Community members lined up and spoke passionately about a U.S. Department of Agriculture specialist’s killing of five coyotes near Wildhorse Golf Course Tuesday night.
Shortly after the public comments, the City Council unanimously voted to terminate the City's contract with the USDA. City wildlife specialist John McNerney will handle urban wildlife concerns while staff drafts up a new plan, according to the Davis Enterprise.
How should the city approach coyotes in the future? Share your thoughts below.
The superintendent who contacted USDA Wildlife Services said that he had received complaints about the coyotes from several residents. Neither he nor the USDA specialist ever contacted city or county officials prior to the killing of the coyotes -- four young ones and one fully grown.
The energy that filled the City Hall chambers Tuesday night has also manifested itself in the form of a Facebook group: Save Davis Coyotes.
The Facebook group has become a landing place for Davisites to weigh in on the coyote killings at Wildhorse as well as the city’s termination of the contract and its future approach to urban wildlife -- specifically coyotes.
“It was particularly heartening to see so many folks show up for an issue that should never have happened in the first place,” wrote councilmember Lucas Frerichs. “These days in local governments, so many of our issues are ones where there are no good answers... and tonight, we were able to set the City on a much better path.”
Check out the Save Davis Coyotes Facebook group here, and share your ideas about how the City should approach these wild animals now that the USDA contract has been terminated.
We'll be following this story in the coming days. To keep up:
The Sacramento Bee did a three-part series on USDA killings this spring:
- The killing agency: Wildlife Services' brutal methods leave a trail of animal death
- Wildlife Services' deadly force opens Pandora's box of environmental problems
- Suggestions in changing Wildlife Services range from new practices to outright bans
Here are some other detailed stories:
- The Davis Vanguard posted the city’s full contract here.
- You can read the Davis Enterprise story here.
