Correspondence to the city of Huntington Beach

On Mon, Oct 29, 2012 at 4:33 PM, Surf City Pipeline <surfcity@user.govoutreach.com> wrote:

Dear Carolyn,Your request # 12674 has been resolved with the resolution:
Carolyn Matthews,
Thank you for your concern about coyote activity in Huntington Beach.  I am the liaison for animal control issues between the City of Huntington Beach, Orange County Animal Care (OCAC) and the California State Department of Fish & Game (DFG).  I have forwarded the information you reported to the OCAC and DFG.
It is obvious by your email that you feel the City hasn’t been doing anything about educating its citizens about coyote issues.  However, educating our residents is an important part of our strategy.  Last year we added a coyote information page on our city website and it has been promoted via Facebook and Twitter.  The webpage is updated as new information is obtained.  This information will also been included in the November issue of the Neighborhood Watch Newsletter.  We have conducted neighborhood meetings with wildlife experts in the past.  Most recently in August 2012, an urban wildlife specialist from the Humane Society of the United States in Washington DC came to Huntington Beach to give a presentation about living with coyotes.  The presentation was recorded and has been broadcasted on the local “Channel-3” cable station. It is also available for your viewing anytime on our website and on YouTube.  I encourage you to watch the presentation at your leisure.  It
provides very useful information and tips on dealing with coyotes in our suburban environment.  Hopefully, more people in our community can get informed by viewing this information. We have also contacted Orange County Public Works in an effort to have overgrown brush areas in the local flood control channels trimmed back to limit hiding areas and dens. Additionally, I provide a monthly report to OCAC and DFG of all coyote-related calls received by our Police Dispatch Center.
Trapping has been another strategy that the City has used in the past and may elect to do again in the future.  However, trapping can be dangerous to domestic animals, like cats and dogs, as well as humans, especially children.  Wildlife experts have told us that trapping or eradicating coyote populations can lead to other problems, such as an increase in the rodent population (rats, mice and rabbits, for example), and can actually lead to higher numbers of coyotes. This is because coyotes from other areas move in and over-breed to fill the vacuum and take advantage of the now more abundant numbers of natural food sources causing coyote numbers to actually increase rather than decrease.
You mentioned in your email that people are afraid. A great way to overcome fear is education.  Hopefully our citizens can educate themselves about living with coyotes in our suburban environment by visiting our city web page.  Since we started keeping track of animal-related calls, here is an interesting statistic: In the past 12 months, we received 18 reports of pets (cats and dogs) that were attacked by coyotes while during those same 12 months, OCAC received 88 reports of pets (cats and dogs) that were attacked by dogs.  Also, there has never been a report of a coyote biting a person in Huntington Beach while there were 195 reports of dogs biting people in the city last year alone.
Coyotes are a part of our community as well as all communities in California, even very urban communities.  This is because coyotes are quite adaptable and are attracted to residential neighborhoods for many different reasons.  Most of the time, they are attracted by humans, whether on purpose or not.  This is usually due to readily available food sources, such as pet food being left outside by a well meaning cat or dog owner.  Not only can pet food be an easy meal for a coyote, but the food also attracts rodents which in turn attracts coyotes.  Even something as innocent as a bird feeder will do the same thing.  Uncovered trash cans, fruit trees, and overgrown plants and bushes are attractants because they can provide food and shelter for coyotes.
Unfortunately, sometimes food is deliberately provided by people who like to watch wildlife or by those who feel they are helping the animals by feeding them.  If you see these types of attractants in your neighborhood, please help us and educate your neighbors on this issue or feel free to point them to our website which has links to urban coyote information. Limiting these attractants can reduce the number of coyotes in a neighborhood.
Generally, coyotes are reclusive animals that avoid human contact.  However, coyotes that have adapted to urban and suburban environments may realize there are few real threats and may approach people or feel safe visiting areas, even when people are present.  These coyotes have become “habituated” (lost their fear of humans).  Habituated coyotes may even approach people for handouts.  These bold coyotes should neither be tolerated nor enticed, and definitely be given the message that they are not welcome.
You mentioned that “hazing” doesn’t work. As you know, hazing is a method that makes use of deterrents to move an animal out of an area, discourage an undesirable behavior or reinstill the natural fear of humans back into coyotes.  It is often as simple as making yourself loud (by yelling or using noisemakers) and large (by standing tall and waving your arms).  Hazing can help maintain a coyote’s fear of humans and deter them from neighborhood spaces, such as backyards and play areas.  Experts have told us that other communities throughout the country have successfully used hazing to reverse undesirable behavior in their coyote populations.  We should listen to the advice and count on the experience of experts in these fields.
Thank you for your inquiry and I hope you will help us educate your neighbors in how to deal with coyotes they may encounter in the city.  I have placed several links below regarding coyote issues.  Please take a look at them at your convenience and thank you again for your inquiry.
http://www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/i_want_to/coyote-info.cfm
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/keepmewild/coyote.html
http://egov.ocgov.com/vgnfiles/ocgov/OC%20Animal%20Care/Docs/regulatory/coyotes.pdf
http://www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/announcements/attachments/preventing-coyote-conflicts.pdf
http://www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/announcements/attachments/coyote-hazing-guidelines.pdf
http://www.huntingtonbeachca.gov/residents/videos/hbtv3/coyote-meeting.cfm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_rhZcX0GyA
Sincerely,
Lt. Steve Bushhousen
Huntington Beach Police Department
Traffic/Aero Bureau
 714-536-5661
sbushhousen@hbpd.org
www.hbpd.org

