Denver suburb plays paintball with coyotes

GREENWOOD VILLAGE, Colo., May 7 (UPI) -- Officials in a Denver suburb hope paintball guns will convince coyotes to move on.

Police in Greenwood Village say the number of coyotes has soared recently, ABC News reported. A 14-year-old was attacked in a park in December, prompting the city to hire a contractor to map coyote dens.

"The city of Greenwood Village has dealt with coyotes for years," Police Lt. Joe Harvey told ABCNews.com. "It"s never been as bad as it is now."

The attack on the teenager is the only reported one on a human being. Pets are another matter, and officers investigating a den found 30 dog and cat collars.

Wild Earth Guardians, a conservation group that has sent volunteers to Greenwood Village to help scare coyotes, says hazing the animals is actually more likely to be effective than killing them because the animals are likely to respond to a drop in numbers with increased reproduction.

In nearby Lakewood, police say a year-long paintball battle appears to have cut the number of coyotes and made those remaining shyer and less aggressive.