Growing coyote population in N.C. creates more encounters with humans [View all]

A hen was missing from a Statesville, N.C., home last week in the western part of town, but the woman who lived there had a suspect: A coyote.

“So my hen becoming coyote dinner was my fault,” the woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, said. She said she wants to bring awareness to the hazards of living on the edge of nature even in what most would consider close to town.

She said one of her children likely didn’t secure the bird before dark and she believed the culprit was the same one her family heard kill a feral cat the night before. She said they’d been seeing and hearing coyotes the past few months in the immediate vicinity of their home, where they also raise chickens for their eggs.

These encounters are more common over the last decade as the coyote population has grown in the area as there are few apex predators to slow the coyote population growth, according to N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission Officer Matthew Lee. On top of that, as towns and cities expand outward, people come into contact with animals as their environment is overtaken by humans.

Read more: https://newsadvance.com/news/state-and-regional/growing-coyote-population-in-n-c-creates-more-encounters-with-humans/article_c0eaa4cc-1240-5d46-ac74-cab6e0108bee.html
(Lynchburg News & Advance)