LISTEN: A new study from the University of Georgia highlights the difficulty of managing coyote populations in the South. GPB's Chase McGee reports.

A new study from the University of Georgia highlights the difficulty of managing coyote populations in the South.

You might view coyotes as something of a pest predator — they seem to pop up in both urban and rural areas.

But researchers at the University of Georgia found that lethal removal of coyotes often doesn’t do much to shrink their population.

Researcher Heather Gaya said coyote populations bounce back quickly, and then stabilize.

"And then within two years of those efforts being stopped entirely, the coyote densities were back up to where they had been before any lethal control efforts had started," she said. "And now we found that they appear to be pretty stable at that level."

She also says the best thing you can do to control populations is to help them move on — work with neighbors to make sure the coyote's have no food available, and work to create a better environment for them in the woods, away from your home.

Tags: Georgia  Atlanta  Macon  Savannah  coyote  wildlife management