The Department of Agriculture and Industries Food Safety inspectors continue to conduct effectiveness checks on several varieties of pet food that have been recalled after Salmonella was detected during retail surveillance sampling. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been collaborating with the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and state and local officials to investigate a multi-state outbreak of Salmonella Infantis infections. A total of 14 individuals infected with the outbreak strain have been reported from nine states.

If you see a coyote on or near your property or in a location where you have never seen one before – don’t be surprised! Such a sighting does not require reporting and should not be cause for concern or panic. In fact, coyotes are found all over Alabama – including in urban areas - and frequent neighborhoods more often than you may realize. Just as humans tend to congregate, settle and reproduce in areas where our needs for resources are met, coyotes can become abundant in areas where they find their survival requirements satisfied.

Since the coyote’s insulating coat protects it from the harshest of Alabama winters, food procurement is its primary hardship. Our state’s coyotes usually have little problem gleaning provisions from the healthy populations of its prey items. Its diet is exceptionally varied and includes furred items such as rats, mice and voles in addition to larger mammals such as rabbits and fawns.