April 22, 2004

Wildlife forum answers questions, raises concerns

By Kymberli W. Brady
Staff Writer

Approximately 35 Almaden residents gathered at the Santa Clara Valley Water District on April 15 to discuss the recent increase in wildlife interactions with people and pets along parks and restored creeks in Almaden.

Four days later, three coyotes surrounded a woman walking her dog on Vargas Drive near Guadalupe Oak Grove Park. Fortunately, she was able to make it home with her pet unharmed.

Santa Clara County Vector Control Specialist Mike Phillips admitted that coyote sightings during daylight hours pose a threat to neighborhood safety. “They've been seen going into the Villas in the evening when it's not even dark yet,” he said. “It looks like we'll probably have to go in there and remove them.”

The increase in wildlife interactions is the very reason why retired San Jose State University professor and Almaden resident Patrick P. Pizzo organized the forum to inform the public of potential threats and discuss pro-active measures that might help bridge the educational gap and promote positive relationships between wildlife, people and pets. Recent incidents where a fox entered a neighbor's home and took a pet cockatoo from its cage, along with the coyote abduction of a cat in front of its owner and the sighting of a mountain lion sunning itself in another resident's driveway prompted Pizzo into action.

“We've seen an increase in our area over the past year,” he said. “These interactions will continue to increase because of the environment, and negative events will occur. These topics need to be discussed.”

Along with Phillips, various field experts, including Santa Clara Valley Water District representatives, Al Gurevich, engineering manager for the Guadalupe Watershed and Doug Padley, wildlife biologist, along with Jeannine DeWald from the California Department of Fish and Game, gathered to field questions and offer suggestions on peacefully co-existing with the wildlife.

Although he loves the habitat around his home, Pizzo remains troubled by the district's lack of policies and procedures that would provide adequate participation and response as increasing interactions resulting in negative consequences.

“We're trying to bring back some of the habitat that was once here and extend it out,” admitted Gurevich. “Obviously that involves mitigating some of the impacts that we've incurred. I really never thought about whether mountain lions were going to come down and eat people. It's a relatively new phenomenon that we're getting hit with and I think this is really important so we can all handle this situation—if there is a situation.”

According to Padley, when the district sets out to do a new project, they are required under the California Environmental Quality Act to review certain actions and related impacts according to state guidelines—questions that deal with potential impacts the project may have on wildlife populations. The guidelines do not ask questions about what effect local wildlife may have on people, unless it is directly related to managing the wildlife species.

At issue is the growing concern that mitigation projects have created an overabundance of wildlife—something else the guidelines fail to address, unless the environmental planner conducting the analysis is sensitive to the issue or there is a history of problems in the area.

Padley admitted that neighborhood maturation, along with the mitigation effort along Guadalupe Creek, continues to play a role in the increased wildlife population and the rise in interactions. However, he placed the blame in other areas on the adaptation of wildlife to the presence of humans.

In addition to keeping pets inside at night, DeWald suggested using aversive tactics if confronted by wild animals, such as yelling, banging pots and pans, waving sticks, and spraying predators with a hose in an effort to maintain a proper balance. “Resist habituation,” she asserted. “Help keep the wildlife wild.”

“While it may be true that some populations of wild animals have increased or become more visible, these species have been in the area for many years and went largely unnoticed,” reminded Padley. “Because of local events involving pets and human wildlife interactions, there's certainly a lot more concern today than there was five years ago.”

“I'd like to know where the responsibility is?” asked Lynn Bumstead, who lives in front of the meadow on Los Capitancillos Drive. She recently lost her 14-year-old cat to coyotes and considers the wild animals to be vicious and unpredictable. “I don't think it's a good mixture and I don't want anyone else going through this,” she added. “It sounds like they are only going to act if the animals prove to be aggressive. It's just like we hear on the news—until somebody dies, then things will change. ”

Although Phillips admitted that documented evidence must exist proving that an animal poses a direct threat to public safety before he can set his traps, he said the dilemma had more to do with sifting through bureaucratic red tape. “The problem I have when they have a coyote that has attacked a pet or confronts someone at their home is the placement of my trap,” he said. “I just can't put it in somebody's front yard, because now I'm exposing it to children and other animals. Then, we have to get permission in writing from property owners. That's the hard part.”

