Drops of blood are still visible on the sidewalk of a Burnaby townhouse complex where a three-year-old boy was viciously attacked by a coyote Tuesday.

Just after 5 p.m., Amanda Dycke said she had run out of the front door of her Dunvegan Court townhome near the Burnaby Mountain golf course to catch her son Ayden, who had squeezed out of the gate in their backyard.

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A few steps onto her front walk, she heard a scream.

“Just like one of those where you just know that’s a bad scream,” she told the NOW.

On a sidewalk two doors down from her house she then witnessed her three-year-old screaming and trying to fend off a coyote mauling his head.

“There was a coyote on his head, chewing his head,” Dycke said.

She made noise and tried to make herself look intimidating to chase the coyote off, she said, but it didn’t move until she ran at it full force.

Dycke said neighbours told her the animal had skulked around even after Ayden was taken to B.C. Children’s Hospital with three bone-deep gashes to his head that took more than 100 stitches to fix.

“It was pacing, like it wanted to finish what it started,” Dycke said of the coyote.

The B.C. Conservation Officer Service (COS) announced Wednesday it had tracked and destroyed a coyote at about 10:15 p.m. Tuesday.

The service said the coyote matched the description and behaviour described by Dycke and her partner – Ayden’s dad – Chris Ramm, but only DNA testing would confirm whether it was the right animal.

“The coyote’s carcass is captured as evidence for us. The head and claws will be swabbed,” conservation officer Sgt. Dean Miller said at a press conference Wednesday afternoon.

Any DNA found on the coyote will be tested against samples taken from Ayden Wednesday morning.

The coyote will also be tested for rabies and other diseases, according to Miller.

Miller said coyote attacks on humans are very rare and usually only result in a couple puncture wounds or superficial scratches.

“This to us is quite unique, knowing the extent of the injuries on this young victim,” Miller said.

Dycke doesn’t believe the animal euthanized Tuesday was the one that mauled her son, and the attack has her family and her neighbours spooked.

The townhouse complex, usually noisy with kids playing outside, was practically deserted Wednesday afternoon, and Ayden’s older sister startled at small noises like a pinecone falling from a nearby tree.

“People know that the coyote has not been caught yet,” Dycke said. “Of course, conservation officers don’t release this information, but they’ve shown me a picture. They don’t believe it’s the coyote; I don’t believe it’s the coyote. It showed no signs of any blood.”

Dycke said the conservation service had told her three aggressive coyotes had been identified in the area.

Ayden, meanwhile, is doing well after returning home at 3 a.m. Wednesday, according to his mother, but it will take some time for him to get over the trauma of the attack.

“He’s kind of scared right now to go outside of the yard,” Dycke said.

Neighbours, Ayden’s older sister’s school, Lochdale Elementary, and even the local store have been very supportive through the ordeal, according to the family.

Some neighbours looked after Ayden’s two siblings while his parents were at Children’s with him. Others brought by gifts.

Children at Lochdale Elementary School drew pictures for the injured boy, and the school sent over a gift basket, according to the family.

“I’m really taken aback by it,” Dycke said.

As for why the coyote attacked her son, Dycke is still stumped since Ayden wasn’t carrying any food or anything at the time.

She said she can only assume the animal had been fed and was just too comfortable with humans.

“People are not taking this ‘don’t feed the wildlife’ seriously because (coyotes) wouldn’t normally want to be in a situation like this where there’s so many people.”