GUILFORD COUNTY, N.C. — Experts say February is mating season for coyotes.
That means they’re more active, more defensive, and more prone to attack.
One Summerfield woman has lost nine of her rescue pets to coyote attacks over the past couple of weeks.
Tesh said she's lived in her home for 35 years, and this has never happened.
"We’ve never had them this bad," Mary Tesh said. "This is the first time the coyotes have actually attacked the goats and taken them, this is the first year it’s ever happened."
Tesh said it could possibly have something to do with the construction and housing development around her home off of Highway 150 W.
"I don’t know if it’s the housing development out here has gotten worse, there’s more and more housing since we moved out here," Tesh said. "Before it was farmland now it’s a lot of housing, and they are having to find food because there isn’t as much wildlife anymore."
Martha Regester with the Greensboro Science Center says right now it's mating season, so more coyotes are out and about.
"It's not really surprising to see coyotes and foxes especially at certain times of the year," Regester said. "Remember; we all share the same habitat."
Tesh has many animals.
"We have rescued pot-bellied pigs and goats and donkeys so there’s 13 pigs, 14 goats, and 2 donkeys."
But she should have even more goats, and is heartbroken she no longer does. She said they were taken one by one, just days apart.
"They are pets to us and it's very upsetting when they started disappearing and we couldn’t figure out why and then we find out the coyotes are out."
Just this week, Tesh installed some electric fencing to prevent coyotes from taking any more of her precious rescues.
"It's farm fencing, we have electric fencing on the bottom to where the coyotes can’t dig in so if they try to dig under they’ll get a shock."
Some tips to avoid a coyote run-in:
-- Remove all pet food from your yard
-- Keep all trash out of reach and covered
-- Fix any holes or spaces in your fencing
RELATED: Joggers Fight Off Coyote Attacks