A coyote that bit five people over the past eight months in California, including a pair of young children, was caught and killed Thursday, wildlife officials said.
The male coyote was captured and killed in the San Francisco area, “very close to one of the attack sites,” California Department of Fish and Wildlife Capt. Patrick Foy told the San Francisco Chronicle.
The animal was caught in a baited leghold trap and was dispatched via “a properly placed gunshot,” Foy told the newspaper.
The Moraga coyote’s reign of terror has come to an end. The animal responsible for attacking multiple people in the East Bay fell for a baited trap and was dispatched via a gunshot, officials said. https://t.co/gMZFI6wX9L
— San Francisco Chronicle (@sfchronicle) March 13, 2021
According to a news release from the Department of Fish and Wildlife, the “unusually aggressive” coyote bit a 2-year-old boy in the parking lot of a park on July 9, 2020. The animal only let go after the child’s nanny smacked it with a bicycle helmet, The New York Times reported.
Two adult males were attacked on Dec. 4 and Dec. 15, respectively. The first man was bitten by the coyote as he exercised at Campolindo High School, while the second man was attacked behind a Diablo Foods grocery store in Lafayette, the Chronicle reported.
A 3-year-old girl was attacked while she walked with her mother on Feb. 16, 2021, and the final attack occurred on Feb. 19, 2021, and was directed at an adult male at Kwik Stop in Lafayette, according to the Chronicle.
All of the attacks occurred within two miles of each other in an area from Moraga to Lafayette, according to the release.
DNA results later confirmed the animal was the same one responsible for all five attacks, the Chronicle reported.
“It’s such a relief for the community,” Foy told the Times. “They can finally enjoy the outdoors again.”
Kenji Sytz, who fought off the coyote on Dec. 4, when it clamped down on his leg, said the attacks had residents on edge.
“It’s not anything I ever thought about before the Dec. 4 incident,” Sytz told the Chronicle. “Since then we have always been super vigilant, always scanning our surroundings.”
Sytz, 45, has fully recovered but still has scars from four puncture wounds.
“I was happy to hear that they caught it, and he is no longer a threat,” Sytz told the newspaper.
Coyotes have been known to live in residential areas and feed on squirrels, mice, rabbits and birds, the Times reported. However, attacks on humans are rare, Foy told the newspaper.
“They’re an important part of the ecosystem,” Foy told the Times. “They’re good at keeping rodents under control and are good scavengers.”
“This was a really unusual case. I’ve been around 24 years and never seen anything like it.”
Cox Media Group
