Caught on camera: Coyote sightings around Austin metro

Round Rock resident Laurie Hill caught a coyote sneaking around her front porch. It leaves, and then moments later, comes right back. And you can see from this map, coyote sightings are all too common in the Austin metro, and they aren't scared to come to urban areas.

“I personally woke up one morning, the dog was going crazy and there was a coyote sleeping right outside our backyard. My fiancee, she walks the dog sometimes and she's seen coyotes three or four times, same green belt area,” said Matt Talley, South Austin resident.

Ever since he saw that coyote, even with a chain linked fence, he has taken extra precautions to protect his dog. “When we first moved in before we knew about the coyotes, we'd just let her out but now we make sure if it's at the morning or right before sunset, we always monitor,” said Talley.

Just three months ago, Austin police responded to at least 20 calls about mutilated cats found in this area. That trend seems to continue.

The man who posted this flier says he just recently found his cat's skull. 

In addition, Randy Perme, lost two pets in less than a year. “They were my son's cats and he was very sad. The one that was attacked was probably seven or eight months ago, and the one that went missing was probably right around Christmas time,” said Perme.

The City of Austin says they don’t trap, coyotes, but have a “hazing” policy...which means training coyotes to avoid people all together. They said it's less expensive, and will alleviate dangers of human/coyote interactions.

“We just want our dog to be safe so I think it's a tough challenge in terms of what the city should do about the coyotes,” said Talley.

“It's not their fault that we're here. I'd rather just see them moved a safe distance away,” said Perme.

If you see a coyote, city officials say you want to make them feel human interactions are unpredictable, or scary. Use noisemakers, make eye contact and yell at it so it will leave.

If it doesn't budge, throw non edible objects at it, without harming it.

Your goal is to make it afraid of you.