A Massachusetts man says his dog died after it was attacked by a coyote in the town of Nahant, which has been working with federal sharpshooters to kill "habituated coyotes."Chris Del Dotto said his 15-year-old silky terrier, JJ, was bitten by a coyote that kept coming at them while he let his pet out before bed Saturday night."I was not even 10 feet from my door, and I just heard my dog scream," Del Dotto said. "I turned around and looked, and the coyote had him.""It was just chaos," said Holly Yeager, a neighbor of Del Dotto's who witnessed the coyote attack.According to Del Dotto, he used an air horn to try and scare the coyote away from JJ, who was leashed, but that strategy did not work.Del Dotto said he took JJ to an emergency-care veterinarian, but the bite wounds from the coyote were too severe for the 11-pound dog."I loved him to death. He was my buddy," Del Dotto said. "I'm never going to forget the noise he made, and taking him to the hospital and seeing him dying in front of me. It was horrible."The Massachusetts Division of Fisheries and Wildlife (MassWildlife) estimates that there are up to a dozen coyotes in Nahant, which is more than what is considered typical for a one-square-mile suburban environment.Coyotes that become dependent on human-associated foods can become habituated and exhibit bold and aggressive behavior toward people and other animals, according to wildlife experts.In early December 2022, Nahant officials voted to sign an agreement with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Wildlife Services to help address the growing issue of habituated coyotes in the town, citing multiple documented cases of aggressive behavior toward residents. In the process, Nahant became the first Massachusetts community to call in help to kill aggressive coyotes.Town officials said a coyote took a pet off its leash while under the control of its owner at least three times in 2022. In March, the Nahant Board of Selectmen announced the town had received no reports of aggressive behavior by coyotes toward humans or leashed animals since the USDA Wildlife Services' coyote management program started. Del Dotto, however, said he was surrounded by three coyotes in a previous incident in April.Yeager, meanwhile, said her dog was bitten by a coyote a few months ago."I have two little girls," Yeager added. "What am I supposed to do, just barricade them inside the house forever?"The Board of Selectmen also previously announced the town extended its agreement with USDA Wildlife Services for one year as of March 1, should additional wildlife management be required.Under the initial agreement, three visits by trained rifle experts from Wildlife Services were allowed. In the March announcement, the Board of Selectmen said Wildlife Services experts had visited Nahant twice since November 2022 and had removed one coyote.Not all Nahant residents have been on board with the current plan, but town officials have argued that nonlethal approaches to managing the coyote issue have been unsuccessful. According to MassWildlife, box cage traps have a very low success rate, with just three successful trappings across the state in 10 years.USDA Wildlife Services equipment includes night-vision, thermal-imaging scopes and spotlights, and all activities are permitted under a special permit from MassWildlife.The federal government killed about 64,000 coyotes nationwide in 2021.