The Ministry of Natural Resources has confirmed it was a coyote that bit an Aurora toddler in a residential area June 16.

Jane Smith, who asked her real name not be used to protect the identity of her family, and her two children were on their way home from dinner on the evening of June 16 when her son innocently ran in-between their house and the neighbour’s to check on a new tree sapling the family planted earlier in the day.

His three-year-old sister was along shortly, both of them within their parent’s sight from the front of the house.

Security footage sent to Yorkregion.com by Smith shows a coyote sniffing around the Leslie Street and St. John’s Sideroad area property only moments before, and standing still at the fence line as the children approached the backyard.