Travis County Commissioners Court
October 19, 2004
Item 27
27 is consider and take appropriate action on proposed interlocal with Texas
wildlife services to address a coyote problem in Travis County by cost sharing
a wildlife management specialist. Good morning.
>> good morning, judge and Commissioners. I知 against any
attempt to exterminate the coyotes.
>> okay, you are a resident who has come down to give testimony.
>> yes.
>> it is not your turn yet.
>> okay.
>> if you will stand by, it will be your turn real soon.
>> should I stand by here? Okay.
>> thank you.
>> this will be number 1 in terms of comments.
>> good morning, judge, Commissioners.
>> good morning.
>> we -- as indicated in my letter, we have received numerous
calls from residents mostly in the northwest part of the city. My office has
received calls from all over the county, but a large concentration in the
31 zip code area, people that are having unwanted interactions with coyotes.
I visited with the judge and tried to advance a little bit of a dialogue with
the state agency and federal agency who has the expertise in dealing with
wildlife damage management and predator control across the state and across
the nation, which many of you you would familiar with used to be called Texas
wildlife damage management service, now it's called Texas wildlife services,
which is a division of Texas cooperative extension. We met a week or so ago
and a proposal was submitted to cost share a person who would deal with wildlife
management in Travis County full time. So that has been presented. I have
with me bruce leland, the assistant agency directer from san antonio with
Texas wildlife services, and he will be glad to answer questions related to
the proposal and to the process that would take place in the county.
>> can we just, before ms. Leland chats with us, can we just
get a description of the problems that have been called to our attention?
>> sure. In terms of the problems that we have been aware
of and the calls that we've had, and I know that some of you, your offices
have been receiving calls as well, but a lot of the calls we've been getting
have been related to attacks on pets, people's cats and small dogs are being
attacked and killed. A couple of instances of people walking their dogs and
coyotes getting a little aggressive, getting a little close and, you know,
just causing alarm with people. A lot of the people that have been calling
are simply fearing that the coyotes are getting to a point of being aggressive
enough they don't want their children playing outside in their yard or in
playgrounds and areas where coyotes have been seen. Those have been a lot
of calls. Numerous calls on attacks on pets.
>> jeff, our office has been getting quite a few of e-mails
and calls on thisen one of the points of confusion is that almost without
question all of the calls are coming in within the corporate limits of the
city of Austin. And normally there is respect related to whose jurisdiction
this is. We don't want to get caught up in its a jurisdictional thing.
>> right.
>> but if the county wants to proceed forward with some kind
of something, what permission do we need to get, if anything, of anything
occurring with the jurisdiction of the city of Austin where there are rules
related to trapping and whether it's on their land or in public right-of-way
and certainly anything related to the use of any kind of guns?
>> right. Right.
>> far harvesting.
>> absolutely. Bruce can expand on this.
>> let me say first of all, pleasure to be here. This situation
with coyotes is not just unique to the city of Austin, Travis County or the
state of Texas. It's a national issue. It's been a national issue for about
20 years now. The incidence of human-coyote interaction in more urbanized
areas be it a rural setting or urban setting have increased 17-fold across
the country. Now, with regards to the Commissioner's question about what authorities
do we need, our program operates under, you know, the state and federal --
or abides by state, federal and local laws and ordinances. For us to operate
within the city limits of Austin, we would need -- possibly need a variance
to the ordinance or local statutes. Same thing in the county or in the state.
You know, so we abide by or follow laws and regulations unless there is exemptions
provided or variances provided.
>> is that strictly related to setting off a gun or does
that --
>> all operations --
>> setting of any kind of perhaps.
>> our entire program whether it's traps or use of firearms
or any other thing that we do as an agency, you know, whether it's -- it all
-- we abide by federal law, state law, local ordinances, unless exemptions
or variances are granted.
>> the other big question is unfortunately one where you
have to talk about liability and that is because there have been instances
where folks have gone out to get something that has escaped, you know, wild
animal and things happen and there's lawsuits. Who assumes the liability,
especially when you are in an urban setting where there are schools nearby,
there are houses nearby? I知 scared to death with halloween coming up and
kids cutting through those woods by hill elementary school of what they may
or may not find not only in terms of predators but if terms of if something
were set there. Kids are kids and they will be curious. How do we handle liability?
>> that's easy to address. As far as liability, the issue
of liability, we're cooperatively federal, state and local program. We're
m.o.u.s with the state and local authorities or local associations or counties
that we provide services to. The federal government assumes liability for
an action of our employee. If it's proven that we were negligent or the incident
was our fault.
>> you are a federal employee?
>> yes, sir.
>> your agency is a federal agency that contracts with the
state of Texas?
>> federal, state and local cooperative program. Yes, sir,
it's -- it's supervised by the federal government and through state statute
and through m.o.u., The state participates in the program.
>> so we get indemnified? Looking at my attorney here --
I didn't say anything specifically in terms of all the --
>> liability issues would be taken care of through the federal
tort claims act.
>> okay.
>> so are you the one who came by my office?
>> no.
>> now, so you will need, I guess, a variance to whatever
ordinance may keep you from functioning effectively.
>> correct.
>> you will need authorization to enter on to city and county
land.
>> yes.
>> and I guess from residents who contact the specialist
and ask for assistance, you will need the property owner's permission to go
on --
>> right. And we seek to secure that through a permission-type
agreement that we sign with the resource owner. And if that resource owner
is not interested or refuses to grant permission to our personnel to be on
their property, we're not on that property.
>> okay. Now, money does enter into this.
>> yes, sir.
>> describe that for us.
>> we are a cooperative agency and funding for our program
is cooperative in nature. And the proposal I think before you all today is
to cost share an employee with our program, with our agency.
>> $40,000 came up.
>> $40,000, yes, sir.
>> it was it 40 or 20?
>> my understanding is it's 40. But I think -- a lot is going
to depend on when the position -- if the position is approved and when the
position is filled.
>> and that gets us what?
>> $40,000 will get you an employee supervised by us. That
individual will be a wildlife biologist. The need for a biologist in this
particular situation is due to the interaction with people and the controversial
nature of the sub that we're dealing with and the knowledge that we need to
have in that employee to provide the quality service.
>> this is one employee full time.
>> one employee.
>> in this area.
>> now, you do have support. In addition to that one employee.
>> okay.
>> we have a group of individuals within the state of Texas
that are -- we refer to them as troubleshooters. Their positions are such
they can go anywhere in the state. College station has a troubleshooter in
the seguin area. And those individuals are there to participate or assist
in cooperating counties should there be a need for additional work or manpower
in that location. In addition, we do have an employee stationed here in Austin.
