Deer Lake -
When Dave Bursey got a call from his daughter around 6:15 p.m. Thursday, he didn't expect the topic of conversation would be a coyote.
"My daughter called and said 'I think I'm looking at a coyote.' I found it kind of alarming so
I asked her to stay put and back away, and I went over and parked the truck and sure enough the coyote was lying down by a tree," said Bursey.
He said the coyote was lying down at the end of Lakeside Drive in Nicholsville near the highway.
"It didn't seem nervous or it didn't seem excited or anything and we just backed away. He was probably within 30 feet. The only thing that startled it that I could see was when a truck used to go by it turned its head. But it just laid down. So at this point I didn't know if it was sick or injured and you think about rabies. Normally a wild animal isn't that cool," he said.
"You don't know what's going to happen you hear of people being attacked. I made a phone call to a wildlife officer."
Officials with the Department of Natural Resources in Pasadena responded to the call and later shot the animal.
"Conservation officers responded to the complaints and for reasons of public safety, decided to remove the animal from the area. The carcass has been sent to the Department of Environment and Conservation for evaluation," said a spokesperson from the department.
"They're around the community," said Bursey.
"I mean people start losing dogs and cats. It's one less coyote around town. Too bad it had to happen that way but once they're around they're bad news."
Manager of conservation services, Chris Baldwin, said you can never tell when or where a coyote is going to come around.
"They exist here so for anybody that encounters a coyote there are a couple of things to keep in mind. They're a predator species so they behave like predators. For someone to run away, that would incite a flight response for a coyote, most of their prey animals run so that's not a good idea," he said.
Baldwin said coyotes generally are more afraid of humans than humans are of them. "So making lots of noise or throwing rocks or sticks at it generally makes them turn the other way pretty quick. But in cases where it doesn't look like he's going anywhere, an individual should keep eye contact and walk away slowly and make lots of noise, throw rocks at it throw sticks at it," he said.
This coyote sighting occurred just about a month after a young girl died from wounds sustained from a coyote attack in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia.
"The incident that occurred in Nova Scotia was an unfortunate event, but not a very common thing to happen as well," said Baldwin.
