Portsmouth bans feeding wild animals

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- The town of Portsmouth has banned feeding wild animals as part of an effort to keep coyotes away from homes and reduce attacks on pets.
   
The Newport Daily News reports the town council passed the ban on Monday, making it the second Rhode Island community to institute such a rule. Middletown was the first.
   
Councilman John Blaess said it won't eradicate coyotes, but it is a step to recognizing the town has a problem with them.
   
The rule bars residents from leaving food outside in any area where a coyote or other wild animal could get to it.
   
Numi Mitchell, lead scientist for the Narragansett Bay Coyote Study, calls a ban on feeding wild animals a first step in controlling the growing coyote population on Aquidneck Island.