Many of the wild animals we see often in Los Angeles are threatened, but there is a lot that everyone can do to help.

That's the message from Andrew Lasken, co-director of Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife (CLAW), who will speak Sunday, Nov. 3 at 10 a.m. at Santa Monica’s Wild Birds Unlimited store, 12433 Wilshire (corner of Wilshire and Centinela, across from Armstrong Nursery).

Lasken will talk about the most important threats right now for wildlife:

--The lack of wildlife corridors and overpasses on freeways. which isolates wildlife from their habitats and forces them to cross dangerous freeways.

--The use of anticoagulant rat poisons. The rats die slowly of internal bleeding, so they are easy prey for mountain lions, coyotes and bobcats. Those animals then die also from "secondary poisoning."

Lasken will talk about the many ways that local residents can protect wildlife, such as:

--CLAW's nesting-box program for barn owls. These small nighttime hunters can consume as many as 3,000 rodents a year, much more effective than rat poison. Putting up an owl nesting box in the fall is the best way to bring an owl pair to your back yard, so they can start ridding you of rats.

--Supporting preservation of existing wildlife corridors and creation of “overpasses” for wildlife over freeways. Mountain lions and other animals often are killed on freeways as they try to move to new territory for hunting or breeding.

--Helping pass Assembly Bill 1788, which would ban the worst anticoagulant rat poisons. Even LA's star mountain lion, P-22, has suffered from mange produced by eating poisoned rats. 

--Learn to coexist with wildlife, especially coyotes. Don't feed them or give them water. If coyotes are spotted, use "hazing" to keep them wary of humans.

“Our store supports organizations, such as CLAW, that are working to protect the critical habitat that all wild creatures need, not just our local wild birds” says Julie Hanson, owner of the Santa Monica Wild Birds Unlimited.

Citizens for Los Angeles Wildlife (CLAW) is a nonprofit organization focused on advocacy, conservation, and education on behalf of wild animals and their habitat in the City of Los Angeles and beyond. Information about the organization’s many activities can be found at http://www.clawonline.org.

Mountain lion P-34 died in Malibu from rat poison