Pets Are the Intruders

What will it take for the residents of Los Angeles to realize that coyotes belong here, and cats are the intruders? Randye Hoder’s article, “Mutilations Alarming Cat Owners” (Times, Sept. 1), illustrated the complete misunderstanding on the part of frantic pet owners.

Dwindling coyote habitat (thanks to development) has caused the coyotes to expand their territories, and many times that includes residential areas. But let’s get something straight: When you allow a cat to run around outside, you are introducing an animal into an environment where it does not belong. Cats are pets, domestic, and should be kept indoors.

Even if there were no coyotes, my position would be the same. Cats kill hundreds of thousands, possibly millions of birds each year. The last thing songbirds need, along with their own diminishing habitat, is an introduced predator.

Thanks to public hysteria regarding coyotes, the animals are being destroyed indiscriminately in areas far from residential lots. Believe it or not, expensive homes are not the only thing existing in the Santa Monica Mountains. There are pockets of productive ecosystems that function without human interference. Yet coyotes are being taken from these areas.

I think if people want cats, they should have them. But to be a responsible cat owner, you must take steps to protect the cats and the animals that were here before humans. Get off the environmental bandwagon if you think cats have more of a right than coyotes to wander freely.

If you can’t control your cats because they “have a door of their own and come and go as they please,” then you must accept the risk of losing your cat to coyotes or cars, a much more likely cat-killer. Better yet, just nail their door shut.

STEVEN SAFFLER

Los Angeles