

We have no allowed-source breakdown of the share of each food in the diet of coyotes near Tucson or Green Valley, or of how diets differ by season there. Any such percentages elsewhere should be treated cautiously.

Who to call

A coyote eating at a feeding spot you cannot stop, or one acting aggressive, is a reason to call local animal control or AZGFD; see who to call.