Suspected ‘aggressive’ coyote shot and killed after some residents bitten, Toronto police say

Toronto police say a coyote, the animal suspected to have bitten at least two people the previous day in Bayview Village Park, was shot dead Monday.

Duty Senior Officer Nick Nei told reporters that officers were dispatched Monday morning to a school yard at Hollywood Public School near Bayview and Sheppard avenues, a short distance from the park.

“The coyote was detained on the school grounds,” Nei said. “After consulting with animal services and Toronto wild rescue, Toronto police emergency task force was on scene today and euthanized the coyote.”

Officials had initially received reports about an incident on Sunday afternoon involving an aggressive coyote attacking people in the park area.

Nei said the decision not to use a tranquillizer instead was due to the fact that it takes time to set in and the coyote could be on the loose again.

“Euthanizing the coyote was the best option,” Nei said.

“We consulted with the experts and we wanted to make sure safety was the top priority.”

Global News spoke to Esther Attard, a veterinarian and the director for Toronto Animal Services, who said the coyote needed to be euthanized because two people were bitten.

Attard said some reasons for why the coyote is approaching humans is because of “regular and chronic feeding” by humans or because it’s ill. Although, she said the most common reason is because it’s been fed by humans as it is abnormal for coyotes to approach humans.

She also said according to reports from staff who compared the photos they had, it appears to be the same coyote that was reported on Sunday.

Anyone who wants to report a coyote sighting is asked to call 416-338-PAWS (7297) or email animalservices@toronto.ca.