Ohio Twp. Officials, Residents On Alert After Coyote Sightings

OHIO TOWNSHIP (KDKA) -- In the cartoon, Wylie Coyote never gets a break.

Not so, when it comes to coyotes in your backyard. The call of the wild can be chilling.

"Sure, at night you'll hear them howling. They're very wily, like a fox," says Ohio Township Police Chief Norbert Miklos.

Coyotes have been roaming Ohio Township for 15 to 20 years. But lately, the Diamond Run neighborhood has had more than its fair share of sightings.

"And I had one report from a woman who actually viewed a couple of coyotes take down a fawn in the woods, and it kind of upset her," Chief Miklos added.

"We saw a single coyote running across the golf course and down into our yard," said Ed Bauer, a local resident.

That's what greeted Bauer and his wife last Sunday morning.

Coyotes are smart, weigh anywhere from 30 to 50-pounds and will eat anything from mice to watermelon. They rarely attack people, but small pets don't have a prayer.

"The big alarm is about dogs and cats that might be outside," says Bauer.

"Nature's cruel. It's not lovey-dovey like Walt Disney paints it out to be," says Brian Griffith.

He has been trapping animals since he was a teenager.

"Trappers like me [are] a dying trade," Griffith adds.

He has plenty of pictures of coyotes he picked up locally.

"Now there's lost cat signs and beagles missing," he says. "That's the animals that are picked up by coyotes."

Coyotes aren't likely to go away any time soon. They can have 20 pups in a litter. You'd have to harvest 70 percent of the coyote population annually to see any real reduction.

"I wouldn't worry too much. I'd just keep your pets inside," said Griffith.

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