That position is technical assistance oriented. But that individual could,
as time allows, assist with any operations here in the city of Austin as well
as Travis County.
>> one employee would support and supervision?
>> right.
>> can you just describe for us what that person -- how this
important goes about his or her duties of helping to manage this population?
Assuming we enter into a contract.
>> what this individual would do -- first of all, we only
work on a request basis. So it's initiated by someone in the -- you know,
in the community or the county calling in saying I have this -- I have a situation,
a problem with coyotes and I need your assistance. That individual would meet
with the landowner or if it's in an incorporated area or a community setting
or development setting, might even -- probably would precipitate the need
to meet with the homeowners association to look at the problem and then decide
the -- what methods or not odd ology, what approach to take to try to resolve
that problem. Methodology.
>> can we be more precise with language because this is going
to come up and the woman who was first reflects the two schools of thought.
There are folks that are saying do whatever is necessary, and that uses the
"h" word which is harvesting, which we all know that that means. There are
those that want to do with what they do at Lakeway with their deer population,
catch and release, make it go away, but use another "h" word, which is humane
and relocate these animals. What are we talking about here because I think
depending on what you tell us, you will either have some support or full support.
>> dealing with wildlife issues are controversial, no doubt
about it. And the more urbanized the situation, the more conflict or more
controversial they are. Each individual call that's received does not result
-- necessarily result in a coyote being harvested. Okay, or euthanized, or
trapped or shot. Okay? The employee, our employee has to look at the overall
situation and determine what can be done to resolve that problem. Some of
it could be cultural in nature. People quit -- first of all, people bring
their pets in at night. People don't leave pet food out. You know, there may
be some exclusion things people can do on their property to minimize the coyotes,
you know, frequenting their place. So you've got to look at the entire picture
of what's going on out there. Somebody may call and say I call a coyote. Well,
we'll go out and look the property over and it may be a dog, it may have been
a german shepherd versus a coyote. No, I知 not saying coyotes are not in the
city of Austin. I知 just saying that, first of all, you have to have an understanding
or you have to have an understanding of what is really out there. Okay? You
have to be -- you have to make an informed decision. Okay? And then any action
taken, you know, to remove the animal or to address that situation we'll be
based on sound biology and sound science. And if it includes removing the
coyote with a leg-hold trap and euthanizing it, then that would be the direction
that we would take.
>> what about relocating?
>> as far as relocating coyotes, currently in the state of
Texas you cannot relocate coyotes. [buzzer sounding] due to the rabies outbreak,
the state has put a ban on relocation of coyotes within the state of Texas
and without the state of Texas.
>> that's a state law?
>> a state order. An emergency order.
>> so in terms of the things that we've already heard --
>> now, from the standpoint of if we take that order aside
and we look at relocation of wildlife, the relocation of wildlife is not a
sound biological practice. You have issues with translocating or relocating
a deceased animal into a healthy population. You also have issues that come
up -- that could come up, they haven't yet, but with liability. You take an
individual coyote or an animal that is causing damage to property, you move
it to another location and that animal starts causing problems at that location,
then there is a potential liability issue. In addition, a lot of species,
and I知 not just going to talk about coyotes, but a lot of wildlife species
do not fare well when you take them out of their core or home environment
and thrust them into somebody else territory.
>> so am I hearing that the options are you could proactively
move ahead and if you choose to go this route, we can help you.
>> yes.
>> but it's either trapping, euthanizing, or it's going to
have been we do nothing and work on an education thing of people doing things.
The option of humane trapping just makes them go away, but make sure they
are alive whether they leave here is not going to be an option.
>> the first step is to recognize you have a problem. That's
a very first step. Then the next step is to take some proactive approach to
dealing with that problem. Okay? Now, as far as our agency's involvement,
I mean we're one of many possibilities that you have out there to look at,
okay? As far as addressing problems, should somebody decide to address the
problem, okay? As far as what the final disposition of that coyote or -- is
going to be, if the coyote needs to be removed, if it's determined that coyote
needs to be removed, we would remove it. If it doesn't need to be removed,
we won't. If it requires a cultural change, okay? So you can't apply one thing
across the board in dealing with wildlife issues. There is no silver bullet
as far as methods or approaches to resolving human wildlife conflict and there
never will be.
>> what other state of Texas counties does your organization
have interlocals with?
>> have cooperative programs with? Is that what you are wanting
to know?
>> yes.
>> we've got roughly 108 cooperatively funded employees in
63 counties. Or across the state. As far as metropolitan areas --
>> central Texas.
>> central Texas --
>> bastrop.
>> Williamson, bastrop.
>> burnett. Llano.
>> yeah, most of the hillcrest. -- hill country.
>> burnett, llano, bastrop did I here?
>> uh-huh. Williamson.
>> hays.
>> hays.
>> blanco.
>> so basically counties that surround us.
>> pretty well.
>> [inaudible].
>> they know they are not wanted in the other counties so
they seek out Travis County. [laughter]
>> I don't believe they seek out Travis County. I think they
are just in Travis County. They've always been here, they always will be.
>> is there some reason -- I guess we have this problem annually,
but this year seems to be worse than previous years.
>> well, what you've got is, you know, as I mentioned earlier,
this is a national problem. If you look at the 20-year -- as far as the incidence
of coyotes in urban suburban areas, population is growing. Coyote numbers
across the country are not going down. As far as Travis County goes, you've
got people moving into coyote, you know, habitat, you've got coyotes moving
into human habitat. Coyotes adapt readily to humans. You've got pwraoepb belts,
parks, waterways that allow animals of all kinds to move in. And what you
are seeing is you are seeing the various stages of coyotes interacting with
humans. Nationally it starts out, well -- normally it starts out, well, I
saw a coyote tonight. And then you see -- there's actually a process or a
methodology that coyotes have that's been documented. You start seeing them
at night, pets disappear at night, then you start seeing coyotes during daylight
hours, pets disappear during daylight hours. Then you start having coyotes
bite people. You have coyotes killing leashed dogs. And then you have coyotes
to get to the point where they are no longer frightened adults and they become
aggressive towards adults. You just see this progression or evolution of the
animal's behavior as they adapt to humans.
