Animal-Rights Backers Decry Plan to Kill Coots

Animal-rights activists expressed dismay Friday after learning that Rancho Santa Margarita will proceed with plans to have 200 coots killed.

Representatives of Merit Property Management, which oversees the South County community’s services, have applied for the federal permit to kill the coots, even though the birds will begin migrating to Canada within weeks, said Ava Park, founder of Orange County People for Animals. “This action is premature and unnecessary,” she said.

Park said she met with Merit representatives as recently as Wednesday to discuss alternatives to killing the migratory waterfowl, which since October have been polluting the community lake with their droppings and tearing up landscaping in their search for food. One option discussed, she said, was using specially trained dogs to scare away the birds.

But Merit Property representative Hasan Brown said the homeowners association’s board voted Thursday to proceed with plans to hire a company that specializes in wildlife removal. The management company has said in the past that the birds probably would be poisoned with a deadly tranquilizer.

The board will look into nonlethal ways of dealing with the coots next season, Brown said.

Meanwhile, the animal-rights group said it will stage a protest Monday.

“I’ve offered to provide volunteers to scare the coots away,” said Jane Garrison, campaign director for the group. “We will do anything to prevent this unnecessary killing. It’s so inhumane that they won’t let them stay for six weeks.”