Travis County Commissioners Court
November 2, 2004
Item 29
We have returned from a very short recess, and our last item today is number
29. And that is to consider and take appropriate action on proposed interlocal
with Texas wildlife services, a department of Texas cooperative extension,
to address a coyote problem in Travis County by cost-sharing a wildlife management
specialist.
>> morning, judge, Commissioners, jeff begly, Travis County
extension office. Just to update from two weeks ago, we have gotten some revisions
to the contract. There are still a couple that are pending that we just found
out about. And the wildlife services is working on making some minor modifications,
putting a little more detail on some of the items. We've also met with numerous
city departments yesterday, and are getting cooperation at levels that we
certainly appreciate and that we had hoped that we would be able to get from
the city in addition to funding from the city to help cover the cost of this
program. But it looks as if all of the requirements or the things that we
asked of the city are going to be met in terms of access to property. The
authority to use the methods that they need to use in controlling coyote populations
and problem animals and in terms of the 10,000-dollar funding that the city
has agreed to provide to help support the program. So I think everything that
we talked about two weeks ago is progressing nicely in terms of getting the
contract in place.
>> so jeff, you've gotten 10,000 commitment from the city.
Is it still 40,000-dollar --
>> 40,000-dollar contract?
>> if we're willing to pick up half of that, who picks up
the other 10?
>> what the city has agreed to do is 10,000 cash, and in
kind services, doing some things -- they're going to manage the call volume
through 311 and dispatch all the calls. They're going to take care of the
euthanized animals through the animal shelter. Their an mol control officer
is here to explain this, but he's going to be a central point of contact for
all of these county complaints and county calls. The other 10,000 that's needed
to meet the 40,000, don't have an answer to that.
>> can you just describe for us what the city commits to
do? I assume we place a monetary value on that?
>> yes, judge, as jeff pointed out, it's a number of inkind
services in addition to the 10,000-dollar cash contribution, as state indicated
-- as jeff indicated. We will handle the dispatching with the wildlife biologist
through our 311 system at the city. We will also continue to provide educational
support. In fact, we just put together a document that's being distributed
to various neighborhoods, providing information about coyotes. And we have
staff, educators that can go out and provide a lot of important public information
because there are a number of preventive steps that people can take if they
are well informed. We will also maintain a database in terms of tracking where
these sightings are occurring and that's very important to the wildlife biologist
in terms of how they develop their intervention strategies. And jeff pointed
out the disposal of bodies, the potential for euthanasia and so forth will
all be handled within the animal control program. And we're serving as kind
of the single point of contact for the city of Austin, getting all the other
appropriate departments aligned so that we have the proper approvals in place
in terms of access to various properties and the use of certain methods, so
we will be fulfilling that role as well, in addition to providing a 10,000-dollar
cash contribution. And what we would propose, judge, and Commissioners, is
we could handle this relatively easily in terms of administratively in terms
of the interlocal between Travis County and the city of Austin. What we can
-- we can develop an amendment to that interlocal and make the cash contribution
available immediately on your approval of the contract with the state and,
of course, proceed with these other in kind activities as well.
>> do we have a monetary value on the in kind services?
>> I don't have that with me today, judge, but we can certainly
put together an estimate for you if that would be helpful. Sure.
>> how important are these services, jeff?
>> they're very important. The opportunity for unconscious
to have a single point of -- for us to have a single point of contact that
people will recognize readily, the 311 system, rather than having to remember
the number of the Travis County extension office is very important, because
the fact that we're not really set up to handle the volume of calls that may
come up with system with a part-time receptionist. That's very important to
us. The other issue with them handling the euthanized animals is also very
important because in other areas where these programs are in place, in most
cases the city does not do that, and the person that's employed by wildlife
services has to handle those coyotes or whatever animals are taken himself.
That becomes a burden on them. It adds time to the program and he's spending
time trying to find places to dispose of euthanized animals versus going out
and tending -- attending to problems that need to be tended to. So that's
very important as well.
>> the state agency in this matter has promised to reduce
to writing a description of specific services that it will provide?
>> yes. The scope of work in the contract is pretty vague,
so they're working on expanding that teed. I've talked to them this morning.
