Hooray for Dan Noyes!  Dan Noyes, the investigative reporter for ABC7 news who was the first to shine a light on the tragic events that brought about this petition, has continued his efforts to uncover the truth!  Here is a link to his latest report.

Members of EBRPD's Board of Directors told Dan Noyes that they have suspended the policy of shooting cats!  While not yet a promise to ban the practice forever, the board members interviewed seemed eager to find alternative solutions.  And, as you know if you read the statement written by FAAS Director John Lipp, quoted in its entirety in the previous petition update, there are a great many wonderful Bay Area shelters and rescue groups who are not only willing, but eager to help them do just that!

I suspect that the more cynical among you are wondering if EBRPD is just saying what the public wants to hear, hoping that the fury will die down, the issue will be forgotten, and that they can then return to business as usual.  I honestly don't think that will happen.  Dan Noyes won't let that happen.  Our municipal shelters and community-based rescue groups from every corner of the Bay Area will not let that happen.  The passionate and compassionate people who have signed this petition will not let that happen!

There is another reason I believe that a permanent change in EBRPD policy will come about.  This is completely subjective, and I neither ask nor expect everyone who reads this to give credence to it:  I have faith in EBRPD's Board of Directors.  Attending Wednesday's Natural and Cultural Resources Committee meeting was an eye-opening experience for me.  Three of the members of the board were in attendance:  Director of Ward 6 Beverly Lane, Director of Ward 7 Colin Coffey, and Director of Ward 1 Elizabeth Echols.  (It's possible others were present, but didn't speak.  Unfortunately, I didn't think to check the list of people present in the Zoom meeting.)  One team of highly specialized scientists presented detailed information about the numerous effects this past year's terrible wildfires had on multiple sites throughout the District.  Another team of scientists were equally thorough as they explained their ongoing efforts to control the harmful algal blooms in Lake Anza and Lake Temescal.  The final presentation was given by an enthusiastic archivist, newly hired but remarkably knowledgeable.  She focused on the ongoing work of gathering oral histories for EBRPD's extensive archives collection.  (DISCLAIMER:  I did not take notes.  The meeting was recorded and I thought that if I wanted to relay anything about it, I could simply listen to the recording.  The meetings are recorded and made available on the EBRPD website, but not immediately! If anything I say is incorrect, I apologize.)  It's not the details that matter, in any case.  What mattered to me, and what I am clumsily trying to convey to you, is that EBRPD is so vast, and so diverse, and is challenged by so many critical and complicated problems at any given moment, that it was nearly impossible for me to grasp the amount of information the members of the Board have to take in and question and consider and discuss in order to do their jobs.  I went into that meeting thinking that the cats couldn't possibly have been shot if the Board hadn't sanctioned it, and came out thinking that the policy of shooting cats could have been put in place at any point during the District's history, and there is no way for me to know if any members of the Board were even aware of it.  For all of us, those cats' lives had value, and even those of us who never saw them grieve their loss.  Given the scope of the challenges EBRPD faces, I can't imagine how the members of the Board would have known about the cats' existence unless the employees who were aware of them had gone out of their way to inform them.  When I saw Director Lane's face after she was shown a photo of an area decimated by fire, I realized that she was grieving, too.  She saw the damage done to that beautiful landscape, and all the species that had inhabited it, and it pained her.  Again, I don't expect anyone to take my word for it, and it would be ridiculous for me to believe, let alone claim, that I actually know what Director Lane was feeling at that moment, or why.  I just wanted to convey that the members of the Board struck me as people who were devoted to the stewardship of our wondrous regional parks.  I only witnessed a single meeting's worth of the innumerable and overwhelming challenges they face.  Witnessing how carefully they listened to each presentation, how much thought they put into the questions they asked and the answers they received...I can only speak for myself, but I felt both humbled and inspired.  That is why I said I have faith in the Board.

I am every bit as adamant as I was before that killing those cats was barbaric, reprehensible, and inexcusable.  Even if that policy was put in place 86 years ago when the District was founded and has continued, unexamined and unchallenged until the present day, I still cannot conceive of how anybody with a conscience could pick up a gun in 2020 and set out to murder a bunch of cats.  Yes, their mandate was to protect wildlife, and yes, if the cats were harming wildlife then they had to be removed, but how on earth could anyone think that the best or only way to do that was to shoot them?  Those cats did not live on EBRPD land.  They lived in adjacent parking lots in Oakland.  I am not saying that cats respect boundaries that only make sense to humans.  I am not saying that they never set foot on EBRPD property.  I am not saying they posed no threat to wildlife.  What I am saying is that these cats lived within the Oakland city limits, and that I don't understand why the people who committed this atrocity didn't call just call Oakland Animal Services and explain the situation to them.  If that was too difficult, why didn't they just tell Cecelia that they planned to kill the cats if they weren't removed by a given date?  Dan Noyes repeatedly and doggedly asked Dave Mason if Cecelia had been given a deadline, and he repeatedly dodged the question.  Surely even the people who derisively dismiss Cecelia as a "crazy cat lady" cannot honestly claim they believe she would not have moved heaven and earth to save those cats had she been given the chance.

In an article written for SFGATE reporter Andrew Chamings writes, "East Bay Regional Park District told SFGATE that it 'reached out many times to those feeding the feral cat colony asking them to stop and not release additional cats into the area. Unfortunately, they did not comply with requests.'"  Every other quote in that article is attributed to public information supervisor Dave Mason.  You can see why nobody would want to have their name associated with this particular quote.  Cecelia and the second caretaker were doing TNR. (For anyone unfamiliar with the acronym, TNR stands for trap/neuter/return, a humane effort to reduce pet overpopulation and all of its negative effects, not just for the strays themselves but for the environment as well.  Also, I am now able to say that the "second caretaker" I referred to in the petition is Tiffany Ashbaker.  I didn't want to give her name without her permission, because it wasn't given in Dan Noyes' report, and I didn't know if she preferred to remain anonymous.)  Even the suggestion that anyone who is doing TNR work is releasing additional cats into the colony they are managing is laughable.  And how exactly are we supposed to interpret "Unfortunately, they did not comply with requests"?  So if Cecelia and Tiffany stopped feeding the cats, they wouldn't have shot them?  Why is that, exactly?  If the cats had been forced to hunt for food in addition to whatever hunting they had previously been doing for sport, they wouldn't have shot the cats because somehow they would have become less of a threat to wildlife?  "EBRPD" can claim that they "reached out many times" to those caring for the colony, and can even show the two emails they sent to Cecelia as proof.  However, as Dan Noyes discovered during the course of his investigation, they failed to spell her email address correctly, and didn't care to approach her and speak to her in person when she did not reply.

Nevertheless, after watching Dan Noyes' update this evening, I was left feeling that today was a good day.  Members of the Board of Directors want to find a way to protect native wildlife without killing cats.  Dozens and dozens of animal welfare and rescue groups want to offer their suggestions, assistance, and resources so EBRPD can accomplish that goal.  The land adjacent to the parking lots where the colony used to live is within the boundaries of Ward 4.  Director Corbett, who represents that ward, not only says that she thinks EBRPD can protect endangered wildlife without shooting cats, she goes on to say that the members of the board "want to get a report of exactly what happened", and that they "have asked for an investigation."

Last but not least, as Dan Noyes reported, Cecelia and Tiffany were able to bring four of the remaining Oakport colony cats to Marin Humane Society on Wednesday!  Marin Humane gave me permission to attach the beautiful photo they gave to Mr. Noyes for his report.  Cecelia and Tiffany have always called this cat Bunny.  The photo makes me happy every time I look at it, and I hope it does the same for all of you!