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Ashley Mercier and her family saw the last of their Bengal cat Murray on July 4. They have little doubt that the culprit was a coyote roaming their Winter Park neighborhood.

“Our neighbors called us and said they found his head and a leg bone in their backyard,” she said. “Their backyard was like a crime scene and my kids saw that. To find an animal you love like that is just horrible.”

Mercier and her two daughters took their story and photos of Murray, 15, to a Winter Park City Commission meeting several weeks ago. Because of that, along with coyote concerns other residents have conveyed to Mayor Sheila DeCiccio and commissioners, the city hosted a community meeting Thursday evening to share information about how to live with the animals in

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