I'm trying to get in touch with animal lovers, vegans, animal activists & outdoor enthusiasts to let them know that the city of South Pasadena is going to trap and kill local coyotes.

Apparently some in the city have claimed the animals are not afraid of people and are showing aggressive behavior.

I myself have had a few encounters with coyotes recently and none have tried to attack me. I have written to the city council about this and told them that there must be a better way to deal with the situation.

Here is the article that was in the Pasadena Star News:

South Pasadena To End Coyote Scares
Animals caught will be killed

By Mary Bender

SOUTH PASADENA -- Responding to a rash of recent encounters with aggressive coyotes, authorities will trap and euthanize some of the animals, city officials said.

Alarmed by the coyotes' uncharacteristically bold behavior, several residents demanded the city capture the animals before anyone particularly children near two area schools is hurt.

Those who addressed the City Council on Wednesday night live next to the Southern California Edison right-of-way near Marengo Elementary School and South Pasadena Middle School.

"This beast is terrorizing our neighborhood. I want it to live somewhere else right now,' said Laurel Street resident Dave Kinnoin.

"Unprovoked, this animal came at us,' said Spruce Street resident Kathy Gordonson, who described the coyote as "human aggressive.'

She said a walk around the area turned up signs that pets had been eaten. "We found collars from pets, with the tags still on them,' Gordonson said.

"This animal jumps over the fences. My son was on his way to work on foot, and the animal chased him,' said Laurel Street resident Linda Lynch.

Mayor Michael Cacciotti said he saw a large coyote in December while jogging with his two Labrador dogs on Milan Avenue.

Police Chief Daniel Watson told the council he had sought help from the Los Angeles County Department of Agriculture.

On Thursday, Edison officials granted the city and county a "temporary entry permit' to come onto the utility's right-of-way, where the coyotes are believed to live and which they use as a travel corridor.

"The city has contracted with us to do coyote suppression, so we may put out traps as soon as next week,' said Ray Smith, bureau chief of the county agriculture department's weed hazard and pest management bureau.

The coyotes will be killed after they are trapped because the animals can not be relocated. The traps are considered nonlethal and humane, Smith said.

"It's sort of a loop made of heavy (metal) cable that's buried under the ground. When the animal bites at a trigger mechanism, it flings a cable around its neck,' Smith said.

"The trap is baited with dog food, mixed with glycerin to keep it moist,' he said. "It's not a toxin. It wouldn't make them sick. But when we catch the animal, it's going to be destroyed.'

The coyotes could be taken to a county animal shelter to be euthanized.

"They're losing their fear of people, and the No. 1 reason is that someone's feeding them,' Smith said.

But "they do serve a function in the community they keep the rodent population in check,' Marysia Wojcik, chairwoman of the city's Animal Commission, told the City Council.

The Edison right-of-way runs from the electrical utility's Garfield substation near Fair Oaks Avenue and Raymond Hill Road down to a substation in Alhambra. Power poles with 66,000-volt lines are installed there, and various entrances to the right-of-way are fenced and gated, said Christine McLeod, a public affairs region manager for Edison.

One stretch of the 40-foot-wide corridor runs behind the middle school. Many residential back yards abut the right-of-way, which landscaping crews weed and trim a few times a year, McLeod said.

"We're not in the business of advocating the killing of animals. But at this point, it's a public safety concern,' McLeod said.

-- Mary Bender can be reached at (626) 578-6300, Ext. 4456 or by e-mail at mary.schubert@sgvn.com. ]

And to show that it is in fact a real article, here's the link to it:

http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/Stories/0,1413,206%7E22097%7E1938664,00.html?search=filter


I hope that this will be of some interest to you. If you think this is the wrong way to handle this situation PLEASE call or email the city of South pasadena to voice your complaint. This is our city website:

http://www.ci.south-pasadena.ca.us/

If you disagree with me and think this is the right course of action then thank you for reading this through and I'm sorry to have taken your time.

After you have destroyed all the coyotes what are you going to do with the tens of thousands of disease carrying squirrels that will then thrive? I've got some good recipes if you desire.

I remember being on a first "date" with a beautiful Mexican girl who lived near a track of undeveloped land in the Pasadena area. We were out in the brush drinking some beers when we heard some rustling in the bushes. All of a sudden, a jack rabbit came ripping down the dirt path, followed by two coyotes. The coyotes stopped in their tracks when they saw us but the rabbit kept on runnin'! It was really an amazing site that we will never forget. I hope people in the future have an opportunity to witness events like this as well. It is a neat to see after spending so much of my time in a car, office, factory, etc.

As a former Pasadena resident I can say that the real problem in that area is a superabundance of obnoxious, affluent yuppies. The coyotes should be released in Old Town, where if all goes right they will chase these pests out of the city. Then those diagonal crosswalk lights, which sure as hell will kill people in accidents if they are left there, can be removed.
By the way, a little over a century ago, in the 1890's, a bear wandered into what is now Old Town and wound up on Raymond Avenue.