In the past month, two people in Southern Arizona have gotten bitten by coyotes, according to Mark Hart with Arizona Game and Fish.
Hart says this is rare because the department typically gets one to two coyote attacks every year in the state.
Recently, people living in the Palo Verde neighborhood between Grant and Speedway and Alvernon and Country Club say coyotes are getting a little too close for comfort.
"Not to have him in my yard and for him to keep coming back to these houses in this middle part of the block... it was just over and over we would chase him off he would come back," said Vivian MacKinnon, who lives in the neighborhood.
She says coyotes have been an issue over the years trying to make her front yard, their home. During that time she tried multiple ways to deter them from staying in her yard.
"We actually changed our landscaping from keeping them from bedding down," MacKinnon said. "I have put habanero chili under plants that they bed down into try to move them along."
Hart says a big concern when dealing with coyotes is whether they have rabies.
"This is what we watch for rabies," he said. "Unsteady movements, unsteady on their feet, almost as if intoxicated, salivating heavily apparently unquenchable thirst and extreme aggression."
Hart says if you do see a coyote, the best way to scare it off is to make loud noises. He urges anyone who sees a coyote to report it at (623) 236-7201.
