Trapper John hired to trap Feral Hogs and Coyotes by the City of Kenner.
Stories from WGNO (Ashley Hamilton) 10/11/2024
and WVUE (Rob Masson) 10/15/2024
KENNER, La. (WGNO)10/11/2024 by Ashley Hamilton — Kenner residents say the city is being taken over by not only coyotes, but wild hogs.
“We’re not just talking one or two. Like in some other neighborhoods. We’re talking a huge pack,” said Kenner resident Samantha Miller Lemoine.
Lemoine says coyotes and hogs have been terrorizing her neighborhood for some time, but in the past few weeks, the number of animals has grown.
“The coyotes are consistently out in the evening. Like right around when it turns dark and the hogs tend to be early in the morning and then kind of right when it turns dark,” said Lemoine.
A neighbor down the street says he had to save his dog from a coyote attack. In his backyard, hogs have dug multiple holes while searching for June bugs.
“A crunching noise woke me up. They must have had about a dozen of them back here on the ground. And it was so loud. It was unbelievable. I couldn’t believe it. Look at the damage done. I can’t even cut my grass. What I was doing a couple of days work,” said Kenner resident Wayne.
Due to the increased presence of animals, the City of Kenner has hired Trapper John Schmidt’s team. Schmidt tells us coyotes are a danger to pets, and hogs are extremely dangerous to humans.
“If they think they’re locked in a yard or if you would come up against them and they think they can’t run away, they’re going to attack you. They’re going to come at you like a bulldozer,” said Schmidt.
“The pack of coyotes we have, if it’s 20 plus, you can’t just trap one at a time. They are going to be keen on it. So that’s a little concerning unless I can see that they have a huge trap that’s going to trap more than one or two at a time,” said Lemoine.
Schmidt says that the city of Kenner has only hired his team for a month. He adds that the city will need to work with trappers long-term to really make a big difference.
“We can most certainly get you know, we can get these animals. But the minute we get off of them, they’re just going to some new ones and are going to wander back in because they’re expanding their territories. What they need is a long-term maintenance plan. When they show up, we get them,” said Schmidt.
Anyone who sees a coyote in their neighborhood should notify the city. Problems can be reported at https://kennerla.qscend.com/311.
NEW ORLEANS (WVUE) 10/15/2024 By Rob Masson - The City of Kenner has brought in a veteran animal trapper to tackle a growing population of wild hogs and coyotes.
Trapper John Schmidt, who has decades of experience, caught another large coyote Monday (Oct. 14) night near the Kenner-Saint Charles Parish line.
Schmidt has captured hundreds of wild animals in the area over the years and says the hogs and coyotes are once again showing up on Kenner streets, damaging property, eating at least one pet, and alarming citizens.
Recently, the wild hogs have been tearing up lawns and golf course turf, including at Château Estates Golf Course.
“These animals can cause massive destruction in just a few hours,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt says that hogs are voracious eaters and have been spotted between Airline Highway and the lakefront. Some hogs were even seen running on the levee near the Woodlake neighborhood four months ago. Schmidt believes the animals may have swum across a drainage ditch during high water brought in by Hurricane Francine.
He is now beginning the process of setting traps to capture them.
“They will travel at night, travel along the drainage canals. They will cut through bushes when it gets daylight. They might just lay up against something real thick. It might be in your backyard. You don’t even know they’re there,” he said.
Schmidt is confident that he will trap more coyotes soon. He says it’s important to maintain an ongoing program to manage the wild animals and urges anyone who spots a wild coyote or hog to contact him on TrapperJohnSchmidt.com.