Once again, coyotes have been spotted roaming St. Petersburg's quasi-urban neighborhoods.
St. Pete police posted a video of coyotes they saw near 76th Avenue North and 1st Street in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and reported seeing another, younger animal near 94th Avenue North and MLK. In addition, CL received independent confirmation of another coyote sighting further south, near 58th Street South and 26th Avenue in the Gulfport area.
Coyote sightings are surprisingly common throughout Pinellas County, but tend to reach a fever pitch every few months; there's even a sightings map on the county's website, though it looks like it hasn't been updated since 2015, which, c'mon people.
Looks like those folks who suspected their pets were mutilated by humans early last month might've been wrong about that one, but if there are people out in the neighborhood hurting animals, maybe the coyotes can just skip the middleman and eat them instead. In any case, please keep your pets inside, and avoid leaving food out for the neighborhood felines.
This article appears in Oct 11-18, 2018.