Coyote ‘Gag Order’ Has Muzzled Animal Officers
* Your story “Officers Quit Taking Coyote Calls” (Jan. 12), painted a less-than-accurate picture of the coyote “gag order” placed on West Valley animal control officers.
Even the headline is misleading because it implies that the officers are happily passing on coyote calls when precisely the opposite is true. Contrary to statements by Nancy Moriarity, the animal regulation spokeswoman, the order was just that: an order, not a suggestion,
Two points must be made. First, the order has precluded animal control officers from responding to what they themselves consider emergency calls. Second, if in fact the Department of Animal Regulation being “engulfed with coyote calls,” then clearly the coyote problem is far worse than the Department of Animal Regulation is willing to admit.
MICHAEL LAZAROU
Woodland Hills
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