>> so how do you determine whether the management prom is
working? First we would look at it from the standpoint of human health and
safety. And, of course, the idea would be to intervene into the situation
before somebody gets bit or injured. As far as success goes, you know, if
it was -- if I could tell you that if you started a program today and, you
know, one year, two years or five years down the road there won't be a coyote,
you know, in, you know, the city of Austin or Travis County, I would be feeding
you a line. There's no way. There's always good-bye to be coyotes here. So
you look at the lack of, I guess, calls from the community would be one thing
as far as particularly aggressive coyotes towards people. Of being one way
to measure. If we are -- you know, if anybody were able to do the job that
needed to be done as far cd be one of the first things you would notice is
that I no longer have or feel that I cannot walk down the street in my --
you know, in my development or community for fear that coyotes are going to
attack me. And then coyotes standing there, you know, challenging you in your
driveway. You won't have that.
>> okay. Let's get some testimony about the problem. Can
we do that?
>> sure. Can I back up and answer the first question you
asked, judge, in regards to the city versus county and where the calls are
copping from. A lot of the calls are coming from the city. Obviously I guess
with our -- with what our office does, we get a lot of those calls and because
I知 a -- I知 in a county department, I came to you with, you know, hopes that
we would be looking at other partners to bring it to the table. Not saying
that the county should shoulder all the responsibility of this program. So,
you know, hopefully that answers the first question that you had.
>> your interlocals with other counties or counties and cities?
>> the agreements you have.
>> we've had -- we've had -- most of them are county agreements.
We have had city agreements in the past. We had an agreement with the city
of san antonio up until last year, and due to budget constraints they were
no longer able to fund that position, that operational position in the city
of san antonio.
>> okay. We do have residents. Let's see if we can get some
testimony. We have five seats available. So if I could get five people here,
we will need to get your name and comments and I ask you to be courteous to
others to give as many as possible to give comment. After you have finished
if you would return to your seat and another person come forward. We would
keep this moving expeditiously. And if we could start at this way and work
our way around. Is that okay?
>> well, thank you. My name is annie gillespie. I知 a resident
of northwest hills, Austin, have lived there the last 16 years. I have a degree
in botany from the university of montana and I moved to Austin in 1981. I
was one of the first botanists hired at the lady bird johnson center and after
seven years of employment there started my own company in environmental survey
work. The last seven years, though, i've devoted my time to landscape design
and construction. I view the coyote problem as a health and safety issue.
We do not let our dogs run wild and I feel that coyotes pose similar threats.
The population is obviously increasing in size, and I think will you have
a lot of personal testimony so i'll sort of glance over all my individual
situations that I have encountered on my personal street, but actually I am
in fear where I live. The arguments that coyotes lived here first and deserve
to live among us is flawed. We do not live in an ecologically and balanced
environment. The deer population is a good example of what wildlife -- overpopulation
of wildlife request do, to the detriment of other species as well as our own.
The deer in northwest hills are heading towards numbers that exist if Lakeway
and due to our lack of management plans as a result we're not having any regeneration
of oak trees or any desirable hardwood trees coming back. We are creating
a sterile juniper wood land and many of the alien species are thriving. This
lack of diversity is also affecting other species such as birds, wildlife,
butterflies, things of that sort who depend on the diverse oak woodland. My
landscape work allows me to see with great regularity how starving deer are
eating things that are not normally palatable to them and it breaks my heart
to see this happening because I don't think this is humane. He think we need
to harvest the deer and then them in order for them to have a healthy population.
And I also think the same thing in terms of coyotes. The coyotes have historically
existed on the fringes of civilization and since the dome steu indication
of dogs, we have continued to push coyotes out from the center of our communities.
They have not lived side by side with us, but obviously they are starting
to now. So I feel the increase in the numbers of coyotes in our neighborhood
needs to be managed before we create an even bigger problem. The overpopulation
of coyotes may create a food stairs teu problem which will lead to more aggressive
behavior which we are already starting to experience. Just like deer eating
plants that are not palatable because of starvation, perhaps coyotes would
become aggressive due to starvation and the tragic situation is some little
child or adult may be hurt. I don't think we can eradicate the coyotes and
I actually saw a dead one on mopac on Sunday. So they are prosing over mopac
he -- crossing over mopac much we need to thin out the mop hraeugs and face
the fear of man kind back into the coyotes. We need to formulate some kind
of neighborhood program. People need to be educated about the size of the
population, the coyote behavior, what are the lists of dos and don'ts to do.
There's nothing out there for the general public. If you go to a state park
or a national park, the first thing you do when you pass the gate is they
give you information that informs you about the wildlife and what you should
do to better protect yourself and also the wildlife population. For thank
you.
>> thank you. [applause]
>> good morning, judge. I知 marry ellen mcfarland and I have
a house that backs up to shy valley ravine in northwest hills and i've lived
there 14 years. When I first moved in there, there were no coyotes. Over the
past few years I have seen one or two. In the last two years, I heard a pack
of dogs on a walk once, but they were far enough away it didn't bother me
n the last six months, I have been sleeping and heard the bone-chilling sounds
of a dozen coyotes devouring an animal in my backyard. It's terrifying. The
sound of all of these dogs barking at once and fighting and then the seu lens
when they get their kill, it's bone chilling really. And if we don't do something
now, something must be done or the next thing they eat will be a small child.
That is my warning to you. It's very clear to me. [applause]
>> judge, Commissioners, my name is kim dalafontos. I知 against
any broad attempt to exterminate the northwest hills coyotes. As already mentioned,
Austin is not the first community to have to deal with the coyote population.
And I think the approach we should first take is to learn from the other communities
that have dealt successfully with the problem and educate our residents about
the facts. That's very clear. I would like to make several points. I think
any action we take cannot be based on an emotional reaction to coyotes killing
our cats. That is just a -- not a rational response. The city of Austin euthanizes
6,000 cats a year and we cannot develop a plan just because these coyotes
are killing a few more cats to exterminate the coyotes. I have a better solution
for the cats. Keep your cats inside. Once you let your cat outside, you accept
the risk. Outside cats kill and may be killed. More likely from cars than
coyotes. My second point, this should be about protecting ourselves, our children,
and I lump dogs into children. Here's another fact. There were 761 dog bites
in the city of Austin last year. Of the -- I知 sorry, animal bites. Of those
animal bites, there were zero coyote bites last year and any previous year.
Zero. That's the good news. We need to protect ourselves from any potential
coyote attack the same as we protect ourselves from any dog attacks. I've
been attacked twice by a dog. And let's not forget about the 12-point buck
standing in our front yard who doesn't like the way we look at him. And let's
not forget about the de protecting her fawns and kills dogs and the rattle
rattlesnakes and the human extend sex offenders that live in our neighborhood.
Yes, we need to protect ourselves, but from more things than just coyotes.
