Last week, Sanibel City Council voted unanimously to fund support for SCCF’s sea turtle and shorebird nest protection efforts and a new coyote population study.

Sanibel City Council voted 5-0 on July 21 to include funding for a comprehensive coyote population study and an increased annual contribution to SCCF’s Coastal Wildlife program in the city’s FY27 budget — a milestone in the island’s ongoing commitment to protect nesting sea turtles and shorebirds while better understanding Sanibel’s coyote population.

WATCH FB LIVE of July 21 City Council discussion (starts at 1:51:29)

From February Meeting to a New Path Forward

The vote caps months of work that began in February, when the Sanibel Coyote Working Group, of which SCCF is a member, asked Council to consider a targeted lethal removal effort on the island’s west end beaches ahead of the 2026 nesting season.

The first confirmed sighting of a coyote on Sanibel was in the J.N. “Ding” Darling National Wildlife Refuge in March 2011. Since then, the City of Sanibel Natural Resources Department and its partners at the J.N. “Ding” Darling Refuge, SCCF, and the Clinic for the Rehabilitation of Wildlife (CROW) have been striving to monitor and better understand the coyote population on Sanibel.

SEE RELATED STORY: Coyote Working Group to Share Proposal for Sea Turtle Protection

Working collaboratively as the Sanibel Coyote Working Group (CWG) since 2014, scientists have been closely monitoring the impact of coyotes on nesting loggerhead (Caretta caretta) sea turtle nests. As a federally designated threatened species, loggerheads are protected under the Federal Loggerhead Recovery Plan.

At the February meeting, SCCF biologists who track the coyote depredation rate on sea turtle nests on Sanibel reported that it has been increasing since 2021 and has exceeded 10 percent for the last four years, exceeding 40 percent the last two years.

After extensive public discussion, Council declined to move forward with that option and instead asked the city’s Natural Resources Department and SCCF to explore non-lethal alternatives.

SEE RELATED STORY: SCCF Looks Forward to Public Workshop

In the months that followed, SCCF and city staff met with a range of outside experts —including Humane World for Animals, a representative of the Florida Predation Management Working Group, and coyote researchers from the University of Florida and USDA Wildlife Services — to help identify data gaps and shape a path forward. No additional management suggestions beyond those already being implemented by SCCF were identified.

That work culminated in a newly released City RFP/RFQ for a comprehensive coyote population, spatial ecology, and genetics study, the first of its kind since 2015. Proposals are due in mid-August, with a possible study launch in October.

A Challenging Season on the Beach

SCCF’s Coastal Wildlife team — Director Kelly Sloan, Sea Turtle Biologist Jack Brzoza, and Shorebird Biologist Audrey Albrecht — presented a mid-season update showing predation pressure continuing to climb.

As of July 20, Sanibel’s sea turtle nest depredation rate stood at 17.4%, above the 10% management threshold established under the federal Loggerhead Recovery Plan for a fourth consecutive year, with the heaviest losses concentrated on the far west end between Bowman’s Beach and Blind Pass.

This season also brought a troubling new development: significant coyote predation on shorebird nests, with losses of least tern and snowy plover reaching roughly 72% on Sanibel.

The team also shared results from this season’s mitigation trials. A pilot program testing decoy nests alongside real ones confirmed coyotes are detecting and investigating the decoys, though it’s too early to know whether the tactic reduces actual nest loss.

Larger, heavier-gauge protective screens atop nests did not improve nest protection as expected.

Buried protective cages, meanwhile, have grown less effective each year since 2023 as coyotes have learned to dig underneath them, and an experimental habanero pepper deterrent has shown limited success. These strategies were implemented in the past, but not this year.

Independent Statistical Review Confirms Trend

An independent statistical review of SCCF’s long-term dataset confirmed that depredation has increased significantly over time, and that recent high-loss years fit that broader trend rather than representing anomalies.

At the meeting, data presented from July 6 showed sea turtle nests were experiencing a 15% depredation rate overall, with the far west end reaching 31% versus 7% on the east end, and 177 of the season’s 986 sea turtle nests had already been lost to coyotes; shorebird losses stood at 63 of 177 nests.

Updated data from July 28 now shows a depredation rate of 19.2% across Sanibel’s 912 total nests, 30.8% across Captiva’s 240 total nests, and a combined rate of 21.6% across both islands’ 1,152 total nests.

Sea Turtle Biologist Jack Brzoza added that depredation rates historically climb from midseason toward the end of the season on Oct. 31 — new nests stop being laid by late July, but the nests already in the sand stay vulnerable right through hatching.

Brzoza thanked volunteers for helping to protect and care for island nests.

“This season we have 95 active volunteers, many prominent members of the Sanibel community, contributing roughly 4,000–5,000 hours seasonally,” he said.

He also added that “FWC has told us we’re essentially at maximum capacity and won’t add more volunteers to our permit.”

Most Loggerhead Nests Since Monitoring Began in 1959

SCCF holds the first sea turtle monitoring permit ever issued in Florida. From 1959 to 1992, Caretta Research and Charles LeBuff held it. The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) then transferred it to SCCF in 1992.

SEE RELATED STORY: Sanibel: Home to One of the Longest-Running Sea Turtle Monitoring Programs

Back in the early years, sea turtles were one of the most vulnerable species on the island, with poaching, raccoon depredation, and capture in shrimp nets as significant issues. In 1971, 70 loggerhead nests were laid on a 12.5-mile stretch of beach comparable to Sanibel. Thanks to decades of conservation efforts, nesting numbers now testify to their effectiveness.

On Friday, loggerhead sea turtle nest counts on Sanibel broke the previous record of 878 set in 2023. There are now 902 loggerhead nests on the island. The west end of the island — from Tarpon Bay Rd. Beach up to Bowman’s Beach — has broken its record for loggerhead nests with 698. The previous record was 631 loggerhead nests in 2023.

A Collaborative Conservation Effort

SCCF CEO James Evans, pictured below, thanked Council and the community for their deep commitment to protecting and caring for coastal wildlife.

“The city has been an incredible partner on every front of conservation, and we can’t thank you enough,” said Evans. “We depend heavily on grants and donors, many of whom are community members, but this support would help us meet the goals of the protection plan. Thank you for your consideration.”

Evans outlined SCCF’s roughly $329,000 annual investment in the sea turtle and shorebird program and requested that the city contribute approximately 20-25% of that cost going forward — a request Council ultimately built into its funding decision.

Council members voiced strong support for both the coyote study proposed by City staff and SCCF funding requests, several citing Sanibel’s identity as a “conservation island.” Following discussion, Council voted unanimously to contribute $75,000 toward SCCF’s depredation mitigation efforts and to cover the cost of the coyote population study — with early comparable study proposals ranging from roughly $131,000 to $169,000.

City staff also confirmed that, regardless of the broader non-lethal strategy, any coyote posing a direct threat to human safety would continue to be addressed under Florida law—the same standard applied to other wildlife, such as alligators.

What’s Next

With the study RFP now live, SCCF and city staff expect to review proposals and conduct interviews through September, with fieldwork potentially beginning in October.

A companion public reporting tool, SanibelCoyote.com, is now live and allows residents to report coyote sightings and access information on coexisting safely with the island’s coyote population.

SCCF will continue monitoring nests through the remainder of the 2026 season and plans to return to council after the season ends to discuss findings and next steps — including a possible workshop on mitigation strategies for 2027.

Learn more and support SCCF’s sea turtle program>>>

Learn more and support SCCF’s shorebird program>>>