Cougar Danger

* For [several] days running, The Times has reported on cougar sightings in the West San Fernando Valley. Am I the only resident who is both afraid and angry? It seems to me the moratorium to let the coyotes and cougars go forth and multiply in the Chatsworth Reservoir is the main problem facing families who relocated to the West Valley for peace, quiet and at least a feeling of some security against attack (“Mountain Lion Sighted Near Area Reservoir,” Nov. 18). If you complain to the Department of Animal Regulation, they send you a brochure that tells you how to live with these vicious predators at your doorstep.

The reservoir was not constructed for the use and benefit of animals. It was constructed as a catch basin for rainfall, complete with three dams. It was converted to a [nature] preserve because city engineers found they had built on top of an active earthquake fault.

We are not encroaching on the predators’ turf, they are encroaching on us, thanks to Animal Regulation. I have lived here over eight years and never had a problem with coyotes until two years ago. Now the predators are prowling our family parks and basins looking for food.

Let’s trap them, tranquilize them and move them where they belong: Angeles Crest Forest. And if you cannot do that, I suggest you humanely kill them, which is a much better death than our domestic animals and children will experience.

SUSAN BLOOM

West Hills