“It’s more like National Geographic,” said Dante Wesley. Coyotes visit his backyard daily.
CEDAR HILL, Tenn. — As a former NFL family, the Wesley’s love entertaining; however, in the evening, coyotes steal the show.
“It’s more like National Geographic,” said Dante Wesley.
Wesley and his wife, Renetta Wesley, live in Cedar Hill next to some interesting neighbors.
“We see pretty much everything back here from raccoons, possums, bobcats, coyotes,” said Dante Wesley.
The family showed WFAA videos of coyotes eating a snake in their backyard. Some videos showed them playing with their pups.
“My social media is full of, you know, just capturing those moments,” said Renetta Wesley.
“You see five of them. They all look the same,” Dante Wesley said. “You know something ain’t right about that.”
That was similar to what Shay Chism thought when she saw what looked like a large cat behind Bessie Coleman Middle School. At the time, she was visiting her family’s youth sports organization. Mentality Elite Academy in Cedar Hill.
“We immediately just started trying to guess, like, what is that? I, like, I had never seen anything like that outside of a zoo,” said Chism, Mentality Elite Academy.
WFAA spoke with Cedar Hill’s Nature and Open Space Coordinator, Katie Christman, to find out what animal Chism saw.
“Oh yeah, that is a bobcat,” said Christman. “Because we’re seeing more people move into Texas, we see more urbanization happening, there’s going to be more interactions with folks within those wild spaces.”
Cedar Hill has more than 32 parks and lots of green spaces which provide shelter and food to wildlife.
“Until I see a tiger or a lion itself walking around Cedar Hill, yeah, I think that’s about as close to seeing it, seeing it all as it probably gets,” said Chism.
What should you do when you see wildlife?
“Stay calm and keep your distance. If you see it far off in the distance and it’s not close to you, don’t panic. If you’re out with your dog, make sure your dog, it should always be on a leash. But if it’s starting to get closer, make yourself really present. You can make some noise. If you’ve got a jacket on, spread it out. Make yourself look bigger,” said Chism.
She said it is possible for humans and wildlife to co-exist, but anyone with concerns or questions should contact animal control or Texas Park and Wildlife.