A Sandy Springs city councilman says coyotes are a growing problem in Sandy Springs. He wants to know if it should be the city’s problem, too.
Councilman Chip Collins brought up the issue of increased coyote populations at the end of the Feb. 7 City Council work session. He wanted to know if the city should help residents do something about it. He suggested trapping might be a way to make the increasingly comfortable coyote population wary of venturing into residents’ yards.
Collins said he asked residents for their opinion and said he received around 100 responses.
“I do think its a problem,” he said.
Coyote trapping has been a controversial topic. The Huntcliff Homes Association recently started trapping them. Not all residents agreed that is the best approach.
Police Chief Terry Sult told the council there have been more sightings of coyotes in the area.
“These animals are destructive,” Sult said. He said the trappers have stories to tell. “(One trapper) found one that killed a whole cow.”
The rest of the council didn’t act interested in spending money to run the coyotes out of Sandy Springs.
Mayor Eva Galambos said when she was worried about coyotes eating her pet cat, she hired the trapper herself.
“I did not come to Sandy springs to figure out what the city could do for me,” she said. “We put the traps out. They’re gone.”
Councilwoman Karen Meinzen McEnerny said she wouldn’t support spending public money to harm animals.
Sult said the newer traps are much more humane. Collins wasn’t advocating killing coyotes. Just catching them.
“Coyotes are smart,” Collins said, adding that it would be wise to make them “wary of humans.”
