One Los Angeles neighborhood has been at war over a wild coyote, and over the weekend it all came to a head.
For months, the animal had been roaming the trendy Atwater Village, showing up in broad daylight, sleeping in back yards and approaching residents. At least one person had reportedly fed the coyote and others affectionately nicknamed it Wiley. But some residents feared the creature had become dangerously too cozy.
On Friday evening, the coyote entered a family’s back yard and attacked a 16-month-old boy. When the boy and his mother fled to their house, the animal followed them inside and was reluctant to leave, according to local news station KTLA. The child was treated at a hospital and discharged.
“A coyote was seen at the location where the incident occurred, and it was euthanized,” the California department of fish and wildlife told KTLA, adding that DNA samples were collected from both the boy and the coyote. “The samples will be analyzed to determine if the coyote that was taken is the offending animal.”
If it was the same coyote, this wasn’t its first time showing aggressive behavior. Apparently, the animal had a track record of stalking people in the neighborhood. Door-camera videos showed footage of residents screaming when the coyote approached and the animal chasing a cat up a tree, according to KTLA.
When a local public radio station posted a story on Instagram in August titled “Is Wiley welcome in your neighborhood?”, commenters were torn. One person wrote: “I live here; I say he stays. It’s as much his home as anyone else’s.” While another cautioned: “We gotta stay vigilant tho lmfao. Homie be casually prowling in the driveway.”
Rebecca Dmytryk, who lives in Atwater Village and is the CEO of Humane Wildlife Control, told the Los Angeles Times that she filed a complaint in July to fish and wildlife asking that the agency speak with the man who was reportedly feeding the coyote, but she didn’t hear back.
“Single coyote reported loitering and hanging out in the person’s backyard sleeping on top of vehicle,” read Dmytryk’s complaint, according to the Los Angeles Times. “Coyote reportedly following people as they will do when they are human conditioned, associating humans with handouts.”
Other residents also filed complaints with the city and state, but say no action was taken. A spokesperson for fish and wildlife told the Los Angeles Times that the agency followed up on tips it received and is investigating the allegations of feeding the coyote.
“This situation required intervention long before a child was injured,” Dmytryk told the newspaper. “Now a child has been hurt, and a coyote is dead.”
The California department of fish and wildlife did not immediately return a request for comment.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
