Woman uses social media to alert neighbors of coyote sightings

GASTON COUNTY, N.C. — A Gaston County woman said that in the last few weeks, coyotes have been spotted in her subdivision near a busy community hangout.

Lisa Wells took to social media to spread the word after one of her neighbors recently spotted coyotes in the Willow Creek subdivision.

She said on two different occasions coyotes were spotted just off a walking trail that runs through the neighborhood. It's right behind the community club house and pool and is also a few feet away from playground.

Wells said her neighbor saw the coyotes around the same time of day on both occassions.

"He most often sees them on Mondays before garbage pick-up. He says it's like Golden Corral for coyotes out here," she said.

She is encouraging neighbors to roll their trash cans out for pick up Tuesday mornings instead.
 
Channel 9 asked about the coyote presence in the area. The Gaston County Department of Natural Resources said most of the calls about coyotes are from rural areas of the county, and farmers concerned about their livestock.

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission said the first reported sighting of a coyote in the state was in Gaston County in 1938. Now, coyotes are in all 100 counties in the state, so it's possible they are starting to venture out into more developed, urban areas of Gaston County like has been the case in Charlotte.

Wells said, "We're taking away their habitats to build our own so they're becoming desperate."

RESOURCES: Additional coyote information

Sign up for breaking news alerts, click here.

WSOC