This is in reference to the Question on Police – All reassigned inquiries to the PD you submitted on 10/22/2012  9:50 PM
Description:

Attached are reports of  what is coming in regarding the coyote issue from the residents of Orange County.  Most are from Huntington Beach.   Here is the link:  https://docs.google.com/folder/d/0B7V0P13qeMcMRUxOeHNDLW1KV2s/edit  As you can see,   ‘shooing’  aka  ‘hazing’ them is not working.   People are afraid.   Children are at risk.   Coyotes, no, not afraid.

This happened on the edge of HB, this pack of 4 is travelling between both cities.  http://www.coyotesinorangecounty.com/coyote-attack-4-coyotes-attack-dog-in-fountain-valley-home/

Are you going to wait till a child is attacked before you do anything.   These are the facts.  Please review them.

If you take away food, do you think they will sit politely and starve?    No, they will attack more pets,  which really is there food source, not a odd weiro feeding them.  They are daily eating our pets.   Daily stalking people.   Your fear should be what will happen if they get hungrier,  will a toddler be next.

As for the whole ticket someone who feeds them,  really, what is a ticket going to do?  Are you going to start monitoring people’s backyard?  Ticket for leaving food out for a cat?

I would like to address their food source too.   The fact that is, they have eaten all the cats.   You never see a cat in our neighborhood.  Because of that, we have rats.  Rats are all over the place at night,  we hear them climbing fences, see them on the wires, hear them in the shrubs.   No,  the coyotes are not eating them.  A dog or cat is much easier to catch and a heck of a better dinner for the effort.  Never before have we had such an issue, there is no trash around here either.   This is a clean neighborhood.

So, sorry, none of these plans of food or hazing would work, unless you got every single person in HB on board, and that will never happen.   You will never get every single person to haze a coyote.   Most people will freeze and watch them.   As you saw, the people that state they hazed the animals, they didnt seem scared.

I had a report that the children at a bus stop and a toddler on the other side of the street.  The mom had her eye on the other child at the bus stop.  When she turned, guess what was looking at the toddler,  yes, a coyote.

There was another report of a grandma pushing a toddler in a stroller with a little dog.  She had to be rescued by another driver as a coyote was stalking her.

At the VERY least there should be notices in the water and electric bills.   You cant expect people to protect themselves if they are not aware.  Yes,  people are still being taken off guard, they are not aware.   Imaging moving to this area, and no notice,  your pet is killed and left for your children to find.  This could of been prevented, but its not, because the city is failing to notify new residents.   Please, its time to take some sort of action, even if its just notifying people.

Think about what YOU would say to the parents if they lose their child to a coyote.  Would you say, sorry, we told people they would get a ticket, but the coyote didnt get the message.  Sorry, we said Boo, but it didnt seem they listened.  Think about it,  what are you going to say?

Thank you,
Carolyn Matthews
Coyotes In Orange County
www.CoyotesInOrangeCounty.com
Huntington Beach Resident