ROANOKE, Va. – Many people are thinking about their animals after seeing a picture that's gaining traction on social media. It shows a coyote making off with what appears to be a kitten, possibly someone's pet.
The picture has a lot of people talking. The poster said it was captured on a trail camera in a neighborhood near the Salem Veterans Administration hospital.
"People really think Roanoke is a metropolis and it is pretty big as compared to the rest of Southwest Virginia, but we're surrounded by mountains, we're a valley so kind of everywhere around us all your wild animals kind of trickle right in without any issues," Roanoke animal warden Emma Hanes said.
There were clearly no issues for this coyote and its unmistakable glowing eyes. Roanoke City animal wardens get about a call a week for them.
"We call them and we say you know hey coyotes are allowed to be here, if it looks like they're becoming a nuisance then we will refer them to Game and Inland, but we always just have to remind people when you're by the river, you're close to the woods, you're at a really good food source," Hanes said.
The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries began studying the coyote population a few years ago, tracking movements with GPS collars. Coyotes are open season all year long for hunters, but the population can be hard to manage.
Tiffany Beheler is a wildlife educator with Roanoke Wildlife Rescue and said unfortunately sometimes nature takes its course.
"I think that a lot of people missing, especially cats, because they're pretty free roaming and you know it is nature if they're in the woods, a coyote sometimes food sources are limited so they're going to go after domestic prey," Beheler said.
The best thing you can do is help your pets help themselves. Think twice before letting your pet out and don't make them easy prey.
"Bring your cats inside, bring your small animals inside, if you've got a small dog outside stay out there with it, if you keep your animals outside that's a risk you take," Hanes said.