Los Gatos votes to kill coyotes/San Jose holds public forum

[Guest guest]

San Jose will be holding a public education forum/panel regarding

coyotes on Wednesday, September 15 at the Vineland Library, 1450 Old

Blossom Hill Road in San Jose. The meeting starts at 6:30PM.

Animal friendly people need to attend also to speak up on behalf of

the coyotes and let San Jose know we do not want leghold traps used

again!

 

Please also contact Los Gatos Mayor Steve Glickman and voice your

concern over the town's decision last week to trap and exterminate

coyotes in Los Gatos. Encourage him to follow the public education

and humane abatement plan proposed by Little Blue Society

(www.littlebluesociety.org) as many other Silicon Valley

municipalities have done. Also suggest that Los Gatos

representatives attend the San Jose's public forum meeting this week.

 

Mayor Steve Glickman

Civic Center, 110 E Main Street

Los Gatos, CA 95030-6904

sglickman

(408) 358-7889

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5943055/

http://www.svcn.com/archives/lgwt/20040901/lg-coverstrip2.shtml

 

 

---------- Forwarded Message ----------

 

Please contact Santa Clara County Vector Control and County

Supervisor Don Gage to POLITELY encourage them to use humane

alternatives to killing local coyotes that are being sighted in

Almaden and Los Gatos foothills...Vector Control Field

Specialist Mike Phillips has been involved in lots of media/press

lately and the hysteria seems to be mounting. He wants to use

horrible leg-hold traps to kill these poor coyotes. There are more

modern, humane techniques available that do not involve killing!

 

Please recommend that the County use public outreach/education and

humane abatement techniques as proposed by Mary Paglieri from Little

Blue Society. See below for Mary's comments and a list of other

Silicon Valley cities who use humane alternatives to deal with their

coyotes.

 

Articles:

http://www.almadentimes.com/current/notrap.htm

http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/news/082504_nw_coyote_sightings.html

 

Santa Clara County Vector Control District:

976 Lenzen Avenue

San Jose, California 95126

(408) 792-5010 or (800) 675-1155

(408) 298-6356 fax

Manager: Tim Mulligan

http://www.sccgov.org/site/0,4760,sid%253D262810,00.html

 

County Supervisor Don Gage:

Phone: (408) 299-5010

Fax: (408) 295-6993

70 West Hedding Street

San Jose, CA 95110

http://www.sccgov.org/content/0,4745,chid%253D0%2526ccid%

253D161209,00.html

 

**********

 

LBS Comments:

 

I have made contact with the County and had my first conversation

with Edwin Chan (Asst. to Sup. Gage). He is very interested in

allowing us to put on a public educational meeting. I will be

talking with him again this Friday.

 

I also spoke with the new Fish and Game Warden responsible for the

Almaden area, and he is most definitely on the same page as us in

taking an integrated approach to manage the coyote situation, and

leaving trap/kill as the very last

resort if there is one problematic coyote and all non-lethal

intervention fails. He assured me that he will use the utmost

discretion in issuing a depredation permit using leg-hold traps to

the County VC.

 

Apparently, Mike Phillips met with him yesterday - no doubt to

discuss authorization to use the leg-hold traps. He will let me

know if anything happens. I've worked with Fish and Game pretty

closely on other coyote issues, and this new warden is pretty

reasonable in his approach. He will also be on the informational

forum as a speaker.

 

I visited the link you sent, and it looks as though Mike Phillips is

again fueling the flames. It would certainly be very helpful if you

could start a letter writing campaign to VC and demand that Mike

Phillips stop his fear campaign - that it is irresponsible and

counter productive to a positive solution. I truly doubt that there

is a lack of prey in the hills as the article states - I think the

problem is that there is an over abundance of prey around the

neighborhood e.g. unattended cats. - and where there is plentiful

prey, the coyotes will come! Without a site evaluation, it's truly

impossible to say what the cause is, but I'm certain it is human-

driven.

