ORLANDO, Fla. — In the dead of night, Don Tooley hears them howling, baying in the dark.

"They were a problem five years ago," said Tooley, 64, citing the mysterious disappearances of neighborhood pets, presumably to coyotes that prowl the Butler Ridge subdivision in Windermere, Fla. "They’re a bigger problem now."

Tooley now keeps his two large dogs, Blue and Bear, on leashes whenever he walks them, and he carries a boat horn to scare off coyotes.

For years, the opportunistic hunters have been a nuisance in central Florida, rummaging through trash cans, stalking cats and yipping after dark. But wildlife experts say coyotes are becoming more troublesome, especially in neighborhoods with woodlands and green space, and worried residents are beginning to fight back. At least one neighborhood in Ocoee, Fla., hired trappers this month to cull coyotes after a small dog was snatched from its owner’s yard on Christmas Day.

According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, there have been no reported coyote attacks on humans in the neighborhoods. But wherever coyotes are heard at night or seen at dawn or dusk, they become the suspect when pets disappear. Residents in some communities offer firsthand accounts of deadly pet entanglements with coyotes.

Tooley’s neighbor, Rachel Pringle, shrieked at a coyote as it crept toward Cookie, the youngest of her two Yorkshire terriers. "Cookie," she recalled yelling. "No!"

Though Cookie and Pringle’s other pet Yorkie, Toto, were in her yard, Pringle had made the mistake of taking her eyes off the little dogs. Her terrified shout spooked the coyote, which turned quickly in the darkness and bolted from the front yard to the side yard, where the other Yorkie stood. Just that fast, Toto was gone.

More than a year has passed since a coyote ran off with the Yorkie, and the coyotes seem emboldened, Pringle said. "Ever since then, it’s a common occurrence," she said of coyotes in her yard. "I told all the children in the neighborhood, ‘Stay together. Be careful after dark.’"

The state’s wildlife commission cannot provide an accurate population count for coyotes, but their numbers appear to be increasing statewide along with complaints. An agency primer on the species points out that coyotes were reported in just 18 of Florida’s 67 counties in a 1981 wildlife survey. They are present now in every county, said commission spokesperson Joy Hill.

A professional trapper for four decades, Bill Crowder, president of the Florida Trappers Association, said coyotes are the most common nuisance complaint fielded by his group. They were not a problem 40 years ago, he said.

Mice, rabbits and feral cats make up a coyote’s usual diet. But they roam and make their homes where they find food. More and more often, that is wooded areas around residential neighborhoods, Crowder said. A coyote sees a house pet as dinner.

"If you offered me a free hamburger, I’d be at your house every night," he said, explaining the spate of reported attacks on cats and small dogs in residential areas. "Same with coyotes."

He described trapping as "an option of last resort," but he defended the practice as necessary when a coyote loses its instinctive fear of humans.

"That’s when real trouble’s possible," he said.

Not everyone is ready to take up arms against coyotes. Kimberly Huffman, a resident of Kensington Manor in Ocoee, was outraged when she learned that her homeowners group had hired trappers. The decision was announced in an email with a subtitle: "Board votes to go to war on Coyotes."

"I know I may sound like a crazy animal activist, but I’m fighting for what I believe in," said Huffman, who on the homeowners association’s Facebook page debated neighbors who expressed concerns about coyotes attacking their children. "I think it’s wrong to kill an animal for following its instincts. … We should co-exist with them. They have as much right here as we do."

She suggested measures to keep coyotes away, including wind chimes and motion-activated lighting.

At The Plantation at Leesburg, Fla., Chuck Celli said he saw a large coyote snatch two golf balls from the fairway of the development’s golf course Jan. 3. The animal ran toward a marshy area with the golfers hot on his tail in a cart.

"The coyote won the race," Celli said.

Turnburry Woods resident Mike Inderhees, who helped organize the informational meeting, said many neighbors are eager for trappers to get to work. A neighbor’s adult son had to kick a coyote off the family dog last year.

Some in the 88-home neighborhood describe the animals as increasingly brazen, "sauntering around like they own the place," Inderhees said. Others disagree, believing that living with wildlife "is all part of Florida," he said.

Since May, the Turnburry Woods homeowners association has been mulling a strategy to keep coyotes at bay. The group even obtained bids from trappers at $600 an animal. State law requires trappers to kill captured coyotes.

"You can’t kill your way out of this problem," said Becky Pomponio, spokeswoman for Project Coyote, a California organization that promotes "educated coexistence" between people and the species it calls "America’s native wild song dog."

Pomponio said people who live in areas where coyotes have been seen or heard should inspect their yards for "attractants" — potential food sources such as open garbage cans, barbecue grills and bird feeders.

"Most coyotes are very skittish. Instinctively, they fear humans," Pomponio said. "But they lose their fear when they find food near humans and we simply walk by them, or if we retreat and don’t teach them to fear us."

Stand your ground and make noise, she said.

"Use a whistle. Spray them with your garden hose. Throw tennis balls at them. Open an umbrella at them. Hit pots and pans together," she said. "It’s really quite rare for a coyote to bite a human. It’s normally when somebody’s trying to feed them and they get used to that."

Pomponio recommended pet owners keep their animals close and leashed, carry a stick when they walk them and bring pets in at dark.

State wildlife officials say coyotes breed once a year, usually in winter, and have few natural predators, which may account for their growth. An agency report released five years ago predicted human conflicts with coyotes would increase.

But it also warned: "Attempting to completely eliminate coyotes is both expensive and futile."

A coyote advisory from the University of Florida underscored the difficulty with trapping and killing the animals. When coyotes are removed from an area, the document noted, new packs simply move in to fill the void.