DPS Warning For Pet Owners

Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety just posted the following to the Birdland neighbors.  It’s worth sending out to a broader audience.

Recently, the remains of two domestic cats were found in the Birdland neighborhood. While our Animal Control investigation was not able to confirm what happened, it is possible that they were attacked by wildlife from the Calabazas Creek area.

Living in Silicon Valley, it is sometimes easy to forget about the presence of wildlife. Although instinctively cautious of humans, when hungry enough, wildlife will not hesitate to look for their next meal in residential areas where there may be easier access to water, human leftovers and domestic pets that make for easy prey.

Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety Animal Control Unit, Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley and California Department of Fish and Game would like to remind residents to keep pets and pet food indoors, especially at night when wildlife, such as coyotes, mountain lions and feral dogs and cats may be on the hunt. Do not attempt to feed the wildlife as this has been known to change their behavior, reducing natural fear of humans and resulting in property damage, deadly conflicts with pets and threats to human safety.

We also encourage you to report predatory wildlife sightings by calling the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley at (408) 929-9453 or Public Safety’s non-emergency number (408) 730-7180 and providing the following information: Location of sighting, description and size of animal, direction of retreat or last seen location.

For more information about predatory wildlife in Sunnyvale, contact Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley at http://www.wcsv.org/ or visit the “Keep Me Wild” pages at the California Department of Fish and Game website at http://dfg.ca.gov/keepmewild/ .

Tracy C. Hern
Lieutenant
Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety
Crime Prevention Unit
thern@ci.sunnyvale.ca.us
(408) 730-7114

Let’s be careful out there.

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