BATON ROUGE - Two coyotes have been spotted by neighbors living around a BREC golf course. The animals have been in backyards, on a front porch, and one chased a pet.

Sandy Lemoine moved to Greenside Lane in 2009. He tells 2 On Your Side that they have had coyote sightings in the past, but never like this. 

"One just came up on their front porch, hung out for a minute, then ran off," said Lemoine.

That was last Friday morning, across from BREC's Webb Memorial Golf Course. The quiet dead-end street is near where people golf, walk their pets, run, push strollers, and play outside. 

"How do you feel when you know that around any tree at any moment you're going to be faced looking at a coyote?" said Lemoine.

It doesn't make him feel good. Lemoine and his neighbors think they have a serious coyote problem as the sightings are becoming more frequent. One chased a family dog and cats are missing. 

"I have a dog and I'm apprehensive about letting them out after dark because we just don't know where they are," said Lemoine.

There are suspicions that the coyotes have made a home around or possibly in Ward Creek. Lemoine and other neighbors report having trouble with sinkholes forming in their backyards due to failures in the concrete-lined creek.

"I'm not a biologist, but perhaps the sinkholes and the concrete that's falling in on the canal, provide a haven to get in there and make a den if you will," he said.

These two problems aren't typically related, but Lemoine and his neighbors think they could be. Several years ago, Anne Kelly says she reached out to the city about sinkholes forming in her backyard. The city placed a couple of barricades near her fence and has not returned. 

"We have children and pets living on Greenside Lane," said Kelly. "The city needs to take action to fix Ward Creek and figure out a solution on getting rid of the growing coyote population."

Neighbors on Greenside Lane are hoping for a solution that will rid them of coyotes and fix the canal behind their homes. 

Wildlife and Fisheries have been contacted regarding the coyotes. The golf course knows about the animals but doesn't report an issue. The city said in March they had five concrete canal cave-in cases open in need of scheduling. The city is collecting more data about these locations and whether the Ward Creek section is one that has been scheduled for repairs.