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Page 1 of 2 <br />Maria Hoey <br />Subject: Message to planning commissioners on hawk <br />O <br />----- Original Message ----- <br />From: Concerned___Neighbor <br />Sent: Sunday, October 07, 2007 1:01 PM <br />Subject: Message to planning commissioners on hawk <br />I could not have the email addresses for the commissioners so would you please forward my message <br />on? <br />I ain a neighbor of Jennifer Hosterman and I am concerned on her application to keep her hawk in her <br />backyard. I know you do not like anonymous letters but out of fear of retaliation I feel I must write this <br />anonymously. I have a potential hearing myself coming up and I do not want the mayor to be upset with <br />me and then deny my requests. <br />I would hope the commission would hear this item and not leave it on the consent calendar. In reading <br />the agenda of public meetings, the consent calendar items are considered routine. I have never heard of <br />a wild hawk, which is used for hunting, being allowed in a residential neighborhood in Pleasanton so I <br />do not see how this can be considered routine. I also do not see how you can feel that this hunting <br />hawk, as she describes it below, is the same as a 4-H chicken that lays eggs and kids show at the fair. <br />This hawk is not a fowl. <br />About a year ago there was a website that had some public emails from the mayor talking about her <br />hawk. I cannot find that website anymore but some of the stuff was still found in search engines. <br />One of her emails had her saying, "When I got Ariel home, I free lofted her and tossed another live quail <br />for her -she blasted this one." <br />Another one had "I tossed her big, fat live quail, which instantly rekindled hunting instincts, and she <br />came down on it hard, almost killed it on impact. I let her feed on it for just a short time, then gave her <br />my glove with a previously killed quail with guts exposed, and she immediately left the one she killed <br />for my glove, to sit and feed. Meanwhile, <br />I covered the fresh kill with a towel and removed it from her sight. That's how you hunt with a hawk, <br />and bag game. So, conceivably, I could bag several rabbits in one outing, with this method, if I keep her <br />from getting too full of food." <br />I find this scary as a neighbor that she is throwing life animals in a cage and watching her "hunting <br />companion" kill them. Exposing the guts is just gross and makes me sick. <br />I ain not sure I have heard of wild hawks attacking pets or small children but if she keeps the hawk a bit <br />hungry to make it respond to her, I fear the hawk if it got out would go attack a kitten or even a small <br />baby in a nearby back yard. <br />I am also fearful that she hunts with the hawk at Shadow Cliff Recreation Area, where I run with my <br />dog and I see families with their little kids running around. Since Shadow Cliff is in Pleasanton, is it <br />illegal for her to hunt with her hawk in our public park? <br />The mayor does take trips periodically. I read she recently did something with Robert Redford but she <br />10/8/2007 <br />