Stray cats and rats are vanishing from America’s largest landfill, and the reason has stunned cleanup crews. For years, thousands of felines prowled the massive dump, keeping rodent populations in check while workers fed them scraps.
In early 2024, technicians reviewing night camera footage at the Puente Hills landfill, the largest waste site in North America, noticed something unusual. The infrared cameras, which had recorded nightly activity at the site for years, were suddenly capturing empty frames. The rats and stray cats that had dominated the footage had vanished. Researchers soon identified the cause: coyotes had moved…