I would like to point out the obvious. There is one benefit to having coyotes
in our neighborhood and that is a natural, all-natural solution to the deer
overpopulation. I have less deer in my yard now that I have coyotes. Trapping
and killing is an archaic 19th century solution to an old problem. Coyotes
have survived and even thrived in any attempt in spite of 200 years of attempted
extermination. Be assured that the Travis County population will survive any
misguided attempt to exterminate them. The reasonable solution is to educate
the residents. And if necessary, to humanely trap specific problem coyotes.
Thank you.
>> thank you.
>> well, my name is rich lampefpl rt, a resident in northwest
hills. I've been a resident for 11 years. For the first nine years I didn't
see a coyote. Now I see them and hear them on a daily basis. My son has witnessed
a coyote attack a deer almost chew off its leg, then the deer ran on the patio
of my next-door neighbor's house dripping blood and it's pretty upsetting
to him and upsetting to me and the neighbor to see this happen. I hear the
pups howling at night. After that incident with the deer, I went out to look
for this coyote and met him up outside the fence in my backyard. Had a stare-down
with this coyote. They are not fearing us, and they are not running away.
I must aoe kweuf indicate here to the lady who just spoke that kids are not
dogs. You can't treat them in the same vein. And if it does progress to that
point then we're going to have a real problem t other problem I fear is people
might take matters into their own hands. And I think that really needs to
be addressed and because that's probably -- that could create a dangerous
situation more than what is right now. Thank you.
>> thank you. [applause]
>> my name is jimmy June son and I live on bow hill drive
that is near 2222 and dry creek drive. My husband and I take care of the 20-month-old
grandson that you saw in here earlier while our daughter teaches school. A
couple weeks ago I was taking him on one of our traditional stroller rides
in the neighborhood. And he likes to go to an area where there's a little
stream of water and we can watch the leaves float bike little boats down the
water. I was about two blocks away from that stream when a lady stopped in
a car to warn me she had seen two coyotes as she drove by just a couple blocks
on down the roadway. So I told her I had seen a really skwaupby little coyote
on a couple of occasions in that same area so I knew that there were coyotes
around, but it had not threatened me and it was so skinny and ugly, it was
just scooting across the road like it wanted to get away. So I really had
not had that fear. I went on down just halfway down the block and let him
see the water, but instead of going our usual route on around the stream,
I turned around and headed back. I had gone just about a block and a half
-- of course, I had been looking cautiously since she had warned me. As I
was looking around, I saw a huge coyote in the side yard to our left. Of a
house we were passing by. He was not skinny. He was -- he looked well fed.
He was not a german shepherd. But he was the size of a german shepherd. I
know what a coyote looks like. This was a huge coyote. He looked at us, and
I just looked and continued to push the stroller slowly. As I did a bend in
the road, there was another one loping right up the middle of the street ahead
of us. So here I was sandwiched between these two german shepherd-sized coyotes.
Having flown this woman told me they had -- known this woman told me they
had chased her and her 85-pound dog on a leash, they had chased them that
same morning. With her turning around, yelling at them. They had no fear.
They got within 10 feet of her. And so I -- high heart stopped when I realized
I was between these two animals with this precious child. The other one looked
at us, turned around, looked, but decided to keep loping up I think it's called
holland path or one of those streets that intersects mostly sunny came climb.
Fortunately I was at a corner where I could turn and go a different area.
So I got away from them. I met a lady about a block away who was outside calling
her cat, who was an aged cat that normally stayed in the house, but that day
she had let the garage door open so it could come and go, and as she had driven
in she had seen these two same coyotes so she was very concerned trying to
locate her cat. She said because so many animals, not cats, but also dogs
have been attacked and killed, small dogs in our area. I too, I have a cat,
but it's not the same as human life. We would miss our catheter eubly, she
is like a grandchild to us, but I do feel that is a risk that we take in letting
her have the privilege of going in and out and knowing that we live in an
area that has lots of different kinds of wildlife. But this aggressive behavior
of coyotes that are normally nighttime predators in the middle of the day,
this was about 10:30 or 11:00 in the morning, with them out in broad daylight
just running free up the road, not scared of human beings is a chilling thought.
That indicates something is very wrong. With the population of the coyotes
in Travis County and particularly in our area. Of course, we all worry about
the rabies possibility too. And with the one who grabbed a cat and then kept
throwing itself at the door of the man on glenn garry when he yelled at it
and was trying to get at him through the glass door, and I heard that it was
frothing. You know, so we are all very concerned. The lady that was calling
her cat said two doors down there was a family that had just purchased a house,
had a brand-new baby, six weeks old, they were afraid to take that baby out
for stroller rides, and the reason they bought the house was the sister lived
two blocks away with another child. And they can't play together in their
yards or take those babies for stroller rides anymore. We lived on the edge
of bright leaf. Our driveway was connected to a georgia lucas property. We
lived there for 21 years. We knew georgia lucas who donated that land to bright
leaf, to the Texas parks and wildlife. She was a lovely lady. Some people
called her eccentric because she loved her cats so much, she had 30-some-odd
plus that lived at her summer home that she gave birthday parties for those
cats. She loved birds, she loved nature. She wanted that area preserved, but
I know she is rolling in her grave at this point with the number of animals
that have been killed by the overpopulation of the coyotes. The 21 years we
lived there, we never saw or heard a coyote. Now they are howling at night
over in that area because we still have friends that we go. We now live on
the other side of 2222. There is a culvert under 2222 where they can freely
range. Because bright leaf is not totally fenced in at all. So under that
culvert and right into a city-dedicated greenbelt that runs right by our house.
Now, you were talking awhile ago about whether you have to get permission
and everything, that's city property. You don't have to get permission from
residents because that is a city-dedicated greenbelt that runs 150 feet deep
all along there. About a month ago, this was before I really developed this
fear having seen the size of them in the daylight and all that, I heard a
pack howling in -- sounded like our backyard, but I knew, I said they must
be in the woods. So I flipped on the light, went out in our fenced backyard
and started clapping my hands and screaming to try to get them away because
something was squealing terribly in pain and the howling and all of this and
then suddenly there was this deathly quiet, as the lady said, and I can't
tell you how that affects your psyche. So they were gone. The next day I looked
for a carcass or something thinking maybe it was a small deer, but nothing.
