May 4, 2009 7:45 pm US/Eastern
Hold Your Pets Tight, Coyotes Are On The Prowl
MIDDLEBORO (WBZ) ―
Wilfred Forcier misses his dog, Hattie, a 7 pound Yorkshire Terrier that was attacked by a coyote last Wednesday.
"She was like a kid to us. She went everywhere with us. We loved her to pieces," he says.
Hattie asked to go outside at 4 a.m. Forcier opened the door and watched her from the porch. Within seconds, he saw a coyote come from behind a tree and grab Hattie by the neck. "I found her little body on the woods there," said Forcier. "She had been choked."
Wildlife biologists say coyotes move to areas that are densely populated before there are a lot of food sources there.
"Any type of food source -- from garbage to small mammals unfortunately, domestic pets at times," says Laura Hajduk, at the Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife.
She says people should eliminate food sources by properly covering trash and cleaning up the area around bird feeders so the coyotes have nothing to eat on your property. She also says all animals should be kept close to their owners.
Hajduk also adds that coyotes are naturally fearful of humans so if people see one, they should make noise and harass the coyote so that it runs away.
Hajduk says, "Harass it and that's re-instilling that fear of people that they already
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