Follow-Up: LB Animal Care Services Mgr. Says Crews Will Be Conducting Some Patrols In Naples Island Area This Week & Will Be On Alert For Daytime Coyote Issues, Says His Agency Worked With Councilwoman Price & Naples Improvement Ass'n To Help Get Educational Info To Residents
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(Oct. 21, 2015) -- LB's Dept. of Animal Care Service Manager Ted Stevens tells LBREPORT.com that his agency's crews will be conducting some patrols in the Naples Island area this week as well as being on alert for any daytime coyote activity issues. Mr. Stevens says his agency worked with the office of Third District Councilwoman Suzie Price and the Naples Improvement Association last week to help get educational information out to residents.
As LBREPORT.com reported over the recent weekend (Sat Oct. 17 late evening entering Sun. Oct. 18), Naples Island residents have reported coyotes visible in the Naples area -- including reports of some coyotes traveling in a group and at least one visible cat killing. (We cited a firsthand/witness account plus reports on a "coyote watch" Facebook page.)
LBREPORT.com received information from a credible source (a firsthand/witness account) of an incident on Thurs. Oct. 15 at about 7 a.m. in which coyotes were sighted in a group on Via De Roma near The Toledo. "One just trotted casually down the street, and there were three coyotes on The Toledo at Via Del Roma," our source said. "Neighbors were outside commenting on how many they'd seen...A lot of people called animal control and they never showed up" [to the residents' knowledge.]
LBREPORT.com is separately aware of reports appearing on a "coyote watch" Facebook page (whose participants have urged a more forceful city response including trapping/killing coyotes.) [Their Facebook page is closed to non-members and has blocked us (and some other reporters) from directly following their newsworthy dispatches; we manage to follow their reports as newsworthy using alternative means.]
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On Saturday (Oct. 17), a coyote-watch Facebook page member sent this dispatch: "Coyote sighting. Rivo Alto Canal and The Toledo bridge. Had a cat in its mouth. Headed east on the Toledo toward the Yacht Club. 20 min later neighbors reported dead cat body in yard. When they went out to clean it up three more coyotes appeared and they tried to have [apparently meant haze] but felt threatened by the pack. Cat body parts found further down the road." The Facebook page member emailed a number of city officials, described what had taken place...and continued:
I've lived here 20 years and never seen anything like this. It is like living in a 3rd world country right now. People feel like they can't even go outside at night or in the early morning. They are afraid not only of what might happen, but what they might see...I was walking my dog when neighbors stopped me to tell me about this. As a taxpayer and homeowner, I am more than concerned...We need action not rhetoric.
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The developments come as LB's Animal Care Services department is finalizing a Coyote Management Plan -- a draft of which has been online for public review for nearly a year -- and may or may not make changes to the draft text in response to public input and updated data.
The developing-finalizing plan comes after the Council voted 9-0 on Aug. 11 to "receive and file" (take no Council directed action) on an item agendized by Councilwoman Stacy Mungo that, as plainly restated by Councilman Al Austin, lets Animal Care Services receive additional public comment...and lets Animal Care Services [not the Council] revise, finalize and implement the plan as it deems advisable without further Council action.
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As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, LB's Dept. of Animal Care Services recently released the map (below) and comparative data chart by zip code showing various levels of reported coyote encounters. The map (below) covers the period from Jan. 1, 2015 through Sept. 9, 2015. The data chart (below) displays data from Jan. 1, 2013 through Sept. 9, 2015.
"COYOTE REPORTING 1/1/15- 9/9/15"
City of LB Animal Care Services map
The data chart (below) indicates a major increase in coyote sightings in 90808 in 2015 (year to date) compared to 2014 (full year), while sightings had dropped significantly in 90803 -- at least through Sept. 9, 2015 -- compared to 2014 (full year).
(It's not immediately clear if the increase in 90808 in 2015 results from better resident reporting or a genuine increase in coyote numbers...or both (since they're not inconsistent.)
Another numerical caveat: 2015 numbers may be understated; LB ACS says "In March and April 2015, the online coyote report form was temporarily unavailable."
As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, the LB ACS draft Coyote Management Plan is quite similar to a Coyote Management Plan adopted in March 2015 by voted action of the Seal Beach City Council.
In Sept. 2014, the Seal Beach Council initially conducted roughly four weeks of trapping/killing coyotes and other measures (including education and eliminating attractants.) Seal Beach's implemented Coyote Management Plan defines "Level Red" as: "A coyote that has been involved in an investigated and documented provoked or unprovoked close encounter or attack on humans. City staff may work to lethally remove the responsible coyote(s) after a thorough investigation of the incident(s).
Compare: Long Beach's draft verbiage defines "Level Red" as: "A coyote that has been involved in an investigated and documented provoked or unprovoked attack on a human. City staff will notify California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW). City staff will work with DFW to locate and eliminate the responsible coyote(s)."
Long Beach's "Level Orange" response verbiage currently states:
A coyote is involved in an incident(s) where there is an attended domestic animal loss. Coyote entering a dwelling or yard where people are present, or acting aggressively towards people. Several level 2 type incidents in the same general area may indicate the presence of a habituated coyote(s). Education and aggressive hazing needed, volunteer hazing team created, public awareness of incident(s) and circumstances discussed. If multiple level Orange incidents have occurred in the same vicinity within a short amount of time, lethal removal may be recommended.
File photo Sept. 5: LB Animal Care Services responds to the 3300 block of Ladoga Ave. (east of Palo Verde, south of Wardlow, zip 90808) after a coyote attacked and killed a cat on a resident's front lawn.
