5-year-old Renton Boy Attacked By Coyote

A mother rescued her 5-year-old son after a coyote bit and pulled him to the ground and attempted to haul the child toward a greenbelt in Renton on New Year’s Eve, Washington wildlife officials said.

The attack happened around 6 p.m. in the Maplewood Heights area southeast of Lake Washington and the boy was taken to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries and released, according to a WDFW statement posted on New Year’s Day.

Agency officers were able to quickly locate the coyote near the attack but were unable to kill it before it ran into a forested area.

Urban and suburban coyotes were the subject of a large Seattle Times article late last week, including spottings of one on densely populated Capitol Hill.

“Virtually every American city in North America today has resident coyote populations,” an Ohio State University professor who radio-collared 1,600 of the animals in Chicago to track their movements over 24 years told the newspaper.

WDFW’s advice for living with coyotes includes not leaving young kids in areas coyotes are often seen or heard, as well as preventing access to food items, be that garbage, compost or fattening up the neighborhood feral cats, which coyotes eat.

In October alone, a coyote grabbed a poodle mix in Seattle’s Magnolia neighborhood before the dog’s owners chased the animal off while a Queen Anne Hill woman was bitten in the hand trying to rescue her dog from one.

The website Carnivorespotter.com from Woodland Park Zoo maps publicly reported sightings of black bears, cougars, coyotes, bobcats and other species.