I知 told they drag whatever it is away to their pups. So -- to feed. It's
really -- it seems this -- it's seeing this aggressive barrier and the numbers
that have increased within just the past years that is so scary to all of
us. And I don't want to be a prisoner in my own home and that's what I feel
like now, that I cannot even risk taking my grandson into the front yard or
to go on stroller rides in our own neighborhood. I love nature and wildlife,
but our children have to be protected. I've also heard that at hill elementary,
someone mentioned dawes, but at hill elementary, closer to spicewood springs
road that is correct the security guard is having to stand out in the playground
in the morning scaring off the coyotes while the children come to school.
This is not right in a city the size of Austin. I mean we're not out on the
pioneer desert, you know. This just doesn't make sense. In california where
the coyotes have been protected for so long, there have been numerous reports
of attacks on humans and the death of a three-year-old child. I want something
done before we get to that point. And I want us to do something to regain
safety for the children of Austin and of Travis County. [applause]
>> thank you. Yes.
>> good morning, judge Biscoe, Commissioners. I知 Karen smellson.
Usually when you see the news report of the coyotes recently the house you
see in the background is mine. We live right next to the greenbelt where the
coyotes have been coming out and attacking people that have been walking their
dogs. I grew up, my family built a home on high land hills drive 30-plus years
ago and I grew up in that neighborhood and I used to play in this creek behind
the house. And my husband and I had our own child, we decided it would be
kind of nice to go back to that neighborhood because I had such fond memories
and it is a wonderful place to live. So we were lucky enough to find this
home that backed up to the creek as well. And since then we've had another
child. So now we have a four and a half-year-old and a two-year-old. I have
a dog and a kitten. A six-month-old kitten that hasn't seen the outside of
the house since the day we brought her in there because we're fearful of letting
her go outside. Got a really cute cocker spaniel mix, but he's not too bright
in the way of the dog world so he would be absolutely no match for a coyote.
We have a high wire fence in the backyard. I won't even let him out without
me being here because I am fearful a coyote could easily get into the fenced
yard. We certainly don't let the kids out unless we're close to them. And
they can't play in the creek because those coyotes probably live not more
than 50 to 100 yards away. And when we moved into that house four years ago,
never saw a coyote. And certainly when my family lived in that neighborhood
30-plus years ago, there was no coyotes, no deer. We didn't come to the nuisance,
the nuisance certainly came to us. If I had a nickel for every time I heard
somebody say nothing is going to get done about this problem until somebody
gets hurt, I wouldn't quite be rich, but I would be well on my way. I certainly
don't want that to happen and I know that you all don't want that to happen
either. This is a problem that can be resolved. And like they were saying,
education is the first step. We can't leave food out, we can't be feeding
the farrell cats in the neighborhood. That is something that needs to be addressed.
But this is becoming a big problem. I saw three coyotes walking together behind
my house the other day and from what I understand there's many more adult
coyotes living in that small area behind our house. These animals are going
to move into the metropolitan area of Austin and it's not just going to be
our problem in our neighborhood, it's going to be the city's problem, the
county's problem, and then it's going to take that much more money and manpower
to correct it at that point. So I think we need to take care of the problem
now. It's probably gone too far already if they are already becoming aggressive
to humans in the area. And if you see one dead on the side of mopac, they
are certainly not afraid to go out to a busy highway like that. And the other
part of it is too, it's obviously not a good area for the coyotes to be living
in either if they are getting killed on an expressway like mopac. But more
than anything, like I said, I知 a parent and I知 gladly and happily charged
with the protection of my children and that's why I知 before you today because
I want to make sure that my children are safe in the neighborhood that we're
living in and I want to make sure all children in this city are safe in the
neighborhoods they are living in. And I hope that the Commissioners will address
this problem and handle it the best way they can. Thank you.
>> thank you. [applause]
>> good morning, judge Biscoe, members of the court. My name
is gary cohen and I am a resident of the highland hills neighborhood which
is one of the affected areas in the city. In fact, myself along with my neighbor
chris cox, our two houses occupy a large wooded tract of property that seems
to have been also one of the ground zero focal points of most of the news
articles with the coyote problem. Let me reinforce the sentiments expressed
previously. The problem is real. The fears expressed by the previous speakers
and by the ones still to come are genuine. What my concerns are are more oriented
toward the language in the proposals that you in front of you. Because the
draft documents that are presented for your consideration are very vague in
wording and convey a broad grant of authority to other governmental agencies
who have the authority in their discretion to even subcontract to private
entities. While I appreciated the comments of one of the first speakers here
about issues about liability and compliance with local ordinance, none of
that language, that limiting language is contained in these draft documents.
When you talk about a broad grant of authority to remove problem animals,
without detailing the manner and means of approval, you are getting into,
I think, some shaky grounds. The most traditional ways of management, to my
limited understanding, have been shooting and then lethal and non-lethal methods
of trapping, which could include devices, snares and spring-loaded devices
that dispense poisonous and noxious chemicals. While these manners and means
might be appropriate to a rural setting, in an urban environment they certainly
pose a high risk of collateral damage to the population. I think the last
thing that any of us would want to see would be a head line in the Austin
american-statesman about a citizen who was accidentally wounded or injured
through one of these trapping methods. So I have some problem with that. The
draft proposal needs to be revised to talk about limitation. It needs to contain
language about compliance with various municipal, county and state laws. And
it also needs to address, I think, the rights of private property owners.
While the previous speaker acknowledged that myself as a private property
owner would have the right to refuse entry or use of my property for one of
these means or methods, I would feel more comfortable if this was set forth
in the document. The last thing that I as a property owner and citizen of
this city want to see is someone employing a manner or means of population,
wildlife population control on my property that endangers a third party. And
I routinely have young children who are on this property all the time because
it's a large wooded, park-like setting. And I知 really concerned about what's
going to happen if your proposal doesn't adequately spell this out. The last
thing I think needs to be addressed is whether or not it is wise for this
court, for this agency to commit $40,000 to a project where you have not yet
secured the joint approval of the other governmental entities that you are
going to need to put this program into an operational phase. I don't know
whether you've had any discussions with the city of Austin. It would seem
that jurisdictionly you would need their cooperation and consent. And in terms
of variances of municipal and county and/or state ordinances and laws regulating
and regarding the use of the discharge of dangerous weapons within an area,
again, these are all issues that have not been resolved. And as a county governing
board, while I know that you want to address this issue and it needs to be
addressed, it may be a little precipitous to obligate public funds until you
have secured the other agreements. The need is there. The problem is genuine.
I just don't think, and I知 rather hesitant to agree with my neighbors and
other concerned citizens that the answer is as simple as some of them feel
it would be. Thank you.
>> thank you. Yes, sir.