Phillips often runs into resistance from residents around Guadalupe Oak Grove Park, who are hesitant to allow the traps. “Last year, I had to make arrangements with the Villas of Almaden to do my trapping on top of the knoll,” he claimed. “They don't want to see the coyotes in the traps.”

A dangerous trail?
Increased coyote and mountain lion sightings cast new fears on a proposed bike trail through Oak Canyon currently under review—a potential danger, according to Bumstead—that would be too risky for children and families who will use it with their pets.

“There is a review process underway for the trail,” reminded Pizzo. “Right now, we have an opportunity to provide input and make a difference, to ask if they've considered wildlife interaction with pets and the negative consequences that could arise from that. They have to study it and give a response.”

A request has been made for more information on future review process meetings and AVCA President Bob Boydston promised to post the details on their Web site ( www.avca-sj.com ) when it becomes available.

Territorial issues with proposed dog park
Also underway is a proposed dog park inside the Guadalupe Oak Grove Park and many argue about the justification for installing it in a known coyote habitat. Phillips warns that it will be a problem. “At certain times of the year, the coyote becomes very territorial and he won't put up with a dog in his area,” he said. “They told me that this dog park would be totally fenced off and the coyotes wouldn't be able to get in there. Well, coyotes love to dig underneath chain link fences.”

Phillips says that installing the wire underground at a 90-degree angle along the fence will go a long way toward preventing coyotes from digging through. “We do the same thing with skunks to keep them out from under decks,” he said. “They also have rollers to prevent coyotes from scaling the fences. There are a lot of things they can do, they just have to ask the right people.”

Please don't feed the animals
In an effort to further circumvent wildlife problems, Padley warned residents to stop offering food to wild animals, as it could result in overpopulation and crossover of disease, particularly where food is abundant. “Given the chance, the animals will regulate their numbers,” he said. “But when you have supplemental feeding, their social structure breaks down.”

“You're really feeding the rats and the squirrels,” added Phillips. “If we can break up their food source, it will really help.”

DeWald agreed and issued a second warning to people with bird feeders. “It really isn't a good idea,” she said. “In addition to feeding undesirable species such as rats, you create an artificial boon in the bird population. Then if you move or stop feeding them, they're suddenly stripped of that food source and the population goes down. It has a negative effect.”

“What about nectar feeders?” asked Boydston, to which Phillips did not see a problem, other than an increase in yellow jackets. “It's minimal though,” he said.

Padley disagreed. “People want to feed throughout the winter,” he noted. “Hummingbird populations are not migrating, so they become trapped when the weather turns cold and there's a population die off. It's a large scale problem.”

Another increasing problem lies in leaving pet food and containers outside. “At night, you're not just feeding your animals, you're feeding all the wildlife in the area,” Phillips said. “And that includes rats, opossums, raccoons, feral cats, and skunks.”

The problem has the potential to escalate when work is done on the home and openings are left that provide rodents with a plethora of nesting opportunities during the rainy months, which include warm, central heating systems, hollow plumbing areas, and fiberglass lined attics. These are all factors that draw larger predators into the home and have in the past led to increased sickness among the residents—problems Phillips said started disappearing once homeowners rodent-proofed their homes and wildlife proofed their yards.

Home Invasion and preventative maintenance
Although Pizzo felt that very little was offered in the way of support among the agency reps for pro-active steps to limit negative interactions, prevention remained at the core of the forum, with the need to educate residents on preventing rodents and larger animals from invading their homes.

The increase of roof rats, sewer rats and field mice has been linked to the abundance of fallen fruit in resident's yards. “It's very important to keep your yards cleaned up,” Padley explained. “Allowing fruit to remain on the ground for just a few days can increase the likelihood that wild animals will come in and feed on that fruit.

“In many respects, the Water District depends on you, our neighbors to do your part, just as we are going to do our part to help,” he added. “We need you to maintain your landscape and not feed the animals.”

To control overpopulation, the county offers free home inspections and education outreach, with suggestions and reference materials on preventative maintenance. “There are so many things out there that can help keep these animals out of your yard,” said Phillips. “We're here as a reference, to talk to neighborhoods having problems and help solve those problems.”