Second aggressive coyote suspected in northwest Calgary attacks will be euthanized, city says

The city has announced a plan to destroy a second problem coyote, this time in the northwest community of Tuscany.

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

"We're deciding to destroy this animal based on its behaviour, and the frequency of bites," Julie said, adding that the 'severity of the occurrences' in the last week were unusual.

Among the attacks were a woman sitting on her deck and a high school graduate sitting on the grass in a city park. 

"It came from behind us,"  Pria Overy told the Calgary Eyeopener. 

"He wasn't even super close to us when he kind of looked at my two friends and then looked at me, and kind of came back around and walked up to me like it was no big deal, bit me and just walked away," she said.

Overy and her friends were relaxing with Slurpees after their high school graduation.

"I didn't even feel his teeth sink into me initially, so I was just like, oh my gosh," she said. "And I stood up and didn't realize what had happened until I rolled up my pants and there was just a ton of blood on my leg."

Overy later found herself in the hospital waiting room with another attack victim, Heather Robinson.

"I had just turned my head, was leaning over, had my leg exposed … and all of a sudden I felt something and turned," Robinson said of the attack on her deck. "It was a skinny, scary, rabid-looking coyote … very scary, very disturbing." 

Both women spent the night in hospital waiting for a rabies shot.

Julie said the string of attacks is highly unusual.

"{Attacks] are not very common at all, we don't see very many of these things, other than the last couple of weeks here," Julie said. "We maintain that it's still uncommon to see coyotes attack people; the two events were unrelated, it just so happens they fell in consecutive weeks."

Julie said the city was first alerted to a coyote attack in Tuscany on June 23.

Then, this past Saturday, three more people in the northwest community reported attacks, all between 7:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.

On Sunday Julie said city wildlife contractors positively identified the animal with the help of photos and behaviour descriptions, and decided on euthanization as the best and safest move.

"Our contractors and [Alberta Fish and Wildlife officers] have determined the coyote's travel path and they will decide on the best, most appropriate spot to do the removal when they can," he said.

This is the second coyote to be put down for biting people — the last coyote was roaming through the community of Nolan Hill, less than 10 kilometres northeast of Tuscany. That coyote was euthanized by a city contractor last week.

Both coyotes are young males, perhaps looking for their own territory, Julie said.

The city says both animals will be sent off for further testing to see whether they had rabies.

In the wake of these attacks the city is warning Calgarians to stay alert, and be aware of their surroundings when outdoors. 

Julie said it's especially important to keep dogs under control, and not to feed the animals either directly or indirectly, by leaving out pet food, compost waste or open birdseed.

Most importantly, be aware of your surroundings and stay vigilant. 

If you do encounter a coyote, Julie said you should make yourself look as large as possible — and don't turn your back on the animal.

Wildlife biologist Colleen Cassady St. Clair agreed that feeding coyotes could be the root of many of the issues.

"People might not realize when they're feeding rabbits and birds, if they're feeding on the ground, they're attracting mice and voles and rabbits are creating this big smorgasbord of prey for coyote," St. Clair told Alberta at Noon.

 "And they're basically declaring their neighborhood to be well worth defending from  many competitors, including people.

St. Clair said that feeding coyotes leads to a lack of fear of humans.

• Listen to to the full interview with coyote expert Colleen Cassady St. Clair here:

She said the humans who had been attacked likely did not provoke it in any way.

"That's a really classic coyote manoeuvre, is to bite an animal off the back of the leg to to immobilize it. And then they wait for their opportunity to do more damage … and they just assume the problem will go away if it's a competitor. So that's my guess is what's going on."

St. Clair agreed with the euthanization plans.

"They shouldn't feel in the slightest that they provoked this attack. They definitely didn't," she said. "That coyote …  is way out of bounds of what can be accepted in a coexistence model with coyotes."