Coyote on the loose in Havre, put down

South side Havre resident Dave Kaasa got a surprise when he looked out in his yard Tuesday.

There was a coyote. He called Havre police for advice. They said they could do nothing.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks came to the scene and decided it was best to euthanize the coyote.

Kaasa said FWP told him that they often sedate other animals and take them into the wild and set them free, but their policy is not to do that with coyotes, Kaasa said.

At first, Kaasa said, the coyote was in his yard, then went under this deck where it was hard to see.

FWP spokesman Marc Kloker from the Region 6 headquarters in Glasgow, said he considered it very unusual for a coyote to come into a populated area in the West.

You sometimes hear about coyote coming into the central city in New York City or in eastern states, he said.

That's because they often don't have access to food in eastern states, he said. So they tend to go into cities where they can find something to eat such a dog food.

In western states, he said, coyotes usually find food in the wilds, so they have no need to go into cities.

Coyotes, though they can be dangerous, tend to be afraid of humans, he said.

"A lot of human shoot  them," he said.