Coyote that attacked multiple people in Bay Area has been captured, killed
Authorities in Contra Costa County have captured and killed the coyote responsible for attacking and injuring five people in the Moraga area since last summer.
Lea Suzuki / The ChronicleThe Moraga coyote’s reign of terror has — finally — come to an end.
Authorities in Contra Costa County have captured and killed the coyote, which was responsible for attacking and injuring five people in the area since last summer, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife said Friday morning.
The male coyote was captured and killed Thursday, “very close to one of the attack sites,” Fish and Wildlife Capt. Patrick Foy said. It fell for a baited trap and was dispatched via “a properly placed gunshot,” he said.
DNA results later confirmed it was the same coyote responsible for several attacks since July, including on small children. Foy said aggressive coyotes aren’t uncommon, but the level of aggression displayed by this one was unlike anything he has seen in his career.
“It is the sincere hope of the agencies that locals can recreate outdoors in the area again with significantly reduced anxiety and that the community knows that outdoor recreation is still very safe,” fish and wildlife officials said in a statement.
Veterinary staff at UC Davis will conduct a rabies test. Authorities said there is nothing to indicate that the coyote was rabid, but testing is standard procedure because of the seriousness of the disease, and can only be done after the animal is dead.
All of the attacks occurred within 2 miles of each other in an area around Lafayette and Moraga, prompting a posse of trappers, hunters, wardens and police officers to search for the culprit. The attacks rattled residents in the area, leaving them feeling unsafe walking outside.
The first attack from the coyote, which authorities described as “unusually aggressive,” happened July 9, when a small child was attacked at the Moraga Commons parking lot along St. Mary’s Road. The next two happened five months later, just over a week apart in December, when the coyote clamped down on the leg of a man exercising Dec. 4 at Campolindo High School, and attacked another man behind the Diablo Foods grocery store in Lafayette on Dec. 15.
Next, the coyote attacked a 3-year-old girl as she walked with her mother near Campolindo Drive and Calle la Montana on Feb. 17, traumatizing the girl. The coyote’s final attack came Feb. 19 at a Kwik Stop in Lafayette.
DNA from each of those attacks was linked to the same animal.
Jackie B., the mother of the 3-year-old who was attacked Feb. 17, said her daughter is still traumatized — and now scared of dogs because she’s too young to understand the distinction between the animals. Jackie, who asked that her last name not be used to protect her daughter’s privacy, runs in the area every morning, and has lately been carrying an umbrella, pepper spray and bullhorns.
Friday was the first morning since the attack that she didn’t have to carry items for self-defense, she said.
“What the (animal trappers) did was above and beyond,” she said. “They were in contact with me and remained in constant contact with me — they really did have people out here 24 hours a day, seven days a week.”
Kenji Sytz, who fought off the coyote after it clamped down on his leg while he was working out at Campolindo High School, said the attacks made nearby residents wary when they walked out of their doors.
“It’s not anything I ever thought about before the Dec. 4 incident,” Sytz said. “Since then we have always been super vigilant, always scanning our surroundings.”
Sytz fully recovered, but he still has the scars from four puncture wounds. “I was happy to hear that they caught it, and he is no longer a threat,” Sytz said.
Michael Williams is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: michael.williams@sfchronicle.com
