A coyote seen Tuesday in Piedmont Park may be looking for a mate or for food.
Department of Natural Resources spokeswoman Robin Hill said a biologist saw a coyote in the park on Saturday and people were feeding it, which is not advised.
“They think the coyote might be sticking around because of the opportunity to get food from people in the park,” Hill said. “The biologist believes the coyote to be a young adult and they hope that if people stop feeding it, it will eventually move on to another location.”
Neighbor Jeff Porubsky told the television station he’d never seen a wild coyote before and he’s concerned for his children and little dogs.
Timothy Herdina spotted it on Christmas day.
“It was definitely surprising to see it,” he said.
He told Channel 2 he hopes someone can help return it to its natural habitat, despite how friendly it's been.
“He's not very big, and he was very docile and didn’t seem like he wanted any interaction with humans, but probably should be relocated,” Herdina said.
Experts with the Atlanta Coyote Project say that it's mating season and coyotes pose little risk to people as long as no one is feeding them.
“If they start getting access to food, as associating people with food, they’ll start to overcome their wariness of humans and they’ll start to expect food,” expert Chris Mowry said.
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