The Great Smoky Mountain Journal

Staff, Wire Reports

Posted: Sunday, January 21, 2018 07:20 PM

Coyote Attacks Seymour Family's Flock Of Chickens

SEYMOUR, Tenn. (SOURCE: WVLT) -- Surveillance cameras captured video of a coyote attacking an East Tennessee family's flock of chickens before stealing hundreds of eggs from the coop.

It happened in Seymour. The family told Local 8 News they had been setting home made traps to keep coyotes off the property and away from their pets.

"It makes you mad that you have to arm yourself to walk out onto your own property against these animals, these animals are taking control of everything," said Gary Cody.

In the past two weeks, Cody has twice caught on camera coyotes taking his chickens. The time stamps on each video show the coyote taking the chickens around 2:30 p.m. Cody told Local 8 News it's not just two chickens he's lost, but also money out of his own pocket.

"It's not about losing one hen that we raised from a baby, we lost 240 eggs that the hen could have gave us throughout a year," said Cody.

He took matters into his own hands and built his own traps that would capture the coyotes but not kill them. He built five traps and placed them around his property. Each trap cost around $20 to build.