They're also working on being more specific in the budget. The budget, bottom
line, will not change in terms of dollars, but they can be more specific in
terms of where the dollars are going because I think the county attorney had
asked for it.
>> so we will need to take another week?
>> I should have that in hand today, in draft form at least
today.
>> we might need another week because my guess is we will
be out of court in 30 minutes. We do need to see the scope of work in writing,
we need to see I guess the budget specifics. We need to know how this money
with work and if Travis County is a pass pass-through for the city's $10,000,
fine with me. I would work on placing a monetary value on the in kind services
that the city of Austin will provide, and david or somebody can share that
with jeff, let jeff put his many, many years of experience confirming monetary
value on services so he can legal us know his -- let us know his thoughts
next Tuesday. The other thing that's real important -- we did get yesterday
from the animal protection institute in the great state of -- california sticks
out in my mind. But a couple of things. There is an education effort that's
necessary. And when I read this memo -- and also recalled e-mails that I got
from people who seemed to be okay with the management, but thought we ought
to do sort of management plus. The education aspect is real important. It
seems to me if the city is doing that, we need to do some ourselves maybe
through the extension service. I?m thinking too that if we can get the affected
neighborhood associations, some of those residents a bit more knowledgeable
about some do's and don't's in dealing with wildlife. I never thought about
leaving pet food out or making sure food's not available, making sure that
the top of the -- the lid of your trash can is tight enough that coyote cannot
get there. What they seem to say is if food is not available, kay yoats don't
even waste their time in the -- coyotes don't waste their time in the neighborhood.
But if there's a source of food there, the likelihood of them coming back
repeatedly is greater. The other thing is I assume that there is a lesson
for coyotes to learn if they -- if they're loose, I guess, see other coyotes,
I guess, killed --
>> yeah, that's been addressed. It's vaguely addressed in
the scope of work, but the behavior modification is the whole goal of the
program. If the animals begin having adverse relationships with humans, then
that begins to pass through the population and they become more wary of humans.
That's the ultimate goal of any management program is to change the behavior
of the total coyote population.
>> okay. In terms of the educational effort, can we reduce
to writing between now and next Tuesday the specific things that we will urge
residents, neighborhood associations to do, etcetera? And I can share with
you, I think all of us on the court, from the animal protection institute,
some of their ideas, and they give cites for other authorities, experts who
will a back this up, I think.
>> and we have a copy of a publication that the city is --
it's not completely final.
>> this has actually been distributed and being released
through the neighborhood associations where the majority of sightings have
been reported to us. And judge Biscoe, it's very simple, two-pager, that outlines
a lot of what you're referring to. And as I mentioned, we have staff within
the animal control program and also the water utility, the wild lines management
program that have staff available, and we will work in concert with the extension
service if there's an interest in people coming out and making presentations
to various neighborhood groups, we'd be glad to do that as well.
>> we put that in a plan.
>> the other thing is that some other cities that have a
problem with coyotes, residents have complained also at least on the education
effort, so I think they ought to know what our plan is so they can at least
help out and be informed, they will. Now, the contract will cover all of Travis
County.
>> yes.
>> but the municipal jurisdictions have a say so about whether
or not this can be done in their cities.
>> they do. It's a simple form, but each time that that biologist
will go into an area, he has to have approval and permission to do any work
within a municipality or on private property, on city owned, county owned,
state owned property, there has to be a release before that person can do
any work. So it's a simple process, but he will, if he's going to do some
work on a city-owned property, they have to go through a process to get that
approval through the city manager, city council office. It doesn't have to
be an interlocal agreement in place between each municipality, but he does
have to have permission to operate in those areas.
>> okay. And if you are a private property owner, the technician
does not have the right to go on to your property.
>> absolutely not. He's got to have written approval. And
if he's going to conduct an operation on a border between two pieces of property,
he has to have written authorization from both pieces of property. If he can't
get authorization for this piece of property over here, then he can only operate
on the interior of the piece of property that he has permission to operate
on. He can't be on fence rows unless he has permission on both sides.
>> and the residents and the property owners have the right
to make that call?
>> yes. Yes. They can decline at any time.
