Second coyote put down after attacks on people in northwest Calgary

An aggressive coyote linked to a spate of attacks on people in northwest Calgary has been euthanized, the city confirmed. It is the second coyote to be killed in the past two weeks after several Calgarians were attacked.

On June 22, an unusually aggressive animal believed to be responsible for three attacks in Nolan Hill was captured and killed by a city contractor.

On Tuesday, the city said a second coyote involved in the recent incidents in Tuscany had been killed, in an emailed statement. The two neighbourhoods where the attacks took place are about 10 kilometres apart.

The second coyote is suspected in attacks on four people in the past several days, said city spokesperson Lincoln Julie in a press conference Monday.

The victims included a woman sitting on her deck and a high school graduate sitting on the grass in a city park. 

Fish and Wildlife have been monitoring several coyotes in the area over the past week, said Ward 1 Coun. Ward Sutherland in an interview Tuesday.

That's how they were able to identify the aggressive coyote last night, he said.

Sutherland says an autopsy will be done on the animal in order to determine if it had rabies, as rabies can be contagious.

He says it is not known if it was the same coyote involved in every attack in Tuscany and that monitoring will continue in the area for the near future.

The councillor says part of the problem is that people have been feeding wild animals, which results in the animals becoming comfortable enough to leave wooded areas.

"The fact that the coyotes are coming into people's yards … that's your indication they're getting fed … or their garbage isn't covered up — that type of thing," he said.

'This is really atypical'

Over the past two weeks, six Calgarians have been bitten by coyotes in the city's northwest, three in Nolan Hill and three in Tuscany.

"This is really atypical," said Shelley Alexander, a coyote researcher at the University of Calgary.

This aggressive behaviour toward humans is usually caused by deliberate feeding of coyotes, she says.

Alexander says "prevention is key" and that removing food sources offered by humans is a way to avoid this type of behaviour. 

She says it's odd that there is more than one coyote acting this way, and that on average, there are fewer than three coyote attacks on humans across Canada per year.

In a Facebook post Tuesday morning, Sutherland urged Calgarians to call 311 to report sightings and locations of animals like bobcats and coyotes.