The B.C. Conservation Officer Service reported three more overnight coyote attacks in Stanley Park on Wednesday, including two involving children.
In the wake of the latest attack, the provincial government said that it will cull some of the coyotes living in the park “as soon as possible.”
Conservation officers said one coyote which demonstrated signs of food habituation was killed. Officers will remain in the park to patrol, they said.
According to conservation officers, two four-year-old children were bitten in separate incidents. One occurred near the Brockton Oval around 5 p.m., while the other happened around 9 p.m. near the Nine O’Clock Gun.
The third attack happened near Lost Lagoon around 9:30 p.m., where a man was bitten from behind. All of the victims suffered minor injuries.
“The (B.C. Conservation Officer Service) cannot stress enough to avoid Stanley Park, especially during dawn and dusk hours, when coyotes tend to be more active,” the agency said in a tweet.
On Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations said officials would be “undertaking direct coyote management controls that includes lethal removal to ensure human safety.”
“Co-existing with wildlife is an important principle of wildlife management in BC, but this is an extraordinary circumstance with dangerous wildlife, with serious escalating risk to public safety,” reads a statement from the ministry.
The latest attacks come just two days after conservation officers reported another trio of coyote attacks in the park over a 72-hour period.
On Tuesday, the Vancouver Park Board said it was closing the park from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. in order to try and reduce the risk of attacks.
There have been at least 40 coyote attacks in the park since December, including one in July that involved a two-year-old girl.
It remains unclear what has prompted the massive increase in coyote attacks in the park, but the park board and conservation officers believe people feeding the animals are at least partly to blame.