>> my name is larry greenhall and I guess you could call
me the ring-leader. How many of you were here tore the coyote problem? If
you are here, stand, raise your hand, whatever. We have a pretty good showing.
This is 11:00 on a workday. A lot of people wanted to come but can't come
in the middle of a workday. We are not going to completely eliminate the coyotes
in Travis County nor would I want to. They serve a useful purpose. I do want
them to be dreadfully afraid of human beings. Even small human beings. I think
that's in our interest. To the lady who wanted to put dogs and restrained
dogs in the same category as coyotes, I want to watch her put a leash on a
coyote, you know. I mean these are wild predators. There is no place in an
urban environment for large numbers of wild predators. I知 not opposed to
predators. The owls, the occasional fox, the occasional coyote. Those are
all very useful in the system that we live in. But while I don't have any
hard statistical evidence, I知 absolutely confident that the coyote population,
at least in this particular part of the county, has just mushroomed over the
past two years. The coyotes are going to pay the tab, in my opinion, for a
lack of action for the past two to three years on the part of the city and
to some degree the county. Had we acted early on in this process, the number
of coyotes we would have had to remove would be fairly sphaupl and the problem
would be fairly manageable. As it is the coyotes have in a very productive
environment reproduced at a tenacious rate as you would expect them to. Now
we have a larger problem and we have to remove a lot more coyotes. That makes
me sad. At the same time, I have been accosted by these animals. I own a small
dog and I take him for a walk every day and one of the places we go walking
is in front of allen park. Three weeks ago two large coyotes that probably
weighed 40 pounds each came out from the houses across the street coming up
off the creek, I presume, and began to close on me and my dog. And the good
news is that I was on the park side of the street so they couldn't readily
get me between them. I wasn't confronted with ms. Johnson's problem of being
surrounded. But when I yelled and them they would back off maybe 10 feet and
waiting for me to turn around and continue the walk at which time they would
close the gap closer than they were about. I was not as much afraid for myself
as I was for my dog. Now, there's a property protection issue here. Part of
your responsibility is to protect people and property. Our pets are our property.
We spend lots of money with vets and dog food companies and cat food companies
getting them healthy and keeping them that way. We don't do that to furnish
a food chain for coyotes. The good news of living in Austin is everyone has
a voice. The bad news of living in Austin everyone has a voice. [laughter]
I think you need to be very consider -- I think you need to consider carefully
which voices you choose to listen to and what weight you give them because
I think there is a preponderance of one voice as opposed to the other. While
I would like everyone to have their voice and I would defend the right of
anyone to sit here and say what they think is appropriate, I think that the
overwhelming sentiment in this room is for us to get the coyotes under control
by whatever means is required. Now, I have a sizable number of letters and
e-mails that I will not bore you with. But I probably have 25 here from various
residents who saw a flier. Saw a flier that was distributed. And this is the
number of people that showed up. This is a very small publicity campaign.
We can generate whatever amount of traffic you deem is sufficient for you
to act. We need for you to act and we need for you to act now because in my
laymen's opinion based on some work that i've done, and i've talked to three
or four national coyote authorities, and they say -- the evidence they saw
coming out of the Austin, an attack is imminent. A child is going to get hurt
or killed. One of the worst case is a scenarios I can imagine is toddlers,
and toddlers make great escape artists. Getting out into the backyard and
disappearing with a coyote. Not making a sound. So all of a sudden the parents
are short a child, the police are out thinking it's a kidnapping. We never
find a trace. And the parents are left in that horrible situation and they've
lost one of their kids. It could easily happen. They are that aggressive.
The other worst case is a narrow are vigilante snipers. Bubba with his rifle
who loses his hunting kaug to the coyotes. Picks up a 3.06, shoves a clip
in and heads out the door. I知 going to find me a coyote and he's going to
pay. Now you have -- I understand mr. Koe even's concern with discharge of
weapons in the city limits. I知 much more concerned with citizens discharging
weapons around the county than I am with professionals discharging weapons.
I do not see any way to control this problem short of thinning the pack substantially.
Thank you for your time.
>>
>> [one moment, please, for change in captioners]
>>
>> I don't know that we need to hear the same thing numerous
times. Who is against the county, I heard one give cautionary statements.
One and a half or two.
>> I have a comment.
>> three right here. Who else is against, again?
>> hello?
>> hands up.
>> ? Indication.
>> I知 not against, but I do want to say something.
>> okay. Hold on.
>> our problem is that we --
>> can you raise that louder so we can hear --
>> who is against us trying to manage the coyote population
in Travis County? Who is against it?
>> that's a slight misstatement. I think that everyone would
agree management is in order. It's the way and the technique of that management.
Would be more appropriate.
>> who is against us managing in the way described by the
gentleman from the cooperative service and that is they go out and analyze
the situation, try to figure out what needs to be done, and they do it and
that's the authority they are asking for. Who is against that? One? Okay.
Now, my recommendation would be for us to hear the five at the table right
now. For the record I have -- I have exchanged voice messages with the appropriate
official at the city of Austin. They are supportive in every way except financial
was how I -- [laughter]
>> was how I interpreted the -- the communication. To be
honest I have not talked with them, this is exchanging voice messages. My
thinking that is we will get from the city of Austin any variance or grant
of access to city-owned property that we need should we proceed with this
management program. Then the question for the court is, one, whether we fund
it ourselves alone and secondly whether we can get the kind of contract that
we think we need with the cooperative service in order for us to get this
done. But let's hear these five individuals, then I think we ought to have
a -- a short opportunity for those who have something new and different to
share with us, to be honest I think most of the speakers are saying pretty
much the same thing. We have looked at the number that's come down, received
numerous e-mails from most people here today, people who have been communicating
with us do see it as a serious problem about which something needs to be done.
Yes. Can we defer and get ms. Goodman who came down from the elementary school.
She went to a meeting. If that's all right.
>> that's fine.
>> I知 dottie goodman, the principal of hill elementary.
I just wasn't going to speak today. I was just going to kind of be listening
to the community. But there was some talk about hill and about the coyote
issue on my campus. So I wanted to -- to be real clear and let you know what's
been happening. I have been at hill four years income the past we have seen
or heard of quiet sightings around the school yard. Last year was the first
year that we did have them cutting across the school yard. Basically, early
morning, especially in the fall, when it's misty, and relatively dark and
then in the late evenings around 6:00 we again have seen some. Some things
that I have done, we no longer take any food out on the playground, no lunches
or snacks, the children are not allowed to have picnics on the playground.
It is a public park so we still do have some food. We've had some evidence
when lunch kits and things have been left out. They have been torn apart.