 

I will contact the town of Los Gatos tomorrow with a similar

proposal to see if we can nip the mounting hysteria in the bud.

 

Will keep you posted.

 

Best,

 

Mary A. Paglieri

Human-Animal Conflict Consultant

President,

Little Blue Society

President,

Urban Wildlife Informational Network

 

Voice: (650) 365-8623

Cell: (650) 465-7371

Fax: (650) 508-1902

www.littlebluesociety.org

 

--* * * * * * * --

LBS Comments:

 

We have assisted cities and counties with coyote problems throughout

the Bay Area for the last 4 years. The methods are non-lethal and

we also use habitat modification and den displacement techniques.

 

Furthermore, we educate the public on how to discourage coyotes from

their properties and instruct on what to do and not to do, if they

encounter or are approached by a coyote.

 

I am rather disheartened by Mike Phillips' comments about how

coyotes will go after children if there are no more pets to be

taken - it's trapping propaganda - it's works by frightening the

public - making it easier to push through their

agenda. And of course, trapping and killing is a perenial

programthat does not work.

 

2 steps to our " Coyote Vexing " (aversion-behavior modification)

program:

 

1. An interactive public forum in the area with concerns, with

educational

materials.

2. Site investigation and implementation of proactive non-lethal

strategies.

 

Here are some of the areas we have resolved human-coyote conflicts

with 99%

success, without reoccurance:

 

Sawyer Camp Coyotes² The Founder and Director of LBS, Mary A.

Paglieri, was the Chair of the Wildlife Subcommittee, San Mateo

County Fish and Wildlife Advisory Committee. She helped write the

Coyote Protocol for San Mateo County Parks and Recreation

Department. And she designed the Coyote Safety/Informational

Brochure currently in use by the County. Ms. Paglieri also helped

put together the Coyote Forum of San Mateo County, where she

introduced LBS¹s Coyote adversion/behavior modification techniques.

 

Bernal Heights Coyote² LBS acted in an advisory capacity to San

Francisco Animal Control to safely encourage the coyote to leave the

Bernal Heights area.

 

Portola Valley Coyotes² The Portola Valley Ranch Association

contracted with LBS to deal with several coyotes that were attacking

pet dogs in the neighborhood. A public education campaign was

launched and a proactive strategy to encourage the coyotes to leave

the area was implemented with successful results.

 

Coyotes in San Ramon² After a dog was killed by a coyote while being

walked on a leash, the City of San Ramon contracted with LBS to

launch a public educational campaign and implement a proactive

strategy to keep the coyotes from loafing in an area frequented by

people. The City generated much positive PR for choosing a non-

lethal approach to solving their wildlife ³problem.²

 

Scotts Valley Coyotes² After several pet cats were taken by coyotes,

the City of Scotts Valley contracted with LBS to mediate and assuage

the anger and fear of residents concerned about their own safety and

that of their pets. The residents were educated on proactive

methods of safely avoiding contact with the

coyote.

 

Belmont Hills Coyotes² After coyotes were loafing and foraging in

the residential neighborhood of Belmont. The Belmont City Police

Department invited LBS to launch a public education program to teach

the public on how to safely and peacefully coexist with the coyote.

 

Pacifica Coyotes² LBS acted in an advisory capacity to the City of

Pacifica, on how to deal with coyotes in their open space that had

become acclimated to human presence.

 

Woodside Coyotes² LBS acted in an advisory capacity to the Town of

Woodside, to educate the residents on safely and peacefully

coexisting with the coyotes.

 

Coyotes in North Clacamas County, Portland Oregon² LBS acted in an

advisory capacity to the North Clacamas Parks and Recreation

Department, on creating policy dealing with problem coyotes in

public areas.

 

Best,

 

Mary A. Paglieri

Human-Animal Conflict Consultant

President,

Little Blue Society

President,

Urban Wildlife Informational Network

 

Voice: (650) 365-8623

Cell: (650) 465-7371

Fax: (650) 508-1902

www.littlebluesociety.org