JOHNSON COUNTY, Ind. – Police in Greenwood are warning residents to stay on the lookout for coyotes, and in order to keep track of them, they’re plotting all the sightings online.
It’s pretty simple: See a coyote, plot it on a digital map. Dozens of them have been reported since the program launched in 2013, but this week a homeowner says if she had known about it earlier, her beloved pet might still be alive.
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Resident Rachelle Lipford says a nimble coyote got the best of her 14-year-old cat. The only things left from the attack were her trampled hosta and remnants of fur on the ground of her lawn.
“It looked like there was definitely a struggle,” Lipford says.
It was only later that she found the program run by the Greenwood Police Department. It allows you to enter all information about your coyote sighting, plotting it on a map.
Officer Kortney Burrello showed us dozens of pinpointed locations on the map, part of a program launched after several attacks near the end of 2013.
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Since then, coyote-related problems have decreased, but Burrello says now is when homeowners should stay on alert.
“We might start seeing a little more of them, because this time of year, the males that were born in the spring start leaving their dens and going out and start roaming on their own,” Burrello said. “It’s always in hindsight that you find out these things.”
While she always knew coyotes could come with the territory in her city, Lipford says losing her cat to a coyote attack is something she won’t let happen with her next pet.
“Had I found the tracker prior to my pet going missing, maybe I would have had a little better idea where the attacks were happening most often,” Lipford said.
Through the campaign, police are also giving tips and information about coyotes.
Find the coyote map here, and if you see a coyote in Greenwood, you’re urged to report it here.
PREVIOUS COYOTE COVERAGE:
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- 2014: More "rare" urban coyote attacks on Indiana dogs
- 2014: Indianapolis suburb considers coyote trappers
- 2014: "Nuisance" coyotes leave Greenwood man on alert
- Colorado: Man fights off 3 coyotes with flashlight
- 2012: Police warn about string of coyote attack
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