Mud Hens to Be Shot to Curb Overpopulation

The county Wednesday ordered the shooting of about 175 mud hens at Legg Lake near South El Monte as part of an ongoing effort to control overpopulation of the birds, also known as coots, officials said.

The marsh-living birds are destroying fragile plant life and leaving messy droppings all around the lake in the Whittier Narrows Recreation Area, an aide to Supervisor Pete Schabarum said.

Judy Hammond said Schabarum had received numerous complaints about the coots from residents before requesting that agricultural officials destroy some of the birds. “Unfortunately, shooting is the only way to bring them under control,” she said.

County officials have shot mud hens at the lake on several occasions, as well as at Frank G. Bonelli Regional County Park in San Dimas and at Santa Fe Dam Park in Irwindale, Hammond said. The state Fish and Game Department has authorized the shootings, she said.