Man Shoots Home Invading Coyote that Killed His Cat

It's bad enough to lose a pet to a coyote attack, but one Alabama man is still trying to come to terms with the fact that his cat was killed by a coyote that entered his house while he slept.

Roland Collins, who lives in St. Clair County, said he woke early the morning of June 2 to a loud noise in his basement

"I'm hard to wake up, so I knew it was something pretty serious, and my dog jumped up and started growling," Collins told CBS 42.

Collins grabbed a pistol, walked down the stairs and opened the door to his garage where he found his cat, Sunny, dead on the floor and a coyote standing nearby.

"There it was, right in front of me, looking straight at me. The cat was laying on the floor," Collins said.

The coyote likely followed the cat through a pet door, but Collins said it missed the door in its effort to escape and ended up turning over shelves and knocking stuff all over the place.

"I'm still standing there, I guess, with my mouth open in my underwear," Collins said.

He eventually cornered the coyote in his basement and shot it.

After the experience, Collins gave a word of warning to those living in areas populated by coyotes.

"You need to keep your doggy doors closed, especially at night, and don't feed your animals outside," he said.

Collins believes his two other cats, which went missing, were also killed by coyotes.

Neighbors have reported hearing the animals howling at night.

Collins said he will miss Sunny, but feels fortunate he wasn't hurt.

"I don't know if you call it shock or awe or what," he says, "but I don't think I had time to be scared until it was over with, and then I got a little shaky."

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