SWAT snipers hunt coyotes along Mississippi River near New Orleans;

Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office SWAT team members, shown here aiming for nutria in the Veterans Memorial Boulevard canal last year, are now moving to hunt coyotes on the Mississippi River batture in Harahan, Louisiana.

Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office sharpshooters began searching Harahan near New Orleans Friday looking for a den of coyotes spotted in drainage canals near the Mississippi River, the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports.
A dearth of coyote sighting and cat killings in the area forced officials to organize the hunt. Officers shot and killed 1 coyote and spotted 3 others during a trial run on Wednesday. The sheriff’s office uses shooting teams similar to those used to control nutria populations along Louisiana’s drainage canals. The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries issued a permit to allow officers to shoot the animals at night.