Gwinnett County

Gwinnett neighborhood bitterly divided over how to handle family of coyotes

DACULA, Ga. — A family of coyotes has divided residents of a Gwinnett County neighborhood.

Channel 2′s Berndt Petersen was in Dacula, where some residents said the animals have killed several family pets, and they want them gone.

In the meantime, other neighbors said people need to keep their pets inside and leave the coyotes alone.

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Brianne Farr said coyotes killing pets happens more often then people realize

“I actually had a friend who had a dog that was killed by a coyote,” Farr said. “So, I personally know that’s a serious problem.”

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Another neighbor, who only wanted to be identified as Stephanie, said the neighborhood has lost seven pets.

On a local social media site, a lot of neighbors were in favor of hiring a professional trapper, while others were strongly opposed to the idea.

Kaitlin Goode with the Georgia Department of Natural resources said the issue is a polarizing one

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“Either people think coyotes are perfectly fine the way they are, or people want all of them gone,” Goode said. “There’s very few people in between.”

Goode said there have been reports of coyotes being bolder around people.

Stephanie said she’s seen it with her own eyes, but some of her neighbors want her to back off.

“(Some neighbors say) coyotes were there first, and we just need to leave them alone,” Stephanie said. “Well, number one, they were not there first.  And I’ll leave them alone if they stay in their lane as people like to say.”

Stephanie believes that enough people will contribute and get a trapper hired, but others who posted on social media said they aim to stop it.