Whether that's a dog or a coyote I知 not for sure. We don't have a security
guard that stands on the corner, we do have a custodian who was very diligent
about doing a sweep in the early morning. Then if we have any sightings, he
will go back out. We kind of know what corner they tend to go to, he will
go back out there and stand until the children are safely in the building.
It is a concern. My parents are concerned, every newsletter that goes out
we have something about coyotes and about to be sure that children understand
that they are not to approach any animal, wild or domestic on the way home
from school. I've not had any incidents of children being approached by coyotes
as they walk home from school. Children do play in the wooded areas, I know
that they have probably seen them. We have tried to educate the children about
not approaching any animal this they are not for sure of. I wanted to let
you know that it is a concern of my parents and I get many phone calls about
it. The teachers are alerted. When they go out on the playground they do have
walkie-talkie that's they are able to communicate with the office immediately
if they sight anything out of the -- you know, ordinary. So I just wanted
to let you know what we are doing at the district at my particular campus.
>> I have a question. Have you communicated that to the high-ups
at aisd.
>> absolutely.
>> what was their response so we can get their input as well?
>> well,gy have a management team that has come out. But
again what we found was that you can't trap them and move them because of
the state ordinance. If you put -- you know, thinking about putting any kind
of trapping mechanism on my playground who is going to monitor that? I have
750 children. It's a real problem and what I found the best is to educate
children, to educate my staff, to have the walkie-talkies and, you know, to
just be heightened about it. Especially coming when the time changes and it's
misty, it's cool, that's what we see them. What concerns me is that last year
was the first year that I actually saw them on the playground. Cutting across.
>> did they say in terms of if there is harvesting that needed
to occur, put traps, in terms of discharging a firearm on school property
obviously when kids are not there, et cetera, did the school district say
whether they would give permission for that to occur on the school property?
Is that a separate consideration that we need to have with them?
>> I think that's a conversation that you need to have with
them. We've had talk was parks and wildlife, we've had people out there. I
just department with the problem the best way that I could in educating and
keeping the children safe and I feel we are safe.
>> thank you, ma'am.
>> thank you.
>> thank you all for letting the principal go out of turn,
also.
>> sure.
>> my name is lisa wilson, I live off of 2222 and dry creek.
I have not personally seen any coyotes myself, but I hear many things from
the neighbors. I am myself concerned about it. I have heard some shots in
the neighborhood. I don't know -- I called the police about a week ago. I
guess one of my concerns is that people may be starting to take, you know,
the situation into their own hands, that does concern me. But i've spoken
with a woman, mrs. Lou giaton from the southwest regional director of the
humane society of the united states in dallas. And she has also recommended
that there's a gentleman, mr. John hadillion, the director of urban wildlife,
a specialist with the humane society of the united states in washington d.c.
What I wanted to say was if there are ways that the state or Austin could
work with people that do this on a daily basis, and work on, you know, situations
around the whole country, that they could possibly offer some other solutions.
I don't know if there's ways to bait coyotes with birth control methods, I
don't know. Because I don't study all of it. I知 here as a concerned person
for my safety, other people's safety, but also wanting to find some sort of
beneficial solution to the problem for the coyotes as well. That's my main
reason to come, try to say could we also contact people that is their business
and they deal with urban wildlife problems that might be able to offer some
really great solutions and pointers and tips that might help out.
>> what was gentleman's name. John hadidian his be number
is 301-258-3144, he's the director of urban wildlife with the humane society
of the united states in washington d.c.
>> okay.
>> thank you.
>> my name is kathy [indiscernible], i've lived in the neighborhood
for nine years, I don't really have anything new to say except that mrs. Johnston
touched on something. A couple of weeks ago my cat was attacked by a coyote
on my neighbor's deck. When my next went out to see what was going on, he
opened the door and the coyote turned on my neighbor. There was saliva, there
was my cat's hair, on two of his windows where the coyote lunged at my neighbor
who was inside the house and I just am very confident it's not a matter of
if. It's a matter of when there's going to be a child attacked.
>> thank you.
>> thank you.
>> my name is dee dee wilson, the only piece that I will
add is I would glad to hear the progression as far as the gentleman said of
information on the habits of the coyotes and how those have begun to evolve.
They are no longer nighttime creatures as you've heard. What I need to let
you know, they are no longer attacking small animals. I have an 80-pound dog
who was in my driveway by my garage, I heard quite a commotion, man out, three
coyotes that ganged as a pack and were attacking my 80-pound dog in my driveway.
The only way that I was able to remove them was I tried screaming and running
at them, that did not work. So I began to grab whatever I could from my garage
and throw it. And that seemed to deter them enough to get them away from my
dog. So I think that you need to understand that they are way beyond their
normal behavior. And that we have progressed into a very aggressive pack that
needs to be dealt with. [ applause ]
>> hi, I知 sally webber. I知 speaking because I walk that
neighborhood in highland hills where I live every day with two dogs and I
haven't seen any of the attacks that a number of your -- of the people here
have spoken about and for the most part the coyotes i've seen have still been
skitish. I live in the neighborhood that is near the creek. Though I know
they are big, my dogs aren't quite as big as this ladies, they are enough
to -- to be a deterrent. I haven't felt threatened. But I also feel that it's
an awareness, both of the public, it's an awareness of an education. As your
former speaker just said, maybe the national level of people who are dealing
with urban animals, urban wildlife could be of great assistance to us in this
because I don't know that anybody really knows what we have got, we don't
know where the packs are, how many there are. I can only hope that we find
some of this information out. I don't think anyone is sitting in blinds looking
at the behavior. What we are finding is that there's a predator in our neighborhood
that we are very uncomfortable with. We have an ecological system which is
actually fairly rare in an urban environment. But we don't like having one
that threatens us. And so trying to find a balance where everyone can be both
educated and aware and come to good terms on this. I think is really reasonable.
Nobody wants a detrimental situation to come out of it. Thank you very much.
>> thank you.
>> thank you, ma'am. [ applause ]
>> I do apologize for cutting off the rest of you. But I
think that we've heard pretty much enough comments. I知 left with two, three
impressions I guess much one is that I think we do need to -- if we proceed
and I think we should, that we need to check further with the cooperative
service and see if we can tailor a contract to meet our needs. Secondly, part
of that will be for us to get additional education ourselves on the nature
of the problem and exactly what it is that we can do. I have no problem with
contacting the expert in washington d.c. Also chatting I guess with some of
the elected officials in surrounding counties that have had a management program
if place for years now I guess and trying to see what their experience has
been. And try to learn from them. Third, is that I do think we ought to participate
with the city of Austin, maybe get you, jeff, and mr. Levels.
