BROOMFIELD, Colo. (CBS4)- Wildlife officers believe they’ve killed the coyote that attacked a toddler in Broomfield. The animal’s remains are being examined to determine whether it is the same coyote.
A coyote bit and injured a Broomfield boy on July 18 while he was walking with his father and 9-month-old sister.
The attack took place just after 8 p.m. on a path through some open space in the Anthem subdivision in the northern part of Broomfield.
Wildlife officers found a coyote lurking in the same area on Thursday morning.
On Monday, the boy’s father reported to animal control officers that the coyote came out of some tall grass and bit his son on his back side, knocking him down.
“All of a sudden I see kind of a flash, just kind of a scurrying, and then an animal running towards him,” the father, who wished not to be identified, told CBS4′s Mike Hooker. “It didn’t register until right when it was there that it was a coyote and it knocked him over. I don’t think my son saw it until it was knocking him over. It bit him in the lower back.”
The boy, who is 2 1/2, was treated for bite wounds at an urgent care. Doctors gave him rabies shots just in case.
“We do believe this is not normal coyote behavior,” Jennifer Churchill with Colorado Parks & Wildlife said. “When we need to go remove a coyote from the population we are going to exhibit lethal control. We are actually going to kill that animal.”
The boy’s father said his son was more scared that hurt.
Coyote attacks on humans are rare in Colorado.
Wildlife officials say that if you see a coyote near you or near your house you should try to scare it away. The goal is to not make coyotes feel safe close to humans.
