FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – Residents of a Broward County community are on edge due to coyotes being spotted in the area.
A Ring camera captured the latest sighting of a coyote.
This time it was in the Melrose Park area of Fort Lauderdale. The animal appeared to be on the prowl just before 5 a.m. earlier this month.
The sighting came just a week before pet owner James Thomas told Local 10 News his small Chihuahua named Big Boi was brutally attacked outside of his home by a coyote just blocks away.
“I was terrified,” said Thomas. “Running behind him and trying to catch him and screaming and yelling at him. He wouldn’t drop him.”
Big Boi meant the world to Thomas. The pair were always together since the small dog became part of the family 10 years ago.
“He was like a son to me,” he said.
Another image shows a sighting down the street from Thomas’ home days before the attack. The wild animals moving into residential areas is becoming a major concern.
“We need to do something about it because (there are) kids running in the neighborhood -- they are eating the cats and eating the dogs,” said Thomas.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Local 10 News has reported on coyotes attacking small pets.
Back in May, 12-year-old Adrian Melendez was walking his dog in Miramar when three coyotes violently attacked and took off with his small poodle-Maltese mix Puffy.
Wilton Manors is an area that is also seeing a rise in coyote sightings, where the animals have been spotted in the middle of the day, raising concerns for residents who live there.
“And then when school starts back, we are probably going to have a problem with the kids going to schools in the morning,” said Thomas.
With concerns rising, officials with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission met with the city of Wilton Manors on Tuesday night to hear from residents.
The meeting, which took place inside the commission chambers at Wilton Manors City Hall, came complete with props for educating attendees on how to keep pets safe.
Jayne Johnston, a biologist with FWC, said there are things you can do to keep your pets safe.
“They should feel you are more of a threat than you feel they are threatening you,” Johnston said. “You have to reestablish their fear for humans.”
Johnston said coyotes rarely attack humans.
In the last 50 years, there have been two deaths of humans from coyote attacks.
Coyote sightings have been reported in all 67 Florida counties, according to the FWC, and are here to stay for the foreseeable future.
“They’re really not as big a threat as people perceive them to be,” Johnston said. “It’s just a matter to get people comfortable with the idea coyotes are going to be in the community.”
The FWC also says coyotes are often looking for food sources, so keeping trash out of their reach can help.