>> leeland.
>> first name is bruce, next time i'll be a little bit more
informal. But to make sure that we do have the city's authority if we proceed.
The other thing is to informally get a rejection from the city of the request
to financially participate. I think they have this notion that this is a county-state
matter and that maybe the cities have not been involved, but I have not spoken
with mr. Lurie directly. It was a voice mail I got from him. That's about
four things and my guess is that it will take us two weeks to land on these.
I would like to say one week, but I would think that if we give ourselves
two weeks, then we really ought to know. What I知 hearing from residents,
though, is that this is a -- a real problem, some residents are obviously
a lot more concerned than others, I guess if you have not seen the coyotes
in action, maybe your level of concern is a little bit less than those who
have. I declare up front a lack of knowledge in managing coyotes myself. But
we have heard I think enough from residents and news coverage over the last
few weeks to know that this is a serious problem right now in western Travis
County. I guess more livestock issues in eastern Travis County, but I would
think that somebody in Travis County ought to take responsibility for moving
on it. And -- and I have no problem with being as humane as possible, but
the goal is really I guess to be effective and if the coyotes are getting
to be a lot more aggressive than they have been historically, then I would
think that -- that something in place to reduce that -- that ought to at least
be our goal. If not reducing the number.
>> in the meantime, I would say please take all precautions
to -- to not be outside. I guess not by yourself. Certainly with small children.
Or small animals, especially. But probably not leaving food out, taking every
precaution that you know of, because I certainly don't want to -- to have
anything happen while we get all of this together and I知 hoping that we don't
delay any more than we have to. So we can get this on the front burner.
>> judge, i've been representing this area for almost 10
years. And we've gotten the occasional call in the past. This year is unprecedented.
It's not like well we hear them. It is like sightings. We have just never
seen the numbers, I think larry said it the best, not doing anything in the
past, I think we have got an overpopulation problem. I think the one thing
that we -- that we need to talk about is that we have -- we've had to do wildlife
management on our balcones canyonland preserves preserve lands, that is happening
as we speak, literally as we speak, by Travis County, by the city of Austin,
by the lower colorado river authority, we use the h word, which is harvesting,
and it is being done by professionals who know what they are doing. And it
is done in the most humane, the other h word, way of dealing with the overpopulation
related to the feral hogs and deer. If we can figure out a way to deal with
feral hogs and deer because they destroy habitat, we have to figure out on
way to deal with coyotes who are doing equal damage to things that are even
more precious to us in terms of household pets, other kinds of animals and
the threats to humans as opposed to what's happening on our preserve lands.
This is a -- I知 for the going to let the city of Austin initially saying
they don't have any money, which I find hard to believe, I知 not going to
let that stop us. I think we need to press them for it. But I think their
lack of the cooperation that we need from them is permission to do what is
necessary, but we have done that together on our preserve lands and I think
that we can figure out how to do it on our city streets.
>> Commissioner Daugherty?
>> this probably goes without saying, but I think you need
to do the same sort of intensity with the city of Austin and the city council
because that's what works y'all. I think you all can see that we are ready
to do our part in taking care of whatever is necessary. But it gets down to
funding and I think that if you all find you a councilmember that's willing
to sit down and listen to you and show up with the same sort of intensity,
that is going to help all of the matters, I mean, it's going to help us in
this matter in particular. So I would suggest that you -- that you do that.
>> my goal is to have it back on in two weeks, be ready to
take the action necessary to have the remedy implemented.
>> yes.
>> sherri flemming, executive manager for health and human
services. If the court would indulge a point of clarification on the fiscal
aspects of this, I wanted to be sure that we had as a part of the discussion
that the 40,000 that was discussed is the total cost of the position, so what
we were initially after was a split and also that is based on a November 1st
to August 31st hiring period. So therefore there could be some fluctuation
in that amount as well. I just wanted to offer that as a point of clarification.
>> thank you, sherri.
>> that was the figure that I heard was for the rest of the
fiscal year. My understanding was that at the end of this fiscal year we would
sit down, look at the situation, try to figure out how to proceed. But we
have a few months of operation under our belts if we proceed.
>> let me ask one more question. How many folks in this central
Texas area are there that participate in the federal level? I mean, are there
-- how many --
>> federal involvement in the state of Texas is minimal.
Most of it is supervisory and administrative staff personnel. As far as field
people, maybe half a dozen to 10 people across the state that are federal
employees.
>> okay.
>> so the majority of our workforce are state and cooperatively
funded employees with the majority being cooperatively funded.
>> so we don't have a surrounding county that has a person
that's on a -- on a contract basis.
>> no, no.
>> the closest county that we would have to Travis County
having a person under contract would be where?
>> are you talking cost share?
>> yes.
>> any other adjacent counties to you. Your adjacent counties.
>> so all of the adjacent counties have a person, some --
[multiple voices]
>> cost share basis, yes.
>> county or association or -- were you talking about a troubleshooter
position that comes in and deals with specific problems, short-range?
>> yes.
>> troubleshooters are -- it's a set amount per day or for
a month for them to be on -- you know in the county, work the county. We do
have some federal employees that are 100% reimbursed. Wichita falls and --
and del rio, del rio and wichita falls.
>> okay.
>> my understanding was, Commissioner Daugherty, that those
positions are prioritized in counties where they have cooperative programs.
They spend almost all of their time working in only those counties that have
a trapper or a person in their county that is cooperatively funded. So getting
someone to come in and deal with -- with a short-range issue in a county that
doesn't have a cooperative agreement with Texas wildlife services is pretty
difficult.
>> okay.
>> that was my understanding.
>> did Travis County have a coyote management program in
the past?
>> from what I can tell, it's been maybe 20 years.
>> governor richard was Commissioner richards, late '70,
early '80's,.
>> at least 20 years we've not had one.
>> so we have changes to recommend to the sort of standard
agreement that we received, do we discuss those with you or is there another
person?
>> you can discuss them with me or with lynnie lund our administrative
officer in san antonio.
>> thank you, we appreciate you coming up and working with
us today. We appreciate it very much.
The Closed Caption log for this Commissioners Court agenda item is provided by Travis County Internet Services. Since this file is derived from the Closed Captions created during live cablecasts, there are occasional spelling and grammatical errors. This Closed Caption log is not an official record the Commissioners Court Meeting and cannot be relied on for official purposes. For official records please contact the County Clerk at (512) 854-4722.
Last Modified: Wednesday, October 26, 2005 3:32 PM