Two coyote attacks on young children within 24 hours have prompted California to warn residents about the animals.

In two separate incidents on 5 July, two children were injured by coyotes that entered their families’ homes, state wildlife officials said. A coyote that entered a family garage in the Irvine area injured a two-year-old boy on his neck and cheek. A second animal entered another family’s home and scratched a seven-year-old girl on the back of her heel.

The encounters were the third and fourth in three months: in May a coyote bit a three-year-old girl on the neck in a park, and in June another bit a two-year-old boy at a playground.

“We’re just asking residents to be vigilant when they’re outside with their small children and pets,” said state wildlife department spokeswoman Janice Mackey.

In six weeks, eight coyotes have been “taken” – wildlife officials’ preferred euphemism for capture and euthanasia. Mackey said some were taken on the basis of “the way they were acting when people were around” and others were “in deep residential areas”.

“When you have coyotes that are coming up into people’s yards, garages, homes, that’s habituated behavior that will continue to escalate,” Mackey said.

Mackey said food and displacement were the likely causes of unusual behavior by a few coyotes. People may be feeding the animals and acclimating them to humans – something officials and biologists strongly warn against – or the availability of trash to scavenge from, a lost habitat, and the demands of raising their young in summer may have made a few become more territorial.



Coyotes tend to be extremely skittish and fearful of humans, but they occasionally venture into cities or suburbs in search of food, new territory as they mature, or because they have been displaced. As pupping season began in spring and summer, coyotes have been seen in New Jersey and New York City, where one prompted a large NYPD hunt through Riverside Park.

In a release, California officials recommend throwing rocks near the animal, making noise and picking up small children or pets should a coyote approach.

They also recommend keeping pet supplies indoors, making sure animals cannot break into food and trash, and removing brush or debris where coyotes might hunt for rodents.

“Maybe just a handful of coyotes are acting a little aggressive, but in general they do a huge amount of service for the ecosystem,” Mackey said. “They’re great at rodent control.”

California has only recorded one death by coyote in its history, when a three-year-old girl was killed in 1981. Officials nonetheless say humans should not approach the creatures, and that the animals’ instinctive fear of mankind serves both species for the better.