RYE, N.Y. (WPIX)—
For the second time in less than a week in the same Westchester County town, a coyote has attacked a child. In the most recent attack, the victim is a 3 year-old girl, attacked in her own yard.The unidentified toddler lives at 80 North Street in Rye. The home abuts the Rye Nature Center, a 47-acre parcel of woodlands where coyotes are suspected of living. The coyote may have jumped from nature center property through a break in the home's fence to carry out the attack Tuesday night at around 7:30.
It happened five days after another coyote attack on a child. Last Friday night at around 9:15, at a home on LaSalle Avenue about a mile from Tuesday night's attack, two coyotes jumped out of the bushes into a group of children playing in the yard. One of the coyotes bit 6 year-old Emily Hodulik in the shoulder and back as she tried to run away.
After the coyote bit the girl, cops went after the animal. They spotted it at nearby Rye Golf Club, where an officer shot at the coyote and missed.
Doug French, the mayor of Rye, says that on average there are six coyote attacks per year nationwide. Because the town has had a third that many attacks in less than a week, the police department has designated some officers to specifically respond to coyote sightings.
Police also have a permit to trap, hunt and kill coyotes, although Police Commissioner William Connors says his officers would kill only as a last resort, and only if a potential coyote shooting scene were deemed safe. Rye has trapped nine coyotes since March and transported them upstate.
In neither of this week's attacks did the victim have life-threatening injuries, although both victims may be undergoing treatment for rabies. In both cases, a parent was nearby who helped to scare the attacking coyote away.
Rye officials tell residents to make noise or throw objects at coyotes to get them to flee from a scene.
That is among the information that Police Commissioner Connors was passing on to a community group on Tuesday evening. While briefing them on measures his department is taking to handle the coyote situation, Connors was notified about the latest attack and had to leave the meeting early to supervise the handling of the emergency.
