A coyote trapper said the city of Atlanta on Thursday ordered him to stop trying to catch coyotes seen around Emma Millican Park after it was discovered the property owner where the den is located had not authorized traps to be set.
“We got the word from the city of Atlanta to pull the job,” trapper Tim Smith of Catch It Wild said Thursday. “They know where the coyote den is now, and they’re saying it’s not their problem.”
Smith said he had placed seven foothold traps to catch the coyotes.
“They’re back there,” he said. “It’s a mom and dad and three pups, and the pups now are as big as mom and dad.”
The traps, however, were on property owned by Ami Ciontos, who said she had not authorized them to be set. The coyotes have made a home in an old shed on her property.
Ciontos said she received a call from the city Wednesday asking if the trapper could come onto her property, and she gave the go-ahead.
She said she got another frantic call from the city Thursday asking whether she had authorized "leg traps" to be set, which she said she hadn't, calling the traps "just cruel".
Ciontos has lived in her home since 2006 and says she’s always seen and heard the coyotes, but they didn’t become a problem until a neighbor’s 90-pound goat was killed two weeks ago. “They’ve just gotten kind of bold,” Ciontos said.
Still, she said she doesn't want to be liable if someone or someone's pet ventures onto her property and is injured by a trap. "I can't be liable for that," she said. She said she had her attorney contact the city to have the traps removed.
Channel 2 said the city is working with several agencies to deal with the problem and that meanwhile the park will remain closed.
Justin Long of the Atlanta Parks and Recreation Department wouldn't confirm whether the city had ordered Smith to remove his traps and referred questions to a parks spokeswoman. The AJC was waiting to hear from the spokeswoman.
Earlier Thursday, there had been reports that one coyote had been captured in a cage, but it turned out to be a fluffy dog, probably someone's pet, Smith said.
“They called me this morning at 6 and said we had a coyote, but evidently they don’t know the difference between a coyote and a dog."
Smith said it’s getting close to the time when the offspring will be driven from their parents’ den and that will be followed by a new mating season, which may mean more coyotes.
Emma Millican Park, a short distance from Capitol View Elementary School on Metropolitan Parkway, is a popular spot for children to run and ride bicycles.
’’My kids love coming to this park, and I want them to come and play but not while there are coyotes out,” said Nina Jeanty, who moved to the community 10 months ago.
Jeanty, who has two boys and a girl between ages 9 and 13, said she began hearing about coyotes two months after moving to a home near the park.
Now her children are keeping their distance. ”They just try to stay out the park,” the mother said. “They don’t even want to go outside right now.”
Barbara Augustus, who has lived in the community for more than 30 years, said she was a little hesitant about taking her morning walk near the park Thursday.
"I said I'm going to take a chance with my baseball bat and my Mace, and hopefully the coyotes will stay over in that area," she said.
-- Photographer John Spink and staff writer Alexis Stevens contributed to this report.
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