MANATEE COUNTY - A Bradenton subdivision has some unusual visitors.  Lately, coyotes have been running around the Hawthorne Park subdivision.

Coyotes aren't a rare animal to find in Florida...around rural locations.  But wildlife experts say it is rare to find coyotes in a populated area like west Bradenton.

"We started to hear that they were walking around in the streets...here at night and in the morning."  Kim Stadlin has lived in Hawthorne Park for five years.  "I saw one driving home one night as I was coming into the entrance of our community dart across the road."

And in the past few months, the buzz going around the neighborhood has been all about coyotes.  "We heard them yipping out in the back.  We have a field and they were yipping back there," says Stadlin.

The coyotes have become a sight that many people there have seen.  

"Coyotes are like mice or rats.  They are going to reproduce and they are going to be around, and there is not a whole hell of a lot we can do about it, other than try and contain it somewhat."  Michael Hogan is the president of the Hawthorne Park Homeowners Association.  He says the coyotes are just a part of life in Florida.  "I've lived here for 12 years, from back in the days were we had alligators walking down the streets...to now we graduated to foxes...and now we have coyotes.  That is just part of life out on the outskirts of town."

Professional animal trapper Jeff Norris says catching coyotes is not an easy task.  "It is going to be really difficult getting rid of coyotes in that area, because the options are limited as to what we can do to get rid of them.  It is not as simple as setting a live trap out and getting rid of them."

So for now, Hawthorne Park residents like Stadlin will use some caution during their neighborhood walks...with some added protection -- a miniature air horn.  "Just so if I'm out by myself in the evening.  I get frightened by a coyote, I'll just blow it and hopefully that will scare them off."

Coyotes are primarily nocturnal, but many of the encounters by residence in Hawthorne Park saw them in them during the day.

Jeff Norris says people should treat coyotes just like any other wild animal -- don't leave pets out by themselves, don't leave pet food out either, don't feed the coyotes, and learn to live with them because they're here to stay.