The Fight Against Crime: Notes From the Front : Special Breed of Cop Patrols Animal World

The old adage that there is no such thing as a bad boy applies in the animal world as well, wildlife experts say.

Circumstance--not an evil nature--is what distinguishes wild animals that are gazed upon fondly from a safe distance, from the troublesome critters who find their way alarmingly close to suburban homes, they contend.

But that’s not to say that some uninvited guests don’t cause more problems than others because, like people, they have individual behavioral traits, the experts say.

Those differences are recognized by a cadre of law enforcement agencies that form the barrier protecting man from beast--and vice versa--as the forest and city continue to converge.

Perhaps the most unlikely agency involved in curtailing urban wildlife problems is the Los Angeles County Agricultural Commissioner/Weights and Measures Department, whose job it is to trap coyotes in unincorporated county areas and in cities that contract its services, a task that goes back to the commissioner’s duties in the 1930s.

Deputy Commissioner Richard Wightman has his own opinions about the ability of furry forest creatures to outsmart the humans who hunt them.

“Raccoons are pretty smart,” said Wightman, whose office rents traps to homeowners to catch other animals. “Skunks aren’t so smart and possums, well they aren’t smart at all.”

City, county and state agencies all agree that the coyote is the uncontested king of the urban forest.

“Mankind will be gone and the coyote will still be here,” said Bruce Richards, a county animal control officer in Agoura Hills. “You can’t catch them in traps--they’re just too smart. We don’t even try.”

City and county animal control agencies almost daily deal with the smaller animals that live in nearby brush and feast on leftovers and pet food left out overnight by unsuspecting residents.

“People put out a banquet every night,” Richards said. “Trash cans without lids, pet food in the back yards, fruit trees. We moved into their habitat, and that’s fine, but we need to proof our homes against them, not take up arms.”

Dennis Kroeplin, a Chatsworth-based city wildlife officer, pointed out that bobcats, for example, are not uncommon in the hillsides above the West Valley, and residents should be careful not to encourage their visits.

“When a wild animal finds cat or dog food on a patio, when they learn where they can find food, it will become part of their routine,” Kroeplin said.

But in recent weeks, it has been the fearsome mountain lion--not the much smaller bobcat--that has dominated the minds of Porter Ranch residents whose homes abut the foothills of the Santa Susana Mountains, which divide the San Fernando and Santa Clarita valleys.

When lions were spotted, residents contacted Los Angeles police officers of the Devonshire station. While some officers feel sympathy for lions faced with urban hostility, they always respond and contact state wildlife authorities, a Devonshire watch sergeant said recently.

The state Fish and Game Department is the granddaddy of the animal control agencies, covering all Southern California from its Long Beach office.

Larry Sitton, a wildlife biologist who has studied mountain lions, said his office received several calls from Porter Ranch residents worried by “lion sightings” that turned out to be false. “We got a call one day from a resident who told us that a mountain lion had killed a Dalmatian,” he said, referring to the black and white spotted dogs. “We found a black and white couch out there, but no dog.”

Mountain dwellers, however, are wise to be cautious, Sitton points out, even though he believes there is little in Porter Ranch to attract a mountain lion or keep one hanging around.

He is more concerned about continuing development, not only in Porter Ranch but in other suburbs that brush up against natural lion habitats, like Los Padres and Angeles national forests.

And that lion in your back yard is just as unhappy to be there as you are to see him, he added.

“For raccoons, possums, coyotes and skunks, suburban trash cans are like convenience stores, but a lion prefers to be somewhere else, hunt on his own, and just roam,” he said.