Coyotes have been part of life on Sanibel Island for years, and the City of Sanibel has tracked coyote activity since 2011. To make that work easier for staff and more transparent for the community, the City asked us to build SanibelCoyote.com: one place to report a coyote, see where reports happen and learn how to live safely alongside them.
Client
City of Sanibel
Website
sanibelcoyote.com
What we did
Website design, development and data tools
The SanibelCoyote.com homepage.
Report a coyote in a minute
The reporting form is the heart of the site. Residents and visitors enter the date and time, then drag a pin onto a map to mark exactly where they saw the coyote, and they can upload photos too. A clear notice at the top reminds people to call 911 for an attack or emergency, and a “Be Coyote S.M.A.R.T.” panel shares safety tips right beside the form.
An interactive map of every report
Each report appears on an island-wide map, color coded by the level of interaction: a sighting, an encounter or an incident. Visitors can filter the map by time of day and by year, going all the way back to 2011, and click any marker for the details of that report.
Sighting
A coyote was seen, or tracks, scat, camera footage or howling were observed.
Encounter
A coyote and a person interacted with no physical contact, such as a coyote following someone.
Incident
A coyote showed aggression or made physical contact with a person or pet.
Data the whole community can see
The charts page turns years of reports into something anyone can understand: what time of day coyotes are seen, how many appear at once, how reports have changed from year to year and what the City’s wildlife trail cameras have captured. The homepage also keeps a running count of the reports filed so far this year.
Education that reduces conflicts
Knowing what to do makes a real difference. The site includes pages on coyote behavior and history, how to haze a coyote to keep it wary of people, common coyote myths and links to state and local resources.
Under the hood
- A WordPress site the City can manage on its own
- Gravity Forms reporting with a drag-and-drop map pin and photo uploads
- Report data that powers the interactive map and charts
- Interactive charts that update as new reports come in
- Map filters for time of day and year
- A mobile-friendly layout for reporting from the field
Built for phones
- Report a coyote
- View the interactive map
- Explore the charts
- Learn about hazing and coyote myths
Thank you, City of Sanibel
Projects like this are a great example of how a website can serve a community. If your city, county or agency needs a public reporting tool, map or data site, we would love to help.