Talk about coyote ugly.
Prospect Heights artists are using wild animal urine to scare a gang of feral cats — after a reckless property owner allowed the mangy felines to invade the block.
Dylan Thurston — a musician who lives with roommates on Bergen Street — has doused his lawn with pellets of coyote pee to keep away the cats that have turned his backyard into a litter box.
More than a dozen of the cats live in an abandoned building next to his apartment near Grand Avenue — where they have been munching on garbage, attracting fleas and pooping on stuff for weeks.
“I like cats — but these are filthy,” he said, explaining he even hung a mesh net to keep out the rascals.
A city spokeswoman noted it’s “up to the property owner” to deal with feral cat invasions — so when Thurston’s landlord failed to act, he searched the Internet for the backwoods remedy.
He was also concerned that the extra-nasty felines would give the household dogs fleas.
“It’s a continuous battle,” he said, noting he’s now winning a mini-war with the cats. “I think we’re closing in on them.”
Coyote urine — which can be purchased in pill or liquid form for about $3 per ounce — strikes fear into the hearts of unwanted critters and even other coyotes, who bolt after recognizing its territory-marking smell.
The remedy’s effectiveness hasn’t been endorsed by any animal control agencies — but anecdotal evidence abounds: Rural folks have long vouched for it, calling the method friendlier than trapping, poisoning or hose-blasting wild cats.
It’s not just a country problem. Brooklynites — especially those in yet-to-be gentrified areas — have had plenty of wild cat dilemmas, like in the case of the Greenwood Heights activist who busted a pair crooks unloading them near his house. Or the Greenpoint block that morphed into a veritable bed and breakfast for skanky pussies, after cat lovers began to toss them scraps.
