LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – A Sun City Summerlin backyard has been taken over by a coyote den, according to neighbors.
Neighbors say they believe about six to seven coyote puppies and a couple of adults have made themselves a home underneath a bush in the corner of a 96-year-old Richard Hermsen’s backyard.
“They love the junipers,” Hermsen says, who’s had his fair share of coyote encounters since the den appeared about three weeks ago. “They run all over the place.”
Most memorably, Hermsen says he looked up from doing Sudoku in his backyard to see around six coyotes, puppies and adults included, in his gazebo.
“They were half playing with each other and rolling over and all kinds of things, and so I stayed doing my sudoku. They didn’t bother me,” he says.
It’s not just Hermsen who’s noticed more activity.
Neighbors say in the last weeks they’ve seen coyotes creeping along their fences, lounging on their front yards, walking up to their doors and peaking through their back windows.
“When I moved here, it wasn’t like that,” Alice Nicoll says.
Nicoll says a coyote grabbed her Maltese, Bubba, by the neck two weeks ago in her backyard. Bubba survived, but he wears the scars to prove it.
“I couldn’t believe what I was seeing, it was like it came out of nowhere,” Nicoll says. “I won’t let him out in a fenced yard without a leash on.”
Neighbors say they’ve called the Nevada Department of Wildlife, asking what can be done.
NDOW’s Doug Nielson says living among coyotes is a part of living in the Mojave Desert.
NDOW will only step in to remove a coyote if there is a “bonafide” public safety threat, like a human bite or aggressive behavior toward humans.
He says neighbors can hire a private pest company to remove them, but he wants the public to understand that “removing” a coyote means it will be euthanized. Because coyotes are rabies vectors, they won’t just be moved to a different area.
Back at Hermsen’s backyard den, Nielsen says the junipers could be exacerbating the problem.
Hermsen says he doesn’t feel the coyotes are aggressive, but they’ve certainly overstayed their welcome.
“If they get hungry enough, you don’t know what they’re going to do,” Hermsen says.
Nielsen says communities can reach out to NDOW and ask to work with an Urban Wildlife Educator, who will help teach neighbors how to work alongside wildlife.
Sun City Summerlin HOA’s Executive Director, Mitzi Mills, says they will “destroy” dens near homes if residents reach out with concerns. She says they’ll do that by trimming bushes up off the ground, and filling in any holes dug out by coyotes.
There are several ways she suggests residents reach out with concerns, including via email at [email protected] or by calling her office at 702-966-1409.
