For more information visit BandOfMercy.org
Forwarded to Band of Mercy:
Over the past four months activists have been working hard on outreach in Arcadia- informing residents of the trapping and killing program in their city. Activists stood in public places and boiled in the 100+ degree heat of summer/autumn and the cold of winter to collect over 1,000 signatures from Arcadia residents. And at the Arcadia city council meeting Tuesday night all that hard work paid off! An Arcadia resident went up to make a general public comment in opposition to the coyote killing and then presented the big stack of signatures to the city council. Other residents also made some excellent statements in opposition to the trapping and killing of coyotes. After all the residents in attendance made their statements, one of the city council members said he would like to suspend the trapping and killing of coyotes. He said the trapping may not make much sense “fiscally speaking.” One other city council member expressed the same thing. The city council could not vote on whether to suspend the killing program at the meeting Tuesday night, so they expressed that they wanted to discuss it and vote on it at the next meeting in two weeks, January 18th, during an open special session. The killing program started because of a small report created by 20 residents complaining about coyotes… some of the reports simply stated a coyote was reported to be seen in a neighborhood. Now the city council has been given a petition with over 1,000 residents who are against the decision to trap and kill coyotes in their city. Residents are outraged this is happening in their city because the traps are cruel and inhumane, trapping is an ineffective way of keeping coyotes out of neighborhoods and will not protect companion animals, and residents’ tax dollars are being spent and wasted on killing wild animals. Many residents also agree that the coyotes were here long before us and have just as much right to live as we do. We are now preparing for the January 18th meeting. We are hoping that with all the resident support that we have and the presentation of the facts with a humane, effective, cost-effective alternative, the city council will make the right decision and stop the trapping and killing of coyotes, for the coyotes, for companion animals, and for the residents of Arcadia. Thanks to the activists who worked on contacting media, we had media coverage of the issue and Tuesday’s meeting:
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los_angeles&id=7880067
http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/news/ci_17014065 If you want to receive more updates on the campaign please join our facebook group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=159125987434094&ref=mf Thank you for your support! For the coyotes! ~San Gabriel Valley Friends of Wildlife
