Douglas Lewis had just taken a picture of the coyote and was on his way out of the Folsom State Recreation Area when, he said, he heard the gunshot that killed the animal.<\/p>\n
The coyote had been living in the area for at least four years and had never seemed threatening, Lewis said. But it did seem like it was becoming less fearful of people, park regulars and rangers said, which made officials nervous because picnicking families use the recreation area.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy friends and I used to see him at Lake Natoma \u2026 it\u2019s a sanctuary,\u201d Lewis said. \u201cHe\u2019s there in the summer, in the winter, it doesn\u2019t matter. It was like that was his little hide-out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnce a coyote gets habituated, it loses its fear of people,\u201d said USDA Wildlife Services spokeswoman Pamela Manns. Such a lack of fear, she said, \u201ccould lead to potential conflicts between coyotes and people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Douglas Lewis had just taken a picture of the coyote and was on his way out of the Folsom State Recreation Area when, he said, he heard the gunshot that killed the animal. The coyote had been living in the area for at least four years and had never seemed threatening, Lewis said. But it … Continue reading Hand-feeding leads to officials shooting coyote along American River Parkway<\/span>