Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Wily in the pursuit of coyotes

The LA Times has this story about the conflicts between wildlife and suburbia:

For years, coyotes have fed on pets in this hilltop neighborhood. When residents complain to the county, the county calls Rizzo. The trapper, born and raised in the hardwood forests of the Mississippi Delta, specializes in California's big predators: coyotes, bears and mountain lions. Bear and lion problems make news. Coyotes make business. Rizzo spends about 80% of his time tracking, trapping and putting down wild canids from Pacific Palisades to Twentynine Palms. His services are at once widely sought and controversial, reflecting suburbia's conflicted relationship with its wildlife. This month, animal rights groups demanded the Huntington Library halt Rizzo's trapping of coyotes in the botanical gardens, threatening in a letter to make a "broader public issue of the case." At the same time, neighbors in San Marino have demanded the library do more to cull the coyotes living on the 207-acre property and feeding on their pets. One woman even sued the Huntington after her Pomeranian was killed a couple of blocks away.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It should be pointed out this trapping is in the City of San Marino at the Huntington Library, Not in the City of Los Angeles as the caption misleads people to think. Los Angeles uses progressive deterrents, frightening methods, property alteration and education to reduce the wildlife forays in the first place.