When Kyle Boreing's son, Ashton, was walking their family dog on Gallia Drive in Ohio's Miami Township on Wednesday, he came across something that stopped him in his tracks.
Just feet from the sidewalk, he saw nearly a dozen dead coyotes.
"I just thought, wow, that's a lot of dead coyotes," Ashton Boreing said.
Ashton immediately went back to their home and told his dad.
Kyle Boreing said he was instantly concerned.
"It looks like someone, or something, poisoned them and they all kind of dropped in the same area," Boreing said.
Boreing said he's lived off Gallian Road for seven years, but has never seen anything like it.
It wasn't just the sight that was troubling, but also the smell.
"(Smells like) rotten meat," Boreing said.
"It's alarming, because if it can take out that many animals all at once, seemingly at the same time, what kind of impact can it have on somebody else or some other animal coming through here?" Boreing said.
Hamilton County Wildlife Officer Jacob Losekamp went out to look at the coyotes.
He said it's unlikely the coyotes were poisoned, but he believes they were shot and illegally dumped.
Losekamp said he will continue to investigate what may have happened.
He didn't remove the coyotes because they are on private property. Losekamp said the landowner is responsible for their removal, but adds that they can also let the coyotes naturally decompose if they want.
Still, Boreing said he'd like the coyotes to be tested. He said he wants to confirm it isn't poison and make sure the coyotes weren't carrying any diseases.
"I'm hoping they do more than just try to clean it up," Boreing said. "I hope they test either the animals or the area where the animals were found, to make sure there's not something else going on."
Miami Township Administrator Jim Brett said that as they continue to investigate what happened, he recommends any resident who may find more dead coyotes call his office.
This story was originally published by Alex Null with the Scripps News Group station in Cincinnati.
