Laserfiche WebLink
Feral/stray and owned outdoor cats congregate where there is a food supply which, in the case <br />of TNR colonies, feeders provide often around dusk If +".': ;e ronveniently near homes, there <br />may be porches or open sheds for temporary shelter, gardens for bathrooms, and roofs and/or <br />high concrete walls from which dogs can be taunted into endless barking. <br />COYOTES LOVE CATS -- THEY'RE DELICIOUS! <br />A new study by the National Park Service has found that 20% of urban coyotes' diets consist of <br />cats and are surging in 96 out of 105 cities surveyed. They have mastered survival in urban <br />environments, much of which can be attributed to some adjustments in diet from garbage and <br />small rodents to their competing predator --cats. They have also become adept at entering <br />residential yards and densely populated communities from which they shied just a few years <br />ago. <br />According to a study by Justin Brown, biologist for Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation <br />Area, Los Angeles had 16 coyote attacks on humans in 2016, a huge increase from just two in <br />2011. A March 18, 2019, post shows a coyote with P " ' Ica- of mange devouring a cat in <br />someone's driveway in Hollywood in broad daylight, and one community in Culver City <br />recorded 40 pet deaths from coyotes in just six months last year. <br />The NPS's findings come from examination of coyote scat from more than 30,000 specimens <br />collected during a period of two -and -one-half years, showing that the increase in residential <br />gardens may be drawing coyotes into the neighborhoods and yards where cats and dogs are <br />easy prey. <br />Can we even imagine how many of these were TNR'd feral cats that are "sitting ducks" as they <br />devour the food dumped in an exposed area by a caregiver? This also attracts rats, mice <br />skunks, raccoons, local stray (unaltered) cats, and, of course, coyotes. <br />ARE COYOTES STILL KILLING RATS, OR JUST EATING MORE CATS? <br />California Code of Regulations, Title 14, Section 251.1 (California Department of Fish and <br />Game) prohibits "...an intentional act which disrupta a,, anal a, � normal behavior patterns, <br />which includes... feeding or sheltering." <br />