mplaints about coyotes from several citizens after a reported coyote attack that was, as of the the meeting, still under investigation.
Stephanie Harrison, of Westminster, said her mother lives in Cypress and is concerned about coyotes.
“I understand this past week that a person near the Cypress Senior Center was bitten by a coyote, and that’s really concerning,” said Harrison.
Harrison told the Council that she understands coyotes have a 10-mile range and that she lives only 5.5 miles away, so Harrison said she is concerned.
“So what I’m here tonight to ask about is perhaps greater public education and greater awareness about these animals in our community,” said Harrison.
“From a bigger picture, it would be wonderful if the cities could work in unison, collaborating on making it better for all the citizens,” she said.
But in the meantime, because I know there is a lot of concern with the pandemic, if the residents could receive more education information brought up to them, because people forget… they are concerned about other issues and some people still get water bills in the mail,” said Harrison.
Harrison also urged the city to reach out to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife for assistance. She suggested the state department would hold informational meetings with citizens about coyote safety.
Wendy Tochihara, who said she grew up in Cypress, was concerned about coyotes because her 89-year-old mother still lives there and often takes walks alone.
In Huntington Beach, said Tochihara, coyotes were so bad they were snatching dogs off leashes as the owner’s walked them at the park. There have been a lot of kids attacked, she said, similar to the alleged attack in Cypress.
If the coyotes are not managed by the cities because of the CDFW won’t manage them anymore, you can ask them for help. Bring experts to educate, teach them not to feed them and habituatls, public safety issue, can’t play lone anymore. Put it on the agenda.
City Clerk Alisha Farnell said there was also written communication from a resident who “express some concern about coyotes as well.”
Mayor Rob Johnson thanked all of the speakers. “I know that was an issue (in Cypress) about five years ago and it “sounds like it’s coming back at us,” said the mayor.
City manager Peter Grant said the city has a robust coyote management plan which is managed by Farnell and suggested she provide an update, suggesting no problem.
She said the coyote management plan was updated in 2019 by an ad-hoc committee and the city has monitored all reported activity and provided several different ways to report incidents.
The speakers asked that the topic be put on a future agenda. The Council is not allowed to act on topics raised in oral communications since they are not considered to be “agenda items.”
Farnell said in the meeting that they were tryingto verify the reported attack, not yet able to ascertain there was a victim.
Farnell said the city was cooperating with authorities and the state’s fish and wildlife agency to verify the latest reported attack that was spread on social media.
Following the meeting, however, it turns out that there is no problem at all all after city officials learned the “attack” that spawned all of the social media attention did not occur.
“Immediately after hearing about the incident, the City of Cypress spoke to both OC Animal Care and the Department of Fish & Wildlife regarding the possible coyote bite that occurred on Friday August 21,” said Cypress spokeswoman Brooke Strauss.
She said the California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife had been investigating the incident and was working with Dr. Niamh Quinn of UC Irvine, who by working together were “able to confirm that no coyote bite occurred.”
Dr. Quinn leads up the University of California research project that created and monitors the CoyoteCacher website.
Cypress officials eventually determined that the woman was walking in the area of Grindlay St and Vista Del Sol and indicated in her report that she did not want her information shared with any local animal services agencies, said Strauss.
Therefore, Dr. Quinn contacted her directly to follow up on the report and get additional information, she said, when the woman explained to Dr. Quinn that she was out for a walk with her two-year old child when they saw a coyote.
In response, the woman picked up her child and ran.
“The true story is that the coyote did not chase nor display any aggressive behavior toward them and left the area without incident,” said Strauss in a statement.
The reporting woman indicated that she submitted the report on CoyoteCacher as a coyote bite because she “thought it would get someone’s attention”. Dr. Quinn and the DFW determined that this incident was a general sighting at large and that the animal exhibited natural behavior and did not pose a safety threat.
Strauss said the state has closed the case regarding the alleged attack and the city of Cypress is satisfied that their existing Coyote Management Plan is providing sufficient protection to citizens against the coyotes.
