Coyote Killed; May be Responsible for Attacks

A coyote was shot and killed in Rye Brook on Labor Day and is thought to be the same animal that attacked

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

a teen and a toddler in two separate incidents Sunday. The Village of Rye Brook issued this update with details.

the Associated Press reports:

Authorities were tracking the animal after a pair of attacks Sunday, and the animal lunged at a trapper, then apparently attacked its own pup.

"I followed the coyote, then it lunged at me," trapper Jim Horton told the Journal News. "I hit, it flipped over, then it lunged at me again. Then I just chased it through the woods for 45 minutes."

Horton pursued the animal and police, armed with weapons, were able to eventually shoot the coyote.

Authorities say there’s no way to be certain, but it appeared to be the same animal that lunged at a teen boy shortly before 7 p.m. Sunday. About an hour later, a 2-year-old girl was attacked near her home about two miles away. The toddler’s father took her to get medical care. The teen was unhurt.

The coyote will be tested for rabies Tuesday, and authorities are taking DNA samples from the other victims to determine whether this was the coyote that attacked them.

In June, a 3-year-old girl was attacked by a coyote while playing in her backyard in Rye, about two miles away. Four days earlier, another girl was scratched and bitten by a pair of coyotes in the same town.