DEER PARK, Texas — Concerns over coyotes continue to grow for families in the Deer Park area as some people have said their pets have been killed by them.
"It worries me that animals are getting killed," resident Sherry Scott said.
Officials said that between dusk and dawn in Deer Park the soundtrack of coyotes howling is on repeat.
"And they're pack animals," Deer Park Police Department Lt. Chris Brown said. "One starts howling and they all start howling."
Brown said the department gets several reports a week of coyotes being spotted. A pack of coyotes was caught on camera last week in someone's backyard.
It's the police who are tasked with managing the coyote population.
"There are traps out to contain the coyotes and if we do catch a coyote they get turned over to (the) humane (society)," Brown said.
For safety reasons, Brown didn't show KHOU 11 News where the traps are placed or what they look like.
"A pack of coyotes can have a 40 square mile area that they roam," Brown said. "So, it's not uncommon for them to go from one end of town to the other or neighboring cities."
Deer Park residents believe the coyotes are using the drainage lines to travel between neighborhoods.
"They leave me alone and I leave them alone," Deer Park Resident Bill Haymer said.
Haymer has lived in his home here for nine years.
"I come out almost every other night or so and there'd be two or three of them," Haymer said.
That's why his 16-year-old chihuahua, Yoda, stays inside at night.
"They'd go after that," Haymer said. "They'd go after that in a heartbeat."
Officials recommend keeping your pets inside at night and early in the morning.
"If you do see a coyote ... wave your arms, make a lot of noise," Brown said. "They're skittish animals and they'll push away from your residence."