EDMONTON -- A St. Albert family is hosting an unwanted house guest — one they don't want near their five kids.
A coyote has built a den under their Akinsdale home, and the couple says that no one is willing to help get rid of it.
For the past few weeks Jen Penner has only let her kids play in their front yard with constant supervision.
"They're old enough that they could be out here by themselves, but that's not something that I feel comfortable with," she said.
The backyard with their kids' play set, and room to spread out, is off-limits until further notice.
"It makes an already difficult situation even more difficult right, we're all stuck at home."
The coyote appears to have made a home under the family's sunroom.
"It's been up on our deck, it's been by their play set, we found animal feces right by their play set the other day. That's a hazard," said Jen's husband, Levi Penner.
Levi blocked gaps in the fence, but the coyote keeps getting into their yard by digging under the fence.
"I've buried its holes, two of them, at least a dozen times."
Its even managed to get through the wire mesh blocking the gap underneath the family's sunroom.
"We're worried that aggression could be a factor pretty soon," said Levi.
A spokesperson from Alberta Fish and Wildlife told CTV News Edmonton that its officers only deal with this type of incident if there's been contact with a human, or risk to public safety.
An officer went to the Penner home, but there was no sign of the coyote at the time. All they could do was give the family some tips on how to keep the coyote away.
"How to make the den less appealing, how to barricade it a little better," said Levi.
Fish and Wildlife says the incident is now in the hands of the City of St. Albert.
"We called Animal Control and they said, 'No, we're not equipped to deal with that, we can't relocate it, we're not equipped for that, we don't have funding, we don't have training,'" said Levi.
The City of St. Albert told CTV News it's up to the family to deal with the animal.
"I don't really think that's fair either. This is a hard time financially for a lot of people and something like that isn't cheap," said Jen. "I don't want to have to wait until someone gets hurt. I don't want it to be one of my kids."
With files from CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson