Coyote slips into Alabama home through doggy door, kills pet cat

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An Alabama man was startled awake over the weekend when a hungry coyote entered his home in Argo and killed the family cat.

Roland Collins was roused from his bed early Sunday morning when he heard a noise from the basement, WIAT-TV reported.

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"I'm hard to wake up, so I knew it was something pretty serious, and my dog jumped up and started growling," Collins told the news station.

Collins said he grabbed a pistol and went to investigate. He discovered a coyote standing over his dead cat, Sunny, before the animal attempted a messy and unsuccessful escape back through the doggy door.

Collins said that he shot the coyote, like the one pictured above, inside his home after it had killed his pet cat. (iStock)

The coyote "turned over shelves, knocked stuff all over the floor, I'm still standing there I guess with my mouth open in my underwear," Collins described.

The homeowner explained to Birmingham station WBMA-TV that when he cornered the invader he had no choice but to shoot it — as its only option to escape would have been to run through his legs. He told the station he believes the increased coyote activity in the area is due to their habitats being taken over by new developments.

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Collins said his two other cats had gone missing in the night, suspecting that coyotes killed them, too. He used the incident to remind pet owners to protect their furry loved ones.

“You need to keep your doggy doors closed especially at night and don’t feed your animals outside,” Collins told WIAT.

In Alabama, it is legal to hunt coyotes during daylight hours throughout the year, according to the National Wildlife Training Program. The group says shooting is an option in getting rid of a "specific nuisance coyote."