Coyote attack on preschooler prompts urgent warning in Colorado Springs
An urban coyote investigates a farm near Denver in October 2001. (Brian Brainerd/The Denver Post via Getty Images)
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - Colorado wildlife officials are on high alert after a 4-year-old girl was seriously injured in a coyote attack on Thanksgiving.
Colorado Parks and Wildlife (CPW) said the incident occurred Thursday afternoon in a neighborhood east of Monument Creek and Interstate 25 in northern Colorado Springs, not far from the Air Force Academy.
The girl was attacked while she and another child approached the coyote, mistaking it for a dog, wildlife officials said. The coyote lunged, inflicting serious injuries that required immediate medical attention.
"This could have been much worse – a tragedy – if not for the quick action of the child’s father to stop the attack, rescue his daughter and scare the coyote off," said Tim Kroening, CPW’s area wildlife manager for the Pikes Peak region.
Wildlife officials are now actively hunting the coyote responsible for the attack and urge residents to be vigilant in keeping a close eye on children and pets, especially during dawn and dusk when coyotes are most active.
Coyotes live across Colorado, adapting well to urban areas where they find shelter and easy meals. Like most wildlife, coyotes are naturally afraid of humans, but they can lose that fear and become bold and aggressive if they are protecting their young, being fed, or are sick, wildlife officials said.
"Coyotes are omnivores and will eat anything, even tipping over garbage cans like bears do," Kroening said. "Typically, when they get aggressive, it’s in the spring and they are protecting a nearby den where they have pups. Or it’s because someone in the area is feeding them."
Kroening said people nearby might be leaving pet food outdoors or actively feeding them by throwing them scraps of food.
"That’s illegal, and it’s a problem in urban areas," he said.
COYOTE SIGHTINGS IN CITIES INCREASE AS MATING SEASON BEGINS
Because it would be impossible to identify the exact coyote, CPW and its partners said they would lethally remove any coyote it finds in the vicinity of the attack. The carcasses will be sent to a health lab to be examined for human DNA and tested for diseases, like rabies.
"We don’t know yet what brought the coyote into the yard with this child," Kroening said. "But it’s an important reminder to everyone to be alert and haze wild animals away from their homes and neighborhoods. That goes for deer, fox, bobcat, bears and other animals. Don’t let them get comfortable around people."
Kroening expects the operation to continue for several days and asks for the public’s cooperation and understanding.