AR-News: (CA) Help Stop Indiscriminate Killing of Coyotes in Glendale, CA

[Jill Kiesow]

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>Help Stop Indiscriminate Killing of Coyotes in Glendale, California
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>The Glendale City Council recently voted to spend $24,000 toward increased 
>killing of coyotes in the city, responding to concerns that coyotes have 
>been preying upon feral cats locally. However, many Glendale residents are 
>outraged with this decision and do not want to see limited city funds 
>spent on killing coyotes in their community.
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>The City Council's vote in support of increased funding for lethal coyote 
>control goes against the recommendations contained within a report 
>provided by its own staff, which strongly advises against aggressive 
>coyote removal. Instead, the report advocates increased educational 
>outreach efforts and enforcement of city codes that leaving pet food and 
>other coyote attractants outdoors at night. The report clearly makes the 
>case that lethal coyote control is most often ineffective and often 
>counterproductive because of the coyote's ability to rebound after 
>aggressive lethal removal efforts.
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>Your voice is needed to help stop this cruel and pointless trapping 
>program from being implemented! Please contact Glendale City Council 
>members and the Mayor of Glendale, and ask them to reconsider this 
>misguided coyote-killing plan.
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>Glendale residents: Make your voice heard before the City Council, which 
>meets every Tuesday evening at 6:00pm and accepts public comment on any 
>issue local citizens want to address. Location:
>City Council Chambers
>City Hall Building
>613 E. Broadway
>Glendale
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>Contact:
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>Mayor Bob Yousefian
>City of Glendale
>613 E. Broadway, Suite 200
>Glendale, CA 91206-4391
>818-548-4844
>818-547-6740 fax
>Frank Quintero - Councilmember
><mailto:fquintero at ci.glendale.ca.us>fquintero at ci.glendale.ca.us
>Gus Gomez - Councilmember
><mailto:gomez at ci.glendale.ca.us>gomez at ci.glendale.ca.us
>Dave Weaver - Councilmember
><mailto:dweaver at ci.glendale.ca.us>dweaver at ci.glendale.ca.us
>Rafi Manoukian - Councilmember
><mailto:rmanoukian at ci.glendale.ca.us>rmanoukian at ci.glendale.ca.us
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>Points to include in your letter:
>    * By voting in support of increased funding for lethal coyote control, 
> the Glendale City Council is going against the recommendations of its own 
> staff report! The report, provided to City Council members at their March 
> 23 meeting where they unanimously voted to increase funding for coyote 
> trapping, directly advises against aggressive coyote removal. Instead the 
> report strongly supports increased educational outreach efforts and 
> enforcement of city codes making it illegal to leave pet food and other 
> coyote attractants outdoors at night. This is where the City Council 
> should place its limited resources!
>    * Neck snares are inhumane, indiscriminate, and unnecessary and should 
> not be used in urbanized areas where they pose a hazard to non-target 
> animals, including companion animals and children. In fact, the staff 
> report states that "trapping, shooting, and poisoning pose dangers to 
> non-target animals as well as to humans, and could lead to lawsuits 
> against public officials." While proponents of the Collarum neck snares, 
> currently used in Glendale, argue that this snare is more humane that 
> standard steel cable snares, published studies have shown that Collarums 
> can cause significant injuries, including swelling of the head (which is 
> so common that trappers refer to such traumatized coyotes as 
> "jelly-heads") and severe tooth and mouth damage, caused by coyotes 
> chewing on the snare cable in an attempt to free themselves. A study 
> published in Wildlife Society Bulletin concluded that the Collarum neck 
> snare fails to meet minimum humane trap standards.
>    * The staff report also states, "Although [trapping] is the method 
> used and advocated by the County, it is still subject to catching 
> non-target animals. Prior to being shot, the animal can experience a long 
> period of pain and trauma, since traps are checked only once every 24 
> hours. It is non-specific for a particular animal and may lead to 
> temporary reduction in the local population that may cause other 
> problems, such as vermin explosion or the arrival of transient 
> opportunists. Since it uses non-city personnel, it may also be expensive."
>    * Scientific research demonstrates that killing coyotes is often 
> counter-productive, and may actually lead to population increases. The 
> staff report states this very clearly: "The elimination of coyotes has 
> never been successful. Wherever suppression has been attempted, the 
> coyote has filled the void by increasing its reproductive rate, breeding 
> at an earlier age, and enlarging its litter size. Individuals from 
> outside the community will also migrate in to fill the empty ecological 
> niche."
>    * Coyotes play a vital ecological role and help keep rodent 
> populations in check and mesopredator (raccoons, foxes, skunks, opossums) 
> populations in balance. Without the presence of larger carnivores such as 
> coyotes, mesopredators can proliferate and seriously impact local 
> populations of ground nesting birds.
>    * Urge the Mayor and the City Council to reconsider their misguided 
> coyote-killing plan and instead put the $24,000 toward an effective, 
> humane, and community-based program to co-exist with coyotes, as 
> recommended in the staff report, includes the following components:
>        * "The most effective method of control is to eliminate the 
> elements that attract a coyote to an urban area. In cities resembling 
> South Pasadena, the largest food item found in coyote's stomachs has been 
> garbage. Other elements that attract coyote's away from their natural 
> food source are intentional feeding, unsupervised pets and pet food left 
> out of doors."
>        * "A highly publicized information campaign exposing the 
> consequences of intentional or unintentional feeding of coyotes."
>        * "Active and continuous enforcement of existing ordinances 
> concerning the sanitary disposal of garbage and the supervision of pets 
> and children, including periodic intensive crack-downs, especially in 
> central city areas where coyotes tend to be least welcome."
>        * "The formation of a committee or organization of citizens, to 
> deal with coyotes and other animals in the city on a long-term basis by 
> providing and receiving information, and by being an avenue for residents 
> to handle concerns about animals before they become a problem."
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>Thank you!
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>For more information, please contact API at info at api4animals.org
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>Posted 04/12/04 - Okay to Forward/Crosspost
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