3-year-old needed more than 100 stitches following coyote attack

A three-year-old boy named Aidan was badly injured and needed more than 100 stitches after he was attacked by a coyote in Burnaby.

The incident took place on Tuesday, just after 5 p.m., in the Sperling-Broadway neighbourhood.

Amanda, the boy’s mom, said the family was enjoying the nice weather in their backyard when the incident happened.

She said she stepped inside to check on dinner when she realized Aidan had opened the gate in the yard.

When she went to check on it, she heard what she described as a “bloodcurdling scream.”

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“I ran to the end of the sidewalk and seen a coyote biting his head while he was on the ground trying to protect himself the best he could,” she said.

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That’s when she says she starting making as much noise as possible and charged at the animal.

“It did not seem afraid at all, it did not leave,” she said. “It only backed off enough that when I got there I scooped him up and started running back to the backyard because the kids were still out there.”

Burnaby RCMP said Aidan was taken to Children’s Hospital.

The coyote was found later that night by the B.C. Conservation Officer Service and euthanized.

“The COS will keep working with partners to provide education to the general public about how to prevent conflict with coyotes,” read a statement from the conservation service on Facebook.

Officers will perform a DNA test to ensure they got the right animal.

Meanwhile, Amanda is calling on tougher penalties for those who feed wild animals.

She said enforcement could have prevented the attack.

“There should be a harder fine on that. It shouldn’t just be ‘oh don’t feed them’ well no, give, you know, you catch somebody even in a park the golf course, for instance, you see somebody feeding them, give them a fine,” she said.

~With files from Jennifer Palma