A telephone call would bring a truck from an agency whose business it is to pick up and dispose of the unwanted animal. Few of these town-bred animals are able to find food and shelter. But those that do, and those that run away to become wild, are the worst enemies of wildlife. Our rangers shoot them on sight. Dogs are not permitted in the preserves except on leash.
Wild cats prey upon fledgling birds and rabbits and squirrels.
Some become very large and powerful. We killed one battle-scarred cat that weighed 18 lbs. Wild dogs usually hunting in pairs or in packs of three or four, become cunning vicious killers that live upon quail, pheasants, rabbits, squirrels and other wildlife. Some of them interbreed with the coyotes in the Palos preserves. Some become infected with rabies and transmit it to other dogs permitted to roam.