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Campus Alert Archive
USC

Campus alert, February 5, 2025

AI-generated · every claim is source-linked
CAotheradvisoryhigh confidence
Under Investigation

In early February 2025, USC's Department of Public Safety issued a Community Safety Advisory after repeated coyote sightings near the center of the University Park campus, including near the Annenberg School and Bing Theatre. DPS reported multiple sightings but no attacks, and advised students not to approach, feed, or pet the animal.

Alerts
1
Response
Killed
Injured
Institution
University of Southern California
Private R1 · CA
All USC cases →
~47,000 studentsUSC TrojansAlert / LiveSafe
Official alert policy
Read when and how USC says it will use TrojansAlert: summarized, quoted, and analyzed.
Documented Timeline

Alert Sequence

1 message in sequence · 1 verified verbatim

INITIAL ALERTEmail
COYOTE ALERT The university has become aware of community members interacting with coyotes on campus. Please do not approach wild (non-domesticated) animals, especially coyotes. Do not feed wild animals or attempt to pet them. TIPS TO AVOID COYOTES – If a coyote approaches you, yell or make loud noises. – If you encounter an aggressive or fearless coyote, call the Department of Public Safety (DPS) at University Park Campus at (213) 740-6000 or Health Sciences Campus at (323) 442-1200. You can use the LiveSafe mobile safety app to notify DPS as well. WE NEED YOUR HELP – Ignore the coyotes. They are wild animals. – By nature, coyotes fear humans. Attacks on humans are extremely rare. – Don’t feed the coyotes or leave food out. – By not approaching the coyotes nor feeding them, we can help deter them from being on campus. COEXISTING WITH COYOTES For additional information on how to coexist with coyotes, please visit the Los Angeles County Animal Care & Control website.
Full COYOTE ALERT body from the official USC DPS Community Safety Advisory page published July 1, 2025; en-dashes and curly apostrophe in Don’t preserved. Standard footer boilerplate omitted.
Supervisor rule-0 audit (2026-07-18): demoted from isVerbatimConfirmed:true -- the cited source is USC DPS Community Safety Advisory #20, dated July 1, 2025, roughly five months after this case's February 2025 sighting cluster, and DPS's sequentially-numbered advisories track their issue dates closely, so this text is not confirmed as the message actually sent during the claimed February window (DPS plausibly reissues a near-identical templated coyote advisory each time sightings recur).
Message elements

How the first alert is built

To check this alert, Claude (an AI) read it in full 25 separate times, independently. Each read decided whether the message answers each of the six questions and gave a short reason. A final reviewer then weighed all 25 and wrote the plain-English verdict you see when you open a row. The score (for example 22/25) is how many reads agreed; the 25 individual reads are tucked underneath if you want to check them.

COYOTE ALERT The university has become aware of community members interacting with coyotes on campus. Please do not approach wild (non-domesticated) animals, especially coyotes. Do not feed wild animals or attempt to pet them. TIPS TO AVOID COYOTES – If a coyote approaches you, yell or make loud noises. – If you encounter an aggressive or fearless coyote, call the Department of Public Safety (DPS) at University Park Campus at (213) 740-6000 or Health Sciences Campus at (323) 442-1200. You can use the LiveSafe mobile safety app to notify DPS as well. WE NEED YOUR HELP – Ignore the coyotes. They are wild animals. – By nature, coyotes fear humans. Attacks on humans are extremely rare. – Don’t feed the coyotes or leave food out. – By not approaching the coyotes nor feeding them, we can help deter them from being on campus. COEXISTING WITH COYOTES For additional information on how to coexist with coyotes, please visit the Los Angeles County Animal Care & Control website.

  • Sourceabsent0/0

    Who is sending the alert and who is responding. People act faster on a message from a clearly identifiable, credible sender, such as a named department, the police, or a branded alert system, than on an anonymous notice. A branded signature counts.

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  • Hazardabsent0/0

    What the threat actually is. A complete warning names the specific danger, such as a shooter, a fire, a tornado, or a gas leak, rather than a vague emergency, because people decide what to do based on what they are facing.

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  • Locationabsent0/0

    Where the threat is. Saying whether danger is in a specific building, a part of campus, or area-wide lets people judge their own proximity and choose a safe direction. Without a where, a warning is hard to act on precisely.

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  • Guidanceabsent0/0

    The protective action to take. A clear, specific instruction, such as shelter in place, evacuate, avoid the area, or run-hide-fight, drives faster and more correct protective behavior than describing the threat alone.

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  • Timeabsent0/0

    When the message applies. A timestamp, the word now or immediately, or a phrase like until further notice tells the reader whether the danger is current and how quickly to act.

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  • Impactabsent0/0

    What the hazard could do to the people in its path. Beyond naming the threat, a complete warning conveys its potential consequences or severity, such as that a tornado can level buildings or that a leak could be explosive, so recipients grasp how much danger they are in. Research on warning message content finds that a concrete impact statement helps people personalize their risk and act sooner.

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Systematic AI judgments with visible reasoning, not human-validated codings.

About this analysis
Context

Background

Coyotes are common across Los Angeles, and in early 2025 one took up residence near the center of USC's University Park campus. The Daily Trojan first reported sightings on February 5, 2025, with additional documented sightings on February 10, 12, and 13 near the Annenberg School for Communication and Bing Theatre. Annenberg Media reported that DPS assistant chief David Carlisle said the department had received several reports of a coyote near the center of campus, and that students should call the DPS emergency number or use the LiveSafe app for aggressive encounters. One student reported the coyote following her and lunging. NBC Los Angeles noted the USC coyote was one of many across the city. DPS said it had received multiple sighting reports but no attacks. The case shows a campus using its discretionary Community Safety Advisory tier for an ongoing wildlife presence rather than a single dramatic incident.
Analysis

Key Findings

USC's Department of Public Safety used a discretionary Community Safety Advisory, not a Clery timely warning, to address a coyote living near the center of campus in February 2025
DPS reported multiple sightings but no attacks, and directed students to call (213) 740-4321 or use the LiveSafe app for aggressive encounters
The advisory responded to an ongoing wildlife presence over several days rather than a single incident, illustrating sustained-risk wildlife messaging
Outcome
No attacks were reported. DPS told students to call its emergency line (213-740-4321) or use the LiveSafe app to report aggressive coyotes, and not to run if confronted.
Provenance

Sources

  1. Student Paper
  2. Student Paper
  3. News
  4. Official
  5. Official
Cite this case

Campus Alert Archive. "University of Southern California: Campus alert, February 5, 2025." Incident of February 5, 2025. Added May 2026; last updated July 2026. https://campusalertarchive.com/case/usc-coyote-community-advisory-2025-02-05/

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Alert text quoted on this page remains the work of the issuing institution; the archive is a secondary source.

Tags
wildlifecoyoteadvisorycaliforniacommunity-safety-advisoryuscUnder Investigation
Added May 2026Updated July 2026Via ingestion