Coyote Attacks, Kills Cat, 3300 block Ladoga; A Night Earlier, Australian Sheepdog Is Killed, And Two Cats On Two Successive Nights; Pair Of Coyotes Is Believed Active In Area Roughly b/w Palo Verde / Fanwood (caveat: very rough boundaries) </small>

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Coyote Attacks, Kills Cat, 3300 block Ladoga Ave.; A Night Earlier, Australian Sheepdog Is Killed A Few Blocks North, And Two Cats On Two Successive Nights; Pair Of Coyotes Is Believed Active In Area Roughly b/w Palo Verde / Fanwood (caveat: very rough boundaries)

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(Sept. 5, 2015, 10:35 p.m.) -- LBREPORT.com has learned that a coyote(s) attacked and killed a cat on early Saturday evening (Sept. 5) on the lawn of a home in the 3300 block of Ladoga Ave (east of Palo Verde, south of Wardlow Rd.) Photo below shows LB Animal Care Services responding to pick up the cat's remains.

Photo by Charlie McGrail

LBREPORT.com has also learned that a night earlier (Sept. 4), at least one (perhaps two) coyotes attacked and killed an elderly Australian Sheep Dog a few blocks north.

And for roughly the two nights preceding, two cats were killed by coyotes (one on each of two successive nights.)

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LBREPORT.com has reliably although unofficially learned that a pair of coyotes -- one estimated to be about 35 pounds, the other about 40 pounds -- have been sighted and are believed active in the [rough boundaries] general area between Palo Verde Ave. and Fanwood Ave. (one block east of Woodruff Ave.) and north of Spring St. [but caveat: wildlife areas obviously change.]

LB's Dept. of Animal Care Services has information at this link on safety and prevention reminders.

LB Animal Care Services currently follows a draft Coyote Management Plan that applies a tiered system of responses. We believe the area is currently at Level Yellow [one step up from Level Green.] At Level Yellow, "A coyote appears to frequently associate with humans or human related food sources, and exhibits little wariness of human presence, including unattended domestic animal loss. Coyote is seen during the day resting or continuously moving through an area frequented by people. Education and aggressive hazing needed, volunteer hazing team created."

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Above Level Yellow are Levels Orange and Red. At Level Orange, a coyote "is involved in an incident(s) where there is an attended domestic animal loss [and] Coyote [is] entering a dwelling or yard where people are present, or acting aggressively towards people..." At Level Red, "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) [and] will work with DFW to locate and eliminate the responsible coyote(s).

(LB Animal Care Services has its draft Coyote Management Plan online at this link.

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, the Long Beach City Council voted 9-0 on Aug. 11 to "receive and file" (take no Council directed action) on a coyote-related item agendized by Councilwoman Stacy Mungo after over two hours of sharply split public testimony -- some strongly opposed to trapping/killing coyotes (some saying data show it's ineffective), others disputing the data and citing specific examples of increased coyote encounters, fearing for the safety of their pets, their children and the elderly, some saying they feel trapped in their homes and the City should do something more than it's doing now.

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Councilwoman Mungo's agendized item (Aug. 3), joined by Councilmembers Supernaw and Uranga, was to "study the potential of establishing a coyote mitigation program to address the growing presence of coyotes in Long Beach and to report back to City Council within thirty (30) days." Mungo's memo didn't say what methods "mitigation" included or didn't include, did cite costs of trapping [and thus killing] coyotes, and attached but didn't take a position on LB Animal Care Services draft Coyote Management Plan.

As the Council vote approached, Councilman Al Austin suggested the receive and file action as a blunt reformulation of Mungo's motion...which she accepted saying it was consistent with what she had in mind two hours earlier.

The result let Animal Care Services staff put its draft Coyote Management Plan online (which it has been for some time) with revisions suggested by the Councilwoman. The revised revised draft is visible at this link with additional public comment invited. Animal Care Services [not the Council] will now revise and finalize the plan and implement it under the Dept. of Parks & Rec without further Council action.

The Council outcome pleased supporters of coyote management actions (education, hazing, co-existing) advocated by the Humane Society of the United States and was the opposite of stronger actions, including lethal removal, urged by members of a "coyote watch" Facebook page.

The net result of the Aug. Council action: no immediate changes for now; future changes consistent with LB Animal Care Services draft Coyote Management Plan.

As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, the Long Beach Animal Care Services draft Coyote Management Plan is very 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 implemented roughly four weeks of trapping/killing coyotes as well as taking other measures including education and eliminating attractants.