Colorado Parks and Wildlife officers have announced plans to hunt down coyotes in north Colorado Springs after a 4-year-old girl was seriously injured in an attack.
The girl was with another child on Thanksgiving when they approached a coyote crouching behind a tree, thinking it was a dog. Lunging at the girl, the coyote bit her in the back of the head, inflicting injuries that required an overnight hospital stay.
“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,” Tim Kroening, CPW’s area wildlife manager for the Pikes Peak region, said in a news release.
The attack happened in a neighborhood near the Air Force Academy, east of Monument Creek and Interstate 25. Because it would be impossible to identify the coyote that bit the girl, the agency said it will kill any coyote it can find in the area of the attack. The animals’ bodies will be tested for the presence of human DNA and diseases like rabies.
Coyotes are naturally afraid of humans but may attack if they are sick, being fed or are protecting their young, according to the state. Residents should scare off coyotes if they see them in settled areas by yelling or throwing rocks.
“We don’t know yet what brought the coyote into the yard with this child … but it’s an important reminder to everyone to be alert and haze wild animals away from their homes and neighborhoods,” Kroening said.
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