Officials from the Department of Environmental Management (DEM) put down a sickly coyote along South Broadway on Wednesday.

The mangy animal was plagued by mites and was becoming more bold with humans to retrieve food, said William Muggle, East Providence Animal Control Officer. The department received at least one call a day to report sightings.

"He was extremely ill. He had no fur left, his tail was rotting off," Muggle said. "He was starving to death."

After tracking him and other coyotes in the city for month, officials from the Department of Environmental Management met with Muggle near 1281 South Broadway to discuss this particularly mangy animal. At that time, the animal came closer to the officials and they shot him.

"He came out again and was looking bad as ever," he said. "We had a clear safe shot with woods and hills as a backdrop."

The carcus is in a freezer, said Muggle. It will be sent to be examined by a wildlife biolgist as the animal was tagged for research purposes.

Other coyote sightings have been reported throughout the city, but they are safe to humans; however, Muggle advises people to keep their cats indoors.

"We try to leave the healthy ones alone."

Chris Dias wrote Patch an e-mail reporting he saw a coyote near the Exxon Mobile property fence.

"As I was about to snap the picture, he turned around and walked away. It may be hard to tell, but he was HUGE, bigger than a German Shepard," he wrote.

Officials urge people not to feed coyotes.