Straight poop on the Coots from the LA Times
Written by Jeff on March 14th, 2008Yeah, remember those black duck-like creatures that make their winter home in the Bridgeport lake? Well, they haven’t left Santa Clarita yet, but they’re still causing an uproar, and the LA Times had a great article today on the coots and the uhhh…ummm…. mess in Bridgeport.
What’s great about this article is that it confirms what we saw from Bridgeport HOA officials earlier this year when The Signal reported on this story: No one in Bridgeport wants to talk about it. You get the sense Bridgeporters just want to kill their coots in peace with no outside attention from the damned environmentalists.
Check out the Times’ description of Bridgeport:
The subdivision was named Bridgeport not because there was a bridge or a port, but because the builders fancied the look of Bridgeport, Conn.
Behind white picket fences and fake boulders that hide utility boxes are million-dollar Cape Cod houses — the real deal, sort of, with gabled roofs and little round windows that make you feel like you’re staring out of a fishing boat.
To many who live here, it is divine suburbia, with safe streets, great schools and big parks — a masterfully planned community right down to the tidy piles of mulch around the base of every baby tree.
A cynic might argue that the birds were never going to fit in.
That’s probably true. One of the commenters on the story said this:
Ninety-two percent of California’s wetlands are gone due to development. So you built a fake lake and the desperate birds land in that lake because they have no where else to land, and you want to kill the coots.
There’s also more information about how many coots are calling Bridgeport home these days. The answer comes from the management company in charge of Bridgeport. Russel Hoffman says 500 coots are swimming, flying, eating, and pooping all around Bridgeport, a number he claims could produce up to 20,000 pounds of poop during a six month stay.
Yes. 20,000 pounds of coot poop in our very own Bridgeport.
In any event, the Bridgeport HOA still has the culling permit and would be within their rights to start drugging & euthanizing the birds. But as it warms up, the Times says, the coots may leave on their own soon.
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I’m glad the article appeared in the Los Angeles Times. The only thing that was missing from the story is that Bridgeport was built in the floodplain. There at one time was small un-named tributaries (small creeks) and seasonal ponds that developed in the floodplain - of course the homes, road, and lakes have replaced all the natural habitat.
It is quite upsetting to hear that the HOA planned on shooting the birds last year. You see that did not apply for a permit last year. It is interesting that the removal of rabbits has also been on the HOA agenda. I think that they did that already. There are no rabbits there, I guess as animals move out of the river they will be forever persecuted for daring to cross a road that historically was their home.
The HOA many years ago complained so much about the calls of frogs keeping them up at night. At one time you could hear the frogs singing over the traffic and Newhall Ranch Road and McBean Parkway. Where have all the frogs gone?
Here is what is so hypocritical - Bridgeport was build in Newhall Lands so called Natural River Management Plan. A plan that in their words protects our natural resources. Of course any honest, level headed biologists knew that species habitat would be forever lost even with out a bunch of homeowners screaming about wildlife that dares to come out of the Santa Clara River. The City, County, State and Federal agencies all said the wildlife corridor would be protected. This obviously woefully untrue. Please keep up to date on the Newhall Ranch project - because what we see today - will continue - under the deceptive names of Natural this or that.
Where is exactly where the animals go? Migrate to where? Where will that open space be?
FYI - 357,000 traffic trips were be created when the Newhall Ranch project is built as - that is - if we as a community continue to keep quiet. This Tuesday Los Angeles City Council will report on how they wish to work against the massive Newhall Ranch project. Knowing that a full 53% of our working population will have to travel to San Fernando Valley and beyond for employment.
This is not a joke.