Lila Brooks

The Chronicle of a Coyote Defender Lila Brooks

Lila Brooks has led a remarkable life, from her birth in Hungary, her volunteer work for the United States military in WWII, her hilltop home in the Hollywood Hills and finally to years of tireless work for defenseless wild animals. She founded California Wildlife Defenders and can claim numerous accomplishments. She created the anti-feeding ordinance that became the law and has been enacted in cities and counties all over the USA. She established wildlife drinking ponds in the hills, stopping wildlife from entering backyards searching for water from swimming pools and faucets. She created an ordinance to save raptors (some of them endangered) from getting caught in leghold traps set for predators. Lila testified before the state assembly in Sacramento, California and before city councils in Los Angeles, Glendale, Burbank, Pasadena, South Pasadena, and Claremont objecting to the killing of animals in biology classes. She participated in anti-fur demonstrations in Beverly Hills and demonstrated against baby seal clubbing and the trophy hunting of mountain lions. She gave lectures in schools and set up tables in various public locations handing out her educational literature. Lila fought for passage of her recommendation for nonlethal methods in lieu of trapping, which had been ridiculed at first being so different from traditional lethal control methods. Eventually it was implemented and proved that the ultimate solution to the conflict was not trapping but educating the public how to deal with wild creatures. This book is a chronicle of and tribute to the decades of tireless work of Lila Brooks.