>> so anything residents can do to help, this is part of
the city's education program?
>> yes, it is. And it's very effective. This in addition
to some of the behavior modification that we're hearing about from the wildlife
biologists has proven to be very effective in terms of addressing this problem.
>> now, I did get one question. What about other wildlife
animals that are causing problems? Will this contract cover just coyotes or
--
>> no. This contract will cover any damaging wildlife. It
will cover on coyotes heavily at first until we kind of get that situation
or begin to get that situation under control, but if there's a beaver that's
damming up a creek in Travis County and causing damage, they're going to address
that problem as well. They'll deal with basically any small mammals.
>> what about the deer population?
>> that's a little different situation in terms of permitting
and working with Texas parks and wildlife. So that one is really handled on
a case-by-case basis because deer are -- the way that you manage deer populations
is totally different than the way you manage other mammal populations. You
don't trap and euthanize deer. They can be relocated. That's a different situation
in terms of working with Texas parks and wildlife and permits to do those
kinds of things in particular areas.
>> just a few questions. I know we have had complaints over
in precinct 1 about animals, wild goats and things of that nature. And my
concern is these particular animals that you are capturing now, you are trapping
and then removing, where will the euthanizing take place? Where will those
disposal sites be?
>> with the euthanized animals?
>> yes.
>> town lake animal center.
>> but when you dispose of them, where will the disposal
of those animals take place?
>> well, Commissioner, by state law with coyotes, you cannot
capture them and place them somewhere else, so they will be euthanized. They
will be -- and that process will occur at the town lake animal center.
>> but as far as the carcass and stuff like that is concerned,
what happens?
>> we dispoases of them there at the -- we depose of them
there -- dispose of them there at the center with an incinerator.
>> okay. Number two is that we have -- and I think jeff talked
about it earlier and I want to make sure this is county-wide. We have been
dealing basically with animal control volunteers, and I know we've cut back
and not dealt with it the way I think we should have been dealing with it
in the past. I want to make sure that what we're doing is all encompassing
if we possibly can do awm-encompassing -- all-encompassing things. Meaning
that we have dplaints coming in from residents and I don't think the contractor
would deal with this. For example, dead animals that are near property, in
the right-of-way and stuff like that. And of course, the city and the county
operates independently on these particular deals. I know those animals have
to also be taken and dissupposed of. I?m trying to figure out now is how are
we able to work together to ensure that city staff and also county staff can
be involved in this whole process of dealing with all the animal situation,
other than just the coyotes and the other wild animals, other animal type
situation to make sure we do the proper thing as far as getting the animals
in a disposition where they can be taken care of and compost, especially the
ones that are dead. I understand the county, what we do now, what I understand
is we are actually using people, f.t.e.'s that maybe are doing a different
service for the county, but not focused and allocated to do this particular
job as far as picking up dead animals and things like that. My whole concern
is is there any way that there can be a combination of both these services
to operate to make this whole thing work in concert? Because we get a lot
of complaints about dead animals, we really do, whether they are dead or a
coyote is dead, whatever, they're in people's yard, right-of-ways, stuff like
that, how will you be able to work with that service, if you're able to do
it?
>> this particular contract and this agency can't do that
necessarily, especially not with one person. With one person coming in, he
has to devote his time to dealing with damage and with wildlife that are causing
damage. They are not -- this particular agency is not the agency that works
with disposal and collection of carcasses off roadways or wherever it may
occur. And I don't know the answer to that question in terms of who does that
currently or what we need to do with that.
>> Commissioner Davis, as I understand the current situation
for picking up dead animals in the city is done by the solid waste services
in coordination with our animal control program. I believe in the county it's
tnr, transportation and natural resources. We could certainly take a look
at that and see if there's something we could --
>> yeah. I think if we're dealing with the animal situation,
altogether, I would like to look at the whole encompassing thing because I
know in the county -- from the county's perspective, tnr does deal with it,
but those persons aren't specifically assigned to do that. We don't have the
facilities, the trucks or anything else to do that. Those guys have the dead
animals and throw it in the back of a pickup and take care of it, which is
not the best way to do business in my opinion. However, the city does have
all of the necessary facilities to deal with such animals. And I don't know
whose contract we'll be utilizing the city facilities. Will this contract
be using the city facilities to take care of the coyotes?
>> yes. That's the in kind contributions that we're talking
about.
>> okay. See, that's very important, see, because for one
thing, if the city's in line to use their facilities, an in kind contribution
to deal with the coyotes and other wild animals that are a safety concern,
it just appears to me that that could be expanded to take care of all the
dead animals with the facilities. And I think it would be an economy of scale
in my opinion that we can look at all -- the whole animal problem as far as
dead animals on the side of the road and need to be disposed of and causing
the community some problems. So I think it's something that we need to further
look into, and I think that Travis County, by having the person to come off
of their regular duty job hours and do something different, like picking up
dead animals, is something that I think that we can look at as far as looking
at an additional f.t.e. I don't know that it would end up paying for itself,
but we definitely would need the city's cooperation. Let's look at -- in my
opinion we lead need to look at the whole nine yards.
>> Commissioner Davis, you know, we currently have an interlocal
with the city of Austin as it relates to animal control, so if there are issues
that we need to revisit as a part of that agreement, then I think that both
sides would be willing to do that, and david and I can work together to address
your concerns and any other concerns that residents might have with regard
to the issues that you mentioned.
>> and I think that since we are opening up the avenue of
dealing with the agreement between the city and also the county, it may be
an opportunity to address the particular interlocal that we have in existence
right now. And i'll be looking forward to providing the necessary information
and looking at the whole perspective, the whole picture of dealing with the
animal control situation, whether they're dead animals or those that will
have to be disposed of. I think it's all interconnected. So since it is, I
think we can do that and still do it from the economy of scale type approach.
That's the direction I?m coming from.
>> you can have the contract ready next week? Whatever part
the city needs to play in this will be in the contract?
>> [ inaudible ].
>> how many contracts are we looking at?
>> the city's portion through an amendment to our current
interlocal for animal control, and that the county would have the only agreement
with the state.
>> can we get that done by next Tuesday?
>> that's what we're -- [overlapping speakers].
>> i'll have to look at that and get -- they're going to
get me the specific information today and see if that's the way we can put
it together and get it done by next week.
>> and I definitely would like to visit and have this area
brought up, and also with the city of Austin the possibility of looking at
a possibility of looking at the utilization of the city's equipment and the
county using that as far as the overall program is concerned. Right now I
think we can move forward. So I?m kind of concerned about that.
>> I think that's something that we will have to take up
as a separate issue. [overlapping speakers].
>> in the future, right. It's brought up and the equipment
will be utilized for this, I think the equipment can be utilized for the other
also. The county doesn't have the proper equipment to deal with the animals
out there.
>> anybody else here on this item? Yes, ma'am. Would you
please come forward and give us your full name and we'll be happy to get your
comments and if you represent an association or a group other than yourself,
let us know that.
>> my name is donna Moorested and I?m a resident of westlake
hills, one of the communities affected by the coyotes. I have prepared --
I am not representing anybody but myself. I have prepared about five minutes'
worth of testimony. Is it okay? I don't know if you guys have a time limit.
If I talk fast it could be faster than that. Is it okay?
>> have you testified before?
>> yes.
>> you're saying something a little different?
>> okay.
>> if -- [overlapping speakers]
>> I can cut on the chase.
>> like I said, my name is donna, I?m a resident of northwest
hills. I?m here because I?m concerned about the lethal control options presented
last week. I would ask that the county in dlab ration with the city of Austin
to reconsider options other than or in addition to (indiscernible). And I
think that's key. I have not seen the contract. I have not seen the scope
of work that's mentioned, so I?m not quite sure. Last week it was mentioned
affected animals. I don't know how that would be identified and carried out.
I want to talk briefly about the coyote problem. (indiscernible). Other options
are needed and present alternative options. As I?m sure you're aware, most
coyotes regularly fear humans, however, basically associate humans with food.
They take advantage of food, water and shelter, secured garbage, etcetera,
residents of northwest hills have seen coyotes in their community and some
pets have been attacked. The current proposal of the animal control, which
could make the problem worse if it's not specifically targeted. (indiscernible).
I encourage you to research this yourself. I have the studies and scientific
literature on controlling coyotes in urban areas, and i'll now touch briefly
on those issues. First, research has shown that trapping and killing coyotes
can actually lead to -- (indiscernible). This is because they live in packs
and it limits protection for the pack's leaders. The loss of control disrupts
the pack, which causes them to disburse, allows more coyotes to reproduce
and larger litter sizes which is increased competition for food and habitat.
(indiscernible). Second, it shows only the most strong coyotes survive. Coyotes
from outside the county migrate in. Killing coyotes is counterproductive and
will lead to -- (indiscernible). And trapped and killed the coyote. Vector
controls, within six months the coyotes were back and the complaints reassumed.
Moreover -- (indiscernible). Although such standard approach allows them --
(indiscernible). That is the constant presence such as poorly secured garbage
cans, overflowing bird feeders, some of the things you mentioned earlier.
And unless the specific issues are addressed and people take responsibility
to removety tractions and discourage the wildlife, negative accounts will
present.
>> media, we lost the volume. Is it there?
>> I?m having a hard time hearing it myself.
>> it seemed like the mic -- maybe the mic is malfunctioning.
>> a little bit more volume.
>> i'll talk louder.
>> we can hear that.
>> all right. Travis County -- this is really my main recommendation,
I?m almost through. Travis County in collaboration with the city of Austin
needs to join with interested stakeholders to follow the lead of other communities
and adopt a long-term plan for deterring coyotes. The plan could include creation
of a coyote smart communities program and include a proactive multifaceted
outreach campaign aimed at educating the public. Other states and communities
have implemented these strategies, and I urge you to look at some of the examples
in other areas. The quie yoat smart program could include a multifaceted approach
including a management plan. Public awareness campaign to prevent coyote encounter,
some of the things that have already been talked about, ordinances that encourage
coyote smart practices, such as prohibiting people from feeding wild animals.
There might be people in the community that are actually leaving food out
for the coyotes, although that sounds crazy, that actually may be happening,
so we could have ordinance or laws in place to prevent that. A coyote proof
municipal solid waste management plan that ties into waste control so the
coyotes can't get into the people's trash. A 1-800-number for coyote conflicts
that is reachable 24 hours a day, seven-day a week, and perhaps that is the
311 number that was mentioned. I would urge that the contractor's scope of
work include prompt and direct investigation of reports of coyote encounters,
but that identification of the problems that might be attracting coyotes into
that person's yard be reviewed, suggestions for individual changes that that
resident can make, adoption of a non-harmful aversion tactics to keep predators
fearful of human. We've mentioned that shooting coyotes can make them fearful,
however, it can lead to unintended consequences. Policy always has unintended
consequences and you can result in increasing possibly the population. And
there are non-hostile aversion tactics such as strong blasts from water hoses,
blowing horns, air horns, other noise devices, motion detector lights. There
are other things that the community can do to try to make the coyotes again
fearful of humans. And my final statement is just only as a last resort elimination
of a specific and positively identified offending animal. And I just didn't
receive clarity last week as to exactly what will happen if somebody will
call and they're upset that there's a coyote in the front yard, that coyote
will be shot? What exactly is the criteria that will be used to define an
offending animal. I?m concerned that the current proposal to use lethal control
could actually make the problem worse. In closing, I would ask that the county
in collaboration with the city of Austin fully consider all options to manage
coyotes in Travis County. I have included in the packet key components of
a coyote smart communities program that I would be happy to pass out. Thank
you very much.
>> i'd like to have a copy of that, if you don't mind, but
i'd also like to know I guess from david and jeff and those folks like this,
the persons that have been inundated with the coyote attacks, the presence
of coyotes where they feel they're unsafe in their homes, unsafe in their
environment, have this information that you just presented to us as far as
the things that they should do in a situation, such as not feeding them, the
coyotes and things like that, have they actually been present understand this
area? And also, would it be a part of the packet that would go out to the
persons that have called in and we have identified and also targeted with
the coyote problem? Would this be a part of the recommendation? Because if
there's any way possible that we can offset destruction of these animals,
then I?m quite sure that there may be some that may have to be destroyed,
but then again, there may be some that may not have to be destroyed, if certain
conditions and steps are met. My question to you is how will this be presented
to the community that will be threatened, that is under threat or possible
threats and safety conditions under coyotes that we're looking at today?
>> yes, sir, Commissioner, we certainly support a multifaceted
approach to this and education. There are a lot of preventive measures that
have been referenced that are extremely effective. And it's important for
people to follow. That particular document that outlines those items has been
distributed through the neighborhood associations to those areas where we
have been receiving the recent complaints. And this is just the beginning.
We anticipate doing a lot more in terms of a public information campaign.
>> is there any way possible that this -- you may have already
do it. That this could be accessed maybe through Travis County internet services,
stuff like that, could be downloaded?
>> I have a copy of that yesterday. We could get that on
the extension web page, the Travis County web page.
>> so those folks who do have access to a computer not only
can call in, but look at all the ways to prevent the situation from happening.
And I think the more preventive we can be in this, the less destruction of
animals that we can -- that we'll have.
>> the other thing that's not a part of the contract, but
has been mentioned by wildlife services is they have other technical biologists
in Austin who are going to dedicate part of their time to education and to
working with homeowners groups, working with neighborhood associations to
educate them on how to avoid conflicts and the kinds of things that are outlined
in that publication. So between the extension service, the wildlife biologists
with wildlife services and the city, the educational piece of this will come
together very soon.
>> and it's already been on the media a good bit in materials
of the kinds of things that homeowners need to do and interviews that i've
done and interviews that gary has done with the local media. So it's started.
>> so channel 17 television in Travis County is one of the
--
>> it has not been. These are interviews that have been requested
by local network affiliates that we've done over the past two to three weeks.
>> okay.
>> I think we ought to spend a few minutes next week discussing
and adopting a comprehensive program.
>> that's a good idea.
>> I think the lethal control and approach make all the sense
to me.
>> sure. When I say behavior modification earlier, it's not
just the coyotes, it's got to be behavior modification of the people as well
in terms of things they do and how to live with coyotes.
>> exactly.
>> and jeff and david, I guess we are all aware of the --
I don't remember you talking about it. Sometimes we have good intentions,
but we create other problems with that. So you're aware of all the information
that you have.
>> and Commissioner, just to reinforce the point. I know
a lot of people have said, well, we have an animal control program. Why isn't
that addressing these issues? That program is focused on domestic animals,
as I think you can see from what's been described here. It's a whole different
challenge in terms of wildlife and being able to have access to the experts
through wildlife management program is going to be I think enormously beneficial
obviously in the system and in addressing this particular issue. And we've
heard them speak a number of times. And as jeff has pointed out, they have
a whole range of tools that they use and it's not always necessarily lethal.
And I think we all could agree that it's kind of a last case or worst case
kind of scenario, but it's a combination of interventions that they have the
expertise to help us with that I think is going to really make a difference.
>> and i'd like to later meet with you, i'll have my office
give you a call, on the other issue that we discussed because right now the
county does not have the proper tools, equipment, anything else to deal with
any dead animals, anything else, any animals out there in the county, which
is a concern for us. So I just think we need to further bring that and flesh
that out later on in the future.
>> and Commissioner Davis, we'd be glad to do that. I appreciate
having a little additional time because this includes the solid waste services,
which is another department in the city, so it will take a little more time
for us to work through that process.
>> sounds good to me. Thank you.
>> judge?
>> yes, sir.
>> let me ask you something. Are you against the exterminations
of any of the animals? Is your basic slant that way? Or if you could identify
certain animals that you know that this animal comes into the neighborhood
more often?
>> I?m not against it 100%. I think that the key issue is
that these other measures be taken. And that the crux of it is really how
do you go about positively identifying a single individual coyote that is
having offending behavior, that is potentially dangerous, and then eliminating
that specific animal? I was concerned that last week what I was hearing was
a lot of let's just go out and shoot all the coyotes. And even though the
wildlife biologist said eradication is not an option, but I was still concerned
as to how offending behavior would be identified.
>> let me say --
>> I haven't seen the contract.
>> let me say for next week's purposes, I will tell you that
if we distributed this thing out to the filled up audience last week, that
they would laugh at things that are part of these 10 because they are almost
hysterical in this community with these coyotes. And I think you're right,
I think that most people would say, we don't care what you do with them, we
don't want them in our neighborhood. And most likely, we think the most expedient
way is killing them. Okay? I'll get away from the nice word. Because people
are fearful for their children and they're fearful for their pets. And what
I don't want to do is I don't want to appropriate 20, $30,000 -- I appreciate
the city coming through with $10,000 and all the things, david, that the city
is going to do, but what I don't want to do is appropriate money for this
and then kind of work on changing people's habits, changing all these kinds
of things because I think we're going to have a community that's not going
to be accepting of this. That's my reading. Maybe other people up here feel
differently about it. But whenever the gentleman that was here from the wildlife
service, I mean, it certainly made it sound like, there are other things that
we're going to do with this. We can't place them in other areas. I think everybody
heard that. But bottom line, people would say, do you know what, we're human
beings, we live in here, our children live in here, and we want you to do
something about it. So before I would be comfortable with signing off on a
large sum of money, whether that's 20, $30,000 of the county, I?m sure going
to want the neighbors to say I think that's a good use of your money because
what I don't want is for us to do that and the coyotes still continue to --
let's face it, even if somebody started tomorrow changing everything on this,
I mean, it would take quite awhile before people would recognize that these
animals are no longer in the neighborhood. And so I really want to -- before
we get down this path -- because I think that in a lot of people's minds,
the humane way to do this is to try to change some patterns or this or that,
and I don't think the community is interested in going through that process
because they are so frightened. And so I don't want to send a message from
at least my precinct 3 deal here that I?m just going to say, okay, next week
let's appropriate the money and let's start the process because I don't think
the room was very enthralled whenever he started speaking about here are al
tern things they can do. I?m not for going out and killing them out, but it
will have to be sooner than later. And unless somebody can show these people
that you will really be able to let your children out -- I mean, what kind
of society do we live in if you can't let your four-year-old go in your fenced
backyard? Which is pretty american. Or if you can't hang your bird feeder
because -- people -- they're not afraid of birds. They're afraid of these
animals because -- especially when they distribute the thing like they distributed
with the little girl who was disfigured. So let's keep in mind, jeff, that
when we bring it back -- because I think what we're going to be asked to do
is they give us $40,000, the city is going to put us 10,000, county, raise
your hand and put in 30,000, and let's go about our business. And if something
doesn't happen for you immediately, these people will be upset.
>> can I say -- can I say something else? I would feel that
you can do that. And for a quick, expedient solution it may appear as if some
positive outcomes are happen; however, I would still make the case that there
will be unintended consequences and we may be back here a year from now saying
that we used $40,000 to exterminate a certain number of coyotes, and didn't
take the other actions and other steps. We may be right back here and the
coyotes' experiences that other communities have faced that have taken those
actions. These people are hysterical, you're correct. I live near them, I
live with them. Some of them are my friend. I personally have a dog I walk
every single night. It's dark when I get home, so I have to do it by myself,
I?m a single woman. I share the same concerns, but I again voice the concern
that this may not be the most effective solution unless it's implemented in
the best way, combined with the lethal control plus sort of as the judge has
mentioned.
>> judge, if I could just make a brief comment. Commissioner
Daugherty, I want to make sure that no one has interpreted anything that i've
said as suggesting that we don't consider these concerns to be serious. We
definitely do and we really, you know, take it quite seriously, and that's
partly why we want to be very proactive in terms of working with the county
to come up with a solution. And clearly the wildlife biologist I think can
articulate this most clearly, but they're telling us very clearly that just
an all out hunting of coyotes is not the total answer that we need to have
this comprehensive approach. But there should be no doubt when we talk about
iewtdz nice I can't, when we talk about disposing of carcasses, there is an
intent here that certain coyotes would be killed with this particular program
being implemented. But we've got to go beyond that I think clearly as we're
hearing and have this very comprehensive approach because long-term it's going
to be these preventive measures that individuals can do that is going to help
us get to a good solution in the long-term. Thank you.
>> anything further today? We'll have it back on next week.
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 3:21 PM