Posted on Sun, May. 04, 2008

BILOXI -- Some wily coyotes in Biloxi seem to be playing the part of the Roadrunner, taunting residents and zipping through neighborhoods.

John Thompson watched what looked like a coyote attacking a small dog last week in the Old Biloxi Cemetery, but other residents said the coyote only wanted to play with the dog, not eat it.

"I usually ride my bicycle near the graveyard and I saw a guy screaming on the street, saying his dog was being chased by a fox," Thompson said. "When I saw it, I said, 'Dude, that's no fox.'

Jamie Gilbert and his wife, Michelle, live across from the cemetery and they say the coyote is an old friend of the family and he is hardly aggressive when he's frolicking in their backyard.

When the Gilberts let their small cat and golden retriever outside to play, they said, the coyote comes to play, too, and he doesn't try to eat the household pets, a common snack for coyotes.

In fact, the coyote - nicknamed 'Wily' - often cries when playtime is over and the Gilberts bring their pets in for the night.

"I let my dog and cat out and they'll play with the coyote and chase each other around in the yard all the time," Jamie said. "He's not aggressive. He's got almost a wolf-like look to him, but he acts like a fox."

Gilbert has known this particular coyote since it showed up as an orphan pup after Katrina. It was raised with a large black Lab and other dogs that lived near the graveyard. Gilbert said the coyote believes he is actually a dog.

"It's interesting to have something like that in our neighborhood; it's kind of a treat," he said.

Biloxi police have contacted the state Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks Service for help trapping and relocating several coyotes that could be roaming the city.

Ricky Flynt, a program coordinator at the Wildlife Service, said the agency does not normally trap coyotes, especially in the suburbs, which can be a tricky thing to do.

"There are a few individuals in the state who we've permitted to trap coyotes," he said. "But most of the time in an urban situation like that it can be very difficult, because you're trying to target an animal that can move across a broad area in a very short period of time."

Coyotes are survivors. Wildlife experts say they can adapt to almost any type of environment and in recent years the coyote population has increased in the state.

The predators have been known to hunt fawns, small farm animals and pets.

Gerald Trosclair lives near the old Edgewater Golf Course. His home is close to what was once a lush fairway, but is now an overgrown field.

One night last month Trosclair walked outside around midnight to make sure he had turned off the lawn sprinklers. He opened the front door and heard an eerie howl.

"I thought that I was looking at a fox," he said. "But instantly I realized that it was no fox, because it had long legs. A chill ran down my spine. It was a coyote."

It was a coyote, all right, and this canine was not alone.

"I saw another coyote in front of me in the brush," Trosclair said.

It's unclear whether one of the canines Trosclair encountered was the graveyard coyote the Gilberts know.