A North Main resident reports that a coyote was spotted near his home last week around Townes Square Lane. We are alerting our residents to this and encouraging everyone to keep their small pets inside. We checked and learned that City Animal Control has not received other reports in this area recently, but there are coyotes in Greenville, and they are often more prevalent in our older neighborhoods. Coyotes are not going away…we are going to have to learn to live with them and somehow try and discourage them. This means not leaving pet food outside, not throwing out food scraps, and keeping your garbage contained and secure. The coyote’s main food source includes chipmunks, squirrels and mice. Because we are in an older neighborhood that is wooded with LOTS of squirrels, this attracts coyotes. When they are looking for their natural prey, they will be drawn to food left out and may then go after small pets. They may be seen both in the daytime and at night, but are usually not dangerous for humans.
The agency that deals with nuisance wildlife is DNR. They have information on coyotes at their website. They do not, however, come out and trap coyotes. The neighborhoods are primarily responsible for handling the problem and luckily we have good cooperation from our City Wildlife Control Officer. Leave a comment below or on our Facebook page and we’ll pass the information along to our neighbors and to